A Squire's Dilemma

[From the travel logs of Eisa Layaree]

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon and I decided to close the shop early. I had just sat down for a late lunch at the Ivory Owl when a disheveled young half-elf slammed the door open and looked around wild-eyed. He went up to Sorin and started rambling about his Master being kidnapped, speaking more quickly with every second. Sorin stopped him and asked him to explain.

The half-elf was Daron, the squire to Sir Archibald, a human paladin who had gone to speak to the kobolds rumored to be in the area. When they had met the kobolds, they took his master captive and ran away. Daron said that he was afraid of being captured himself and so ran back to town to get help.

The few adventurers in the inn all volunteered to help this paladin. It was rather funny that a paladin would be kidnapped by a bunch of mangy kobolds. I had tried to understand them once before but their language was too unfamiliar. I thought this could be a chance to see more about them, so I went with the party as well. As a surprise, Sorin put down his bartending and grabbed his weapons from the back to join us as well.

Our party was an interesting bunch. Sorin was known to be a good fighter, so I was looking forward to seeing the dwarf in combat. The other dwarf, Sorethgar, was a wizard who also seemed interested in seeing kobolds. Perrin was the same as every other halfling I have seen, small and curious; he reminds me of the Riverhills I met across the sea. Our fourth adventurer was a fellow cleric, although he was one of those serious ones that rarely has the fun I do. Fr. Isaac was a rather rotund human, as happy to eat and drink as he was to heal others.

As we set out, Daron seemed a bit confused on which direction we were supposed to go. We set out of the city in a southwest direction but soon figured out that we needed to be on the east side. We reached the spot where Sir Archibald was taken and found the kobold tracks leading east along the coast. Daron ran back to the city after showing us the spot, saying that his master would rather have him “watch over his bees” than get into trouble himself. An odd reason to run away, but I can’t fault him for being afraid of the unknown. Continuing without him, we reached the coast and followed the tracks until nightfall.

I took the 2nd watch of the night and noticed some odd creatures along the beach a few miles to the east. Waking the halfling rogue to keep watch in my place, I went off to quietly investigate. They seemed to be some kind of frog-like creatures, short like halflings but definitely standing upright. They noticed me and we both watched each other for a good five minutes before they continued on their way. Dismissing them as a threat, I came back to camp and settled in for the night after telling Perrin about what I had seen.

We picked up the tracks again in the morning, still quite visible above the tideline. There was a short encounter with a flock of vultures picking at the body of a sailor. I may have rushed in a bit quickly, but it all worked out in the end. The dwarves had some trouble hitting the birds. However, spells and bolts got rid of the carrion beasts. The sailor had no identifying markings on him, but he did have a portrait of a girl in his pocket. One of us pocketed the portrait; maybe someone would recognize her back in town.

Continuing on, we tracked the kobolds until evening and made camp. It was an interesting night, and fun on my part. I took the 2nd watch again and saw the frog creatures sneaking up to our camp. Seeing an opportunity for some fun, I used a bit of thaumaturgy to produce a great yell next to them, saying in that lovely harsh Orc language, “Leave!” It was fantastic to see the little things stumble over themselves to flee the scary voice. I may have woken the camp to do this trick, but the effect was worth it.

No one mentioned my stunt the next day, so I think they will be alright with me having a bit of fun every now and then. At least they aren’t like that Greystone noble that reprimanded anyone who even looked at him wrong, let alone did anything improper.

Anyways, the tracks led us further inland this time and we came to the top of some cliffs. We ran into a few kobolds and swiftly defeated them. I found a signal horn and a rather large metal key on one of them; we might need the key at least when we get to their base camp.

There was a cave opening some ways down the cliff with some pitons already hammered into the stone. We secured some of our rope and made our way down. The wizard almost met his demise when he slipped on the rope, but he regained his hold right before the end. No one was there at the entrance to the cave, so we quietly ventured inside.

It became completely dark within 100 feet of the entrance. We found a wooden door to our right; it was locked. Sorin peeked through the keyhole to see what he could see inside. There was a bed by the door, but he couldn’t see further. Deciding it was an empty room, Sorin used the key we had found and quietly unlocked the door before bursting into the room, completely defeating the purpose of unlocking the door silently...

Of course, it wasn’t empty. It was a barracks room; many kobolds were asleep but a few were up playing a dice game. A fight ensued with a few winged kobolds also joining the fray; that was a twist. Perrin stealthily took down kobolds one by one. Sorethgar has a strange fascination with that Chill Touch spell, but he got the damage out so I can’t complain about the creepy hand. Sorin took a beating and was knocked unconscious, but Fr. Isaac’s healing kit was very helpful; I might look into one for tight spots later on. I took down a few myself with radiant fire from above; I will never get tired of seeing that divine flame at work. One kobold fled the room and almost escaped but a well-placed shot by Fr. Isaac (of all people) took care of that.

We searched the room and then continued down the tunnel. It widened up into a cavern and we heard voices speaking a harsh language. While the speaker sounded human, I did not recognize the language. Sorethgar took the time to cast a ritual to understand what they said while Perrin scouted ahead to see what was in the room. There was a young copper dragon! Despite the numerous races I had encountered, I had never seen a dragon before. We hoped that its nature was true to its color and would be friendly if we approached. There was also a human in heavy armor sitting in front of the dragon and talking to it, but we waited for Sorethgar to finish his spell before going into the room.

Once it was done, he was amused by the results. Apparently the man had asked the dragon why he forced the kobolds to worship him, to which the dragon had replied that the pests had found him and insisted on worshiping him. He would be fine if they went away entirely so that he could continue his own travels in peace.

We were glad to hear this, considering we had killed all of his supposed minions. Fr. Isaac decided to stay in the tunnel far away from the dragon, but the rest of us stepped forward into the cavern. Immediately the dragon invited us to sit down and chat with him as well; he was enjoying the company of the human after all the time with the “annoying kobolds” that had found him during his rest here. He introduced himself as Korhal. The human was the paladin we had been looking for; we also learned his full name: Sir Archibald Torivald Thornhandle III. He was surprised to see us there, but sighed with understanding when we told him about his squire's plea for aid. He also said he was glad that Daron was looking after his bees; I guess the squire was telling the truth with that excuse to run away earlier.

Once he heard that we had slain the kobolds in the cave, Korhal rewarded each of us with one of his scales (excluding Fr. Isaac, who was still hidden away). It was a beautiful thing: a solid piece of pure copper. Rowen will definitely want to inspect it when I get back to the shop.

As we were leaving the cavern, Sorethgar amazingly convinced Korhal, as the dragon was named, to come to his tower in St. Herve in the near future. I would love to talk to him as well, to see if he knows any of the stories which I seek. I wonder what the townspeople will say to a dragon dropping into town?...