Session 1 – A Comedy of Errors
Campaign I, session 1. Next: Session 2.
The party arrived at Teryk late in the morning, and Pashlatine immediately insisted on visiting the baths. The rest of the party followed, splitting up according to their desired temperature.
In the hot baths, Pashlatine overheard an attendant referring to another patron as “Contessa”, and introduced herself as a representative of her family’s vineyards. After hearing that some of Pash’s companions might be “rough around the edges”, she invited them to a banquet that evening to meet the Count, who is looking for rough-and-tumble adventurers to put a stop to this bandit activity.
With some time to kill before the banquet, the party entered the local market to assess local prices on their trade goods. They sold their crates of weapons and armor for a reasonable profit, but the local price for beer and ale was disappointingly low.
After unloading their cargo and making sleeping arrangements at the local inn, the party went into the Count’s villa inside the fort and met several of the important locals
The count offered to let the party recruit from his garrison if they need additional fighting power; the local Guildmaster mentioned a reward for finding two of his caravan leaders (bonus if they are brought back alive). Singil (the party’s orcblooded shaman) talked healing herbs with the head of the local hospital, and sized up the grumpy court mage. Alwyn joked a bit with the goofy-faced quartermaster. Travain and Ana were able to entertain the Contessa with some historical anecdotes, and Pash noted the ways that the Contessa seemed to avoid speaking to the Count, and while he never verbalized any desire, the Count looked at Pash with an intense gaze during the meal.
The party spent a few days scoping out the local market, and picked up some additional trade goods while waiting for the weather to clear up. Based on intel gathered, they headed along the western road, hoping to find evidence of the latest ambush. In the early afternoon, the party came across a group of dwarven furriers exiting the forest. The dwarves were able to confirm that some nearby wagon tracks led to a cave under a strange hill a few miles into the forest, where they had seen kobolds hanging around.
Turns out this “hill” was a giant dome of black granite, that looked to be one solid piece, probably ~700 feet in diameter. There was indeed a crack in the dome and inside a temple-looking structure with carvings of dragons. The entrance was guarded by four kobolds. The party crept as close as they dared, discussing how best to proceed.
Eventually, Travain decided on a ruse: he and Ana would pretend to be scholars interested in the temple and ask to be allowed to look around. And, as luck would have it, Dani rolled well enough that his Mystic Aura kicked in, causing the Kobolds to be treated as charmed while in Travain’s presence.
What followed was a comedy of errors, where the kobolds assumed that Travain was some kind of new priest of their religion, and needed to be taken to see “the Lady” - but first, of course, to see their “king”.
The party was taken past a couple of different groups of kobold guards before being introduced to the King. These poor guys were trying so hard - “we bring priest to lady, we win” they kept saying.
Unfortunately, the kobold king was not fooled. However, he was also keenly aware that (including henches), his guys had just brought 8 armed humans into his court, where he had at that moment about a dozen kobolds to defend him. In an effort to regain control of the situation, he insisted that his normal rules apply. “You want to go through kobold land, you pay 10 gold each!” There was a lot of confusion, and insistence from Travain that this would make “the Lady” unhappy. Ultimately the king asked “Pothead” (one of the guards initially charmed) to run down to the Lady, and then insisted the party be taken to “guest accommodations” until a response arrived.
So, 9 kobolds escorted the group back through some familiar rooms and insisted they go into a scary-looking room with a ragged skeleton inside. At this point, Kojo (our Pash’s gladiator hench) decided that this was a prison, and took a surprise swing at one of the kobolds. The party resorted to violence, and after a quick fight, the kobolds were dispatched.
During the fight, Ana and Hugo (two henches) took serious wounds. Hugo’s leg was crippled, and he will need two weeks of bed rest before he can take strenuous activity. Ana’s puncture wound will leave some minor scarring, and she will need a week of bed rest to fully recover.
Having seen some injury, but still in good spirits, the party decided to press back towards the kobold throne. For their part, the remaining kobolds had retreated. As the party neared the throne room, they saw the two royal guards light a line of military oil, blocking the party’s advance for now…