[DnD5E-IC]Adventures in the Borderlands, Chapter 0

[JNAProductions]

"We should make sure the ones still here don't run. And we need to learn more about their Olvirk-whoever they are, they're strong enough to intimidate them," Heart says. "But I don't think we'll be quite so easily cowed."

[Silent_p]

As the kobold cries over the body of the fallen rodent, Arabella takes a few steps back. A trifle unnerved at the scene and bruised from the fight, she takes a few careful breaths. Still facing the possible, though increasingly unlikely threat, she settles her weapon into a more relaxed pose.

”Those who rule by fear are frequently cowards,” she observes in response to Heart. ”I have no rope on me but I will keep on eye here if either of you wish to fetch some.”

[BestUserName]

Clint mourns internally with the sobbing kobold. They may have set up an ambush, but they did try to tell us to turn back.

In a calm voice Clint says, I have rope in my pack, I will go fetch it now.

With that he hurries back to the horses, calling out in his mind for Camphor to rejoin him.

[truemane]

1. THE CLEARING
The three sleeping kobolds are trussed up in a few minutes. They start coming to as Heart binds and ties them (with Clint assisting with helpful advice on knots from that summer he on a merchant's river-boating). The knots look secure to them both. And then, when the three of them wake up and start struggling and thrashing about, making a ton of noise, they are even more sure they're secure.

The remaining kobold does not struggle as he is bound. He continues to mourn his dead rodent. He babbles quickly in Draconic, talking about his he delivered this one himself, raised it himself, trained it himself. He was particularly proud of the trick where it pretended to be injured. Olvirk had rewarded him well for that one.

And now it was gone.

Then he seems to realize the other giant rodent is gone and he looks up at Arabella and struggles to communicate in very broken Southron. "Where Toothy? Where other rat? Is dead too?"

2. THE GATE
Serien, now quite far from the gate, his Illusion almost spent, continues backing away.

"Leave this place!" keens the shrill voice, "Else you die in flames!"

[BestUserName]

Clint looks pleased as the bindings stay on the three kobold as they struggle. He looks to Heart,

"Looks like those should hold. Good work on that.


With that he turns his head to the sad Kobold and speaks in draconic,

"I'm sorry we killed your friend that you raised. That trick was impressive, but you attacked the wrong adventurers.

[Silent_p]

Arabella stands ready as the others secure the kobolds, though this proves largely unnecessary. When the sobbing one looks at her, plaintively asking about the slain rodent, she’s momentarily unnerved and does not respond. When Clint addresses the question, she’s relieved and steps away, taking the movement to look up toward the keep itself.

”It does not sound like negotiation will resolve this. An alternative to a frontal assault would be welcome,” she says after a moment. She walks up to the cavern opening, glancing inside. ”This may be the way. Do any of you see well in the dark? It would be preferable to announcing our intent with a light.”

[JNAProductions]

"I can," Heart responds. "I'm not as astute without light, though, so we should keep watch for ambushes or traps."

[truemane]

The tunnels were once probably servants entrances, or perhaps soldiers passages. Perhaps this clearing once contained guardhouses or other facilities.

The tunnel is about ten feet wide, a little over ten feet tall, and is straight and level, with tiled flooring covered in slippery moss and lichen.

Every sound inside echoes out into the darkness.

There is a slight breeze.

Animal sounds drift through from beyond.

The rat-trainer kobold, once he realizes your place is to enter the tunnels, looks stricken (as stricken as a kobold can look anyway). "Other baby houses," he points into the tunnels. "No hurt. No hurt babies."

[JNAProductions]

"We won't," Heart says. "We fought you because you attacked us. If you and yours are peaceful, once your cruel master is dealt with, you'll be safe."

Spoiler: Insight Check

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(1d20+2)[5]

I want to see if said master has threatened their children, or anything like that.

I don't think Heart has any idea.

[truemane]

The scaly little critter's face looks sad and he shakes his head. "No safe. Borderlands - nowhere safe. Olvirk is safe as can."

Spoiler

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I don't think anyone's specified if anyone's threatened children. "Families" and whatever he's talking about with 'babies.'

[Silent_p]

Arabella takes note of Heart’s reply to the kobold and, once they are out of earshot in the tunnel, sidles up to her.

”I would be wary of making such promises,” she says quietly, nodding in the direction of the bound creatures. ”Only some of them have surrendered to us and, while I see no need to bother them unless they bother us, the Duke may not be of the same view. Even the presence of kobolds can be a nuisance in many eyes.”

[truemane]

The little kobold follows behind. "Duke? You say Duke? New Duke? Human Duke? Bah. Dukes kills kobolds same as Olvirk. Worse than Olvirk. Olvirk kills when kobolds fail. Humans kill when kobolds are."

The tunnels several hundred feet under the castle, and then open up into a large square room with what look like prison cells all around, each secured with a stout iron door.

In the centre is a raised stone dias covered with old books and papers, most of it gone to mould and rot.

A single bright brazier burns at the centre of the room, casting severe shadows all around.

In the cells are rats. Giant rats. Some sleeping. Some awake. Easily a dozen of various size and age. As soon as the little kobold enters the room they grow excited and come to the bars and grip them with their clawed rodent hands and stare.

The kobold gestures. "Babies. My babies. No hurt babies." He looks up at Arabella. "You knight. You promise. You promise no one hurts babies and... and I show secret stairs."

The other tied up kobolds start to curse and swear at the little one, and seem about to kick up a very loud fuss...

[JNAProductions]

Heart looks over to Arabella. She says, quietly, "Arabella, we have a chance here to help these people. They might not look like you and I, but they're no less deserving of a good life because of that."

Spoiler: OOC

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Since it seems like you're putting the focus on our knight in shining armor, if a check is required, I'll be Helping out.

[Silent_p]

Arabella turns, grimacing faintly as the kobold pipes up behind her. Thought I was far enough away... she grouses to herself. She takes time while they travel the tunnel to consider the small creature's words, unhappy and irritated to be confronted with what has rapidly turned into a dilemma. As the kobold pleads for the rodents, a single word pierces Arabella's thoughts: knight.

I shall defend those who cannot defend themselves. She'd never spoken the oath properly and it seemed so much simpler as mere words. Making those words real, living the meaning behind them, though? It felt much more complicated out in the wild, even in the city, at times. Did these kobolds, these rodents, need her protection? After all, they were not incapable, a twinge in her abdomen reminded her of that.

She glances at Heart as the woman speaks, echoing the kobold's sentiment and, perhaps, addressing the point Arabella had made to her earlier. "Matters may not be so straightforward," she starts to reply before the bound kobolds start to get louder. Arabella whirls around and stalks over to loom above them. "Quiet!" She growls. "Any of you make more noise, you'll be admiring your lifeblood in the torchlight!" With that, she turns and fixes the more reasonable kobold with an intense look. "I cannot promise no one will harm the rodents," she says, gesturing to them in turn. "But I promise I will not, so long as they cause no harm to me or my companions."

[truemane]

The smaller kobold thinks a moment and then nods. "Best can do. I show stairs."

Meanwhile the bound kobolds continue making a ruckus. One of them, with a scar across one eye, shushes the group.

"We be quiet. If. You let us go. We run. You kill Olvirk, he kill you. We run. Knight takes pity on rats. Cat-girl takes pity on us?"

He holds up his bound hands to Heart, as though asking for his bindings to be cut.

[JNAProductions]

"I don't intend to be taken out by the cretin that holds you in captivity," Heart says, quietly. "But... If you can sincerely promise to help us, or at least to not interfere with us dealing with your master, I will vote to let you go. I cannot make this decision alone-nor would I want to. But I will fight for you, as I would fight for anyone unjustly in bondage."

She does not cut the kobold's bonds yet, but looks him directly in his eyes. "Be truthful," she says.

Spoiler: OOC

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Insight check, on the kobold's promise that he's yet to actually make.

(1d20+2)[7]

Boy I sure hope he doesn't lie, because I'll have NO IDEA.

[truemane]

The kobold's scaly reptilian face looks up at Heart. "You cut. We run away. Never bother again."

It's very hard to read a reptile's face.

[JNAProductions]

Heart sighs. "Not... precisely what I was looking for. I don't want you to run away-at least, not forever. You live here-and if the Duke dislikes that when we clear it out, tough tuckus for her. If you're scared that we might lose and you don't want to be punished by Olvirk, then run away for now-but come back later."

"I want to give them the benefit of doubt," Heart says to the others in her group. "I'm willing to cut them free."

[Silent_p]

Arabella watches this exchange, also trying unsuccessfully to gauge the kobolds' intentions. When Heart states her case, she glances at the woman before eyeing the kobolds again. "They run and don't interfere, we take the fight to Olvirk." She nods to Heart. "I can accept that."

Facing the reasonable kobold again, she gives the creature another direct look. "Show us the stairs and you can join them and you all need to keep out of the way." She finishes, with a deliberate point for emphasis.

[JNAProductions]

With Arabella's approval, Heart takes her blade... But thinks better of it.

She takes a few moments to untie the knots, muttering "No sense wasting good rope," letting the kobolds loose. After they direct her and her comrades in the right direction, she wishes them well, saying "We will see you again, friends. Victory awaits us, and a more peaceful life for yourselves."

[truemane]

The five bound kobolds, once freed, utter several choice words in Draconic with such venom and such evocative hand gestures that they almost translate themselves, and then they run away, down the tunnels, and away.

The kobold rat-keeper, however, shakes his little lizard head. "Can't run, now. Babies need me. Must save first."

And with that he heads over toward the cells, where the giant rodents settle down and press themselves against the bars for his touch.

He points down the hall. "Room at end. Very small. Under bed is short pass, then stairs. Up stairs, near Olvirk seat-room."

And indeed, down the hall is a small room with a cot and some other personal effects. It is very clean, although it smells ferociously of animal.

In a small cage box near the door is a baby dire rat. Only twice or three times the size of a large wharf rat, it scurries at the bars when they enter and makes little squeaking noises.

The bed is easily moved, revealing a grate, under which is a low, narrow passage, covered in mould and dirt and filled with thick, clinging webs.

At the far end is a small antechamber with several crates of rotted food, filled with clouds of gnats. And stairs.

Up the steps is daylight. At the top is what was once a guard station, but holes in the roof and wall make it almost a balcony.

A kobold naps nearby, sprawled out on the grass with its helmet as a pillow.

BATTLE FOR THE KEEP

Spoiler: OOC

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No initiative needed just yet, but it probably won't be long. feel free to handle the IC/OC knowledge of anything on the map in whatever way makes sense or is the most interesting.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Silent_p]

Arabella watches wordlessly as the other kobolds seem to curse them and run away. She remains watching after them for a long moment before turning and quietly following the last kobold’s directions to the secret passage.

It’s a tight, messy fit and as they emerge, she wrinkles her nose at the lingering scent of animal and rotten food. Shaking some cobwebs from her hair and waving a hand futilely through the cloud of insects, she carefully proceeds onward, doing her best to keep her armour from making too much noise.

As they reach the daylight at the top of the stairs, she comes to a stop, noting the sleeping kobold only feet away. Intending to take a breath of fresh air, she catches the scent of more rodents and sniffs cautiously. ”Do you smell that?” She asks Heart quietly.

[truemane]

MEANWHILE...

Across the keep, in a small circular room that was once a library of some sort (the walls are lined with the ruined remnants of shelves and mouldy piles of mouldy paper, there is a simple but stout cage guarded by a pair of large kobolds wielding spears, and in the cage is a very strange sight. Elves. Two of them.

One is younger, gaunt, thin, and pale. The other is older, and whose face bears the marks of years spent outside in the elements. Both of them are clad in dirty rags and have minor wounds all over their bodies.

Off to the side of the room is a locked chest. Inside is the Elves' gear.

They had both been held in solitary in the more secure prisons in the basement (near the rat enclosures) but this morning, all of a sudden, they were jerked out of their cells, dragged upstairs and thrown in to this makeshift cage.

Ironically, this cage may actually have originally been meant to hold an animal of some kind. There are tufts of fur on the bars and dried stool on the floor.

The two guards are very alert, very agitated.

The entire keep has a sharp, tense, feeling of anticipation about it.

They had heard some yelling near the gate earlier. But nothing since.

Spoiler: OOC

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Okay you two, welcome to the game! Feel free to interact with each other or the scene in any way that makes sense.

[Xihirli]

Skía made a few requests, including one for water and another for release. When that seemed unlikely, she turned her attention to her cellmate and started speaking elvish.

"Geia sas. Onomázomai Skía. Pós írthes edó?"

Spoiler: Elvish

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Hello. I am called Skía. How did you get here?

[oaken]

The old elf was sitting on the floor hunched over, his forearms resting on his knees, his long white hair draped over his shoulders. He'd been looking down staring at the floor since they had been brought into the cell. He looked utterly absorbed by his own thoughts, having barely noticed that he was locked up with another elf.

When Skía spoke, he slowly moved his head up and looked at her, studying her face and physiognomy for some time.
Then he smiled, a broad, warm, and genuine smile that made his eyes narrow due to all the wrinkles on his face.
He then spoke in elvish with a raspy gentle voice: "Well, hello, young Skía. It is a great pleasure to meet you! My name is Lossëhelleth, but I haven't been called that in a long, long time, so you can just call me Vincent, as most do."

He stopped talking for a few brief seconds, then restarted: "I would think my eyes betray me, or that this old mind had lost its senses, but you really are one of them, aren't you? I can barely remember the last time I crossed paths with one of your kind. Heh, at this point, it's more the memory of a memory anyway. So it's good to see you, it's never too late for these old eyes to rediscover the world...", he trailed off.

"Oh, yes, of course, you wanted to know how I got here. I'm sorry. Why, probably the same way that you did: by getting caught! Heh! I was part of an expedition sent by a Duke to free this fort. And it would seem that we failed. The others are probably dead or ran away while I was caught. But if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met you, so that's not all that bad now, is it?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Lossëheleth in elvish would mean "snow-white fur coat" and Skía would recognize the meaning.

[Xihirli]

Skía visibly brightened at the older elf's warmth and kindness, her very nearly pure white face lifting with her smile. She continued in Elvish. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lossëhelleth. And if it is all the same to you, I hope I can call you by your name in your native language."

After thinking for just a moment about what "one of them" meant, Skía nodded. "I am a Shadar-Kai, blessed by the Raven Queen. And I am happy I met you, Lossëhelleth! I... heard of an old elven people here. I thought this might make a suitable home for my people. I am not familiar with this duke of yours..." Skía thought for a moment. "Oh! I am so rude! My clan name is Thÿella."

[oaken]

Oh, absolutely, it would be most kind of you to call me by my elvish name. For the longest time nobody has called me by that, and thus it would make me most happy." Says the elf with a warm and wide smile on his wrinkled face.

He then carefully listens to Skía's account and responds: "hmmm, that's most interesting, I was not aware of elves in this part of the Borderlands. Are you sure you didn't mean to investigate it further north?"
"As far as I am told, this fort used to the property of a noble family of humans. Not too long ago their families and alliances faded, and the place was abandoned, and the Borderlands with it. The Duke I mention is one of their descendants who tries to reclaim the location to her family. I decided to help, but it would seem my help was not meant to work in her favor..."

"Thÿella, uh? I am afraid I am not familiar with such clan, but I am far from being knowledgeable about our old siblings who were blessed by the Raven Queen herself. Maybe you can tell me more about your clan and your quest for a suitable home for them. It would seem we have time to spare anyway, locked in here just the two of us. I would enjoy knowing more about the story of your people."

"And as for my clan, we were once called the Narmëala, and we populated a large forest way further north from here, but that was a long time ago..." he drifts off.

Spoiler: OOC

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Narmëala in elvish would mean something like "wolf spirits", if Skía has knowledge about the elves in Faerûn I think she might recognize the name as an old and potentially extinguished clan of druidic elves who lived as wolves protecting forests (assuming that's okay with @truemane and following the idea of "speaking lore").

[JNAProductions]

Heart mutters to Arabella. "We go for the lynchpin, and hope the rest of them crumple once we take out the head, yeah? I'll let you go in, make some noise, and hit Olvirik while he's distracted."

[Silent_p]

Arabella simply nods in reply and, taking a steadying breath, points to the left before making her way in that direction. Stepping as carefully and quietly as she can, she heads for the place the kobold had indicated Olvirk would be found.

Spoiler: OOC

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Arabella will move toward the door at K12 while sneaking.
Stealth (disadvantage): (1d20+2)[11]; (1d20+2)[21]

[JNAProductions]

Heart lurks behind, hopefully a bit more stealthily than Arabella. She has two daggers in her hands as she goes.

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+5)[22] Stealth Check!