The wind in your face is cool and comfortable. The road beneath your feet is level. An occasional ancient cobblestone peeks through the dirt road, indicating decades of neglect. You notice footprints leading up and down the road, many of which were made by small, clawed feet.
As you pass the first set of boulder piles, small creatures hiding behind the rocks spring into view and begin moving towards you. With a shriek, the small humanoids attack. Scaled and rust-colored, they have reptilian heads and tails.
It's an ambush!
Still in awe of Belimir's transformation and for once is speechless
Due to Varro's fascination with Belimir's new form has him mesmerized and Varro stands still, motionless despite the sudden appearance of enemies.
Already in his beast form, Belimir roars, and a swarm of locusts rushes from behind him and attacks the baddies.
"Finally, some excitement. For Moradin!" Brann charges towards the foes nearest him and throws up his hands creating a blast of radiant light.
Ehud declares an oath of enmity against one of the kobold skrimishers, then shifts a few steps to the side.
Ehud attacks the unfortunate kobold using a whirlwind-like charge.
Varro shakes his head free of the cobwebs brought on by Belimir's transformation. He then Assesses the situation. He notices the Kobolds are moving into a flanking position around Brann. Varro's eyes turn red and he charges, Greataxe held high and with the most menacing voice "fer honor and riches" *in Dwarven* I be comin, Brodder"
The panther roars tremendously and while doing so, hundreds of swarming locusts fly straight towards the group of kobolds south of the road.
They completely envelope one kobold, draggin him to the ground, while the other two only seem slightly bothered by the biting insects.
Brann seeing his chance to prove his devotion to Moradin, jumps into the cloud of insects, no seeming to be affected by them. THe area gets bathed in a holy light, searing the kobolds and bolstering nearby allies.
Ehud draws his greatsword and manuvers his way north towards a kobold holding strange clay pots. Swearing an oath to dispatch the evil, Ehud swings with a whirlwind of a charge, clipping the kobold across the shoulder, obviously hurting the creature.
Varro, with axe in hand, charges towards the kobolds weilding shortswords and what looks like dragonscales as sheilds. With a battlecry on his lips, he swings with all his might, driving his axe deep into the kobold, nearly killing it in one hit.
The kobolds seeing that they are obviously overpowered, try to use strategy to take down the party.
Flanking Brann, the two Dragonshields, desipte their wounds, strike out at the cleric, both landing solid hits on the dwarf.
The kobold holding all the clay pots seems extremely agile, as it moves away from Ehud's charge after taking the hit.
It throws a pot which explodes at Ehud's feet, containing a sticky green substance, or would have exploded as Ehud's feet if the kobold didn't drop it in fright, immobilizing itself.
The remaining minions all lash out with their spears with a mix of luck.
One kobold strikes Bronn viciously with his spear, peircing the wizard's chest.
The kobold attacking Nuit trips on an ancient rock, impailing itself, shudders on the ground and stops moving all together.
The last kobold attacks Belimir, scoring a hit on the druid, drawing blood from the panther's right shoulder.
Varro angered by the Kobolds double teaming on Brann, Shouts “Ignore me? That was a Mistake!”
Varro swings his Greataxe towards the kobold in a vicious attack then spins and steps around his target.
Varro turns his attention to the other Kobold “You are about two seconds from a bad day”
Varro fakes a high strike, swinging the blade of his Axe over Brann’s Head and intentional swinging high over the creature then reversing the arc of the blade at the last moment, he changes the direction of the swing Bearing his full force to the creatures right Leg.
Nuit sizes up his foes and more to engage a stronger foe and swears an oath of enmity against a Dragonshield Kobold.
Nuit then attacks with Overwhelming strike
In an instant, the panther quickly steps to one side, roars a second time and another swarm of locusts spring forth, attacking several enemies.
“I HATE KOBOLDS!”
Varro shouts so the others can hear above the sounds of combat "Be needin one ta live!"
The panther roars angrily in response to Varro`s requests. “NO MERCY!”
"Ah yeh filthy Kobalds, think that is gonna be enough? Moradin protects his own."
Brann focuses inward and summons the light of Moradin to infuse him and heal his wounds.
Seeing his ally take several solid strikes, Varro flashes into action.
Swinging his deadly greataxe in a huge arc, Varro strikes wickedly into a kobold, crushing its shield and sliding clean through its ribs.
Not pausing for a second, Varro slides towards his next victim, faking a high strike with his axe, reversing the momentum and bringing his axe back down for a powerful swing at the kobold's leg.
A loud crunching noise can be heard above the fighting, and the kobold cries aloud.
The injured kobold lashes out with its shortsword in a pitiful attempt to save its life, slashing Varro across his forearm, drawing a long gash across his strong arm.
Taking advantage of the kobold's attack towards Varro, Nuit dashes in behind the kobold, crashing his flail directly into the kobold's side, causing the creature to fly back to where Nuit was standing, as the agile elf takes the place of the now-dead kobold.
You hear the panther roar again, causing the swarm of locusts to chase after the northern group of kobolds. The insects do not seem as dense this time, and seem to collapse on a single Minion. The other two seem not to notice the biting bugs.
Ehud suddenly soars into the air, radiant red wings of pure energy carrying him up and over the Slinger. As he passes above the kobold, he strikes out with his spear, landing a perfect strike down through the unfortunate creature's shoulder, dropping the beast to the ground as he lands. Ehud then gathers himself, takes a step back, surveying the battlefield.
Seeming to converse with the kobolds, the stout cleric falls inside himself in prayer, summoning the strength of his Diety to heal his wounds. Still bloodied and wounded, Brann seems to be a bit stronger, yet still standing. After his prayer he seems to have caught a second wind, and is now ready for battle.
Seeing their comrades fall so quickly in combat, the kobolds all crash onto the Dragonborn, trying to take down a single enemy at a time.
Three minions all rush towards the wizard with weapons held high, all attacking simultaneously.
Spears flying like angry wasps towards the overwhelmed wizard, strike after deadly strike hit, easily peircing his thin robes. You see the dragonborn collapse in a bloody heap, crying out as he falls.
Both the panther and Varro see an opportunity to help their friend as the kobolds vicious assault the wizard, the panther with his raking claws, and Varro with his enormous axe seize their moment, killing the two kobolds foolish enough to come within reach of their deadly weapons.
With that, there is one kobold still standing.
Varro seeing the Last Kobold standing over Bronn's dead body Dashes to the Kobold
Varro then without an other word drops his Greataxe and tries to grab the Kobold in a submission hold
Like a bolt of lightning, Varro grabs the kobold in a full nelson, effectively pinning the kobold down with no chance of escape.
Combat has calmed down, and the party now has a prisoner.
"Nows I'v gots me a critter... Nows ya goin ta be tellin me ev'ything ya be knowin." Varro holds the kobold tight against its struggles to get free "Now dagnabit ya cut that crap out, ya hears." Varro shakes the kobold a bit to get its attention.
"Now, Whos sent ya and whys ya be attackin us?"
Nuit lowers his heavy flail and quietly says with head bowed, "Into your arms My Lady I send these foes, and so shall I do until you call me into your embrace."
The kobold struggles and squirms under Varro's hold, squeaks and squeals of fear escape its lips. Finally, it stops trying to escape and looks up at Varro.
"Irontooth." It squeaks out in very broken common. The kobold immediately begins squealing at the top of it's lungs.
Varro shakes the kobold again "Who be dis Irontooth ya be speakin about?"
The kobold only squeals and squeaks in fear at your questioning, fear having taken over all other emotions.
"Dagnabit ya.... NO!... Ya didn't ... Ya did... Ya blasted gud fer nuttin ...."
Varro shakes the kobold a few more times
"Damnit ya pee'd on me ... Ya goin ta pay fer dat one .. see me demon cat der .. dat one with da one long fang an dat short one ... dat one der wit da mainge ... yea dat one ... ya take a gud close look at dat one ..cause if ya don't be tellin me who dis Irontooth be ...den me cat der ...he is goin ta eat ya. ... Now ya gets ta tellin me!"
The kobold only responds by curling up into as tight a ball as he can and wimpers. You've gotten about all you will from the weak little creature.
Varro shakes the kobold a few more times then flings the Kobold in the direction of the demon cat. Belimir in his Wild shape catches the kobold under one of his enormous paws, pinning the creature to the ground but otherwise not harming the vile beast. Varro then grabbing a handfull of leaves from the ground wipes the creatures urine from his leg. "Dat bugger pee'd on me .. disgustin half gnome ... whut kind ov self respectin ... grrrr ... Bugger pee'd on me!" Varro picks up his axe and walks over to Brann *in dwarven* "Irontooth ...whut ya be makin ov dat ... recken a chief or sumting?"
Ehud walks over to the kobold, kneeling beside it on the ground. "It's not too late for you, you know. We understand that you were just following orders. Give me the location of this Irontooth and I'll make sure none of my friends hurt you anymore." Ehud says in a frank and soothing tone.
Belimir doesn`t like this cat and mouse game. He`s form is that of a cat, but this is not a way to treat enemies. You kill them or they kill you. That is how nature works. He looks at the Kobold, and without mercy crushes his head with the other paw. I really hate kobolds. He then changes his shape back to human form, walks to Bronn and tries to stabilize him. "Healer. Come here quickly."
Brann responds to Varro, "I don't think these wretches are clever enough to have given themselves names. Irontooth eh...."
Brann pauses as he thoughtfully scratches his arse.
"Well we'll be wanting to meet this Irontooth if only to thank him for the chance to rid us of some Kobolds. And maybe he'll provide some more entertainment."
"Also my thanks to you for your axe hand. Always glad to have a strong brother to rely on."
Was he scared of us? Or of the fact that he told us about Irontooth?
Realising that one of his fellow adventurers has been severely injured, Brann sprints over to Bronn. He looks over the wounds and attempts to stabilise his injuries.
Varro Looks over to the downed Companion, shakes his head “Dey can try all dey want but me dragon be gone. I'v seen battles before and when one goes down like dat ... dey n'ver get back up, n'ver.”
"Do what ya can brodder, not much more ya can do den dat, 'cept maybe ya be letting da gods know he be a comin home ta dem."
Varro reaches down to pick up the book that Bronn was reading and reads the title to himself whylcious frogorious fucisicoum ... hmmm dat must be fancy speak fer why frogs make love ... yep, dat be it, must be ... well I'll jus hold on ta dis fer now.
Varro slides the book into his backpack, then looks back over towards Brann and Belimir as they work on Bronn's body. As blood flies into the air and a curse slips from Brann's lips, Varro cocks his head and raises an eyebrow in concern. "Brodder? Ev'yting going ok?"
Looking over Brann's shoulder it is clear, from all the blood and Bronn's insides being on the outside, that everything is NOT going ok.
Despite his attempts at saving the Dragonborn, Brann ends up causing more damage than he does helping Bronn survive the attack. The dragonborn quietly slips off into death.
With a crunch, the wimpering kobold's head is crushed under the weight of the panther's paw. A not-so-honorable death to the helpless prisoner of the party.
The sun is beginning to set and the bodies of kobolds lay all around the road.
Belimir bows his head and whispers a short prayer to Silvanus. They lost a party member today, at the hands of some bandit Kobold gang...........By Silvanus, I HATE Kobolds....
Varro seeing that his dragon is gone, decides to do something with some chance of helping the party.
Varro (and any who will help him) drags all the bodies of the kobolds to the south side of the road and search each of them carefully, making sure that all have been stripped of anything valuable or of any use. He then piles them among the stones that line the road here.
"Da buzzards be taken care ov da disposal, dey gotta eat ya know" Varro states with a nod to Belimir.
Varro then digs through the pile of belongings that he stripped from the kobolds.
Looking for anything that might lead them to "Irontooth" or to his continued riches.
Varro finds a small drawing on a peice of crumpled paper depicting a map with some crude notes that appear to be whatever the kobolds use for writing.
Varro looks the piece of paper and tries to figure it all out (that is besides wondering how kobolds could afford paper) Scratching his bald spot and then scratching his beard (refrains from scratching his arse like brann did.
The map shows a location not far from where the party is on the King's Road, that might be what the koblds brigands are using for a lair, or a base of operations.
Among the bodies the party finds a dagger, a sling with some bullets, five spears and five javelins, two shortswords, and a total of 34sp. The shields the creatures used are all broken and scattered about the road. They also find a suit of leather armor on the kobold slinger.
Varro looks at something in his hand and scratches the bald spot on the top of his head.
Belimir moves in closer to see what Varro is holding.
“Shinies?!?!?!”
Varro is looking at a crumpled up piece of paper and the small drawings on the peice of crumpled paper depicting a map with some crude notes that appear to be whatever the kobolds use for writing.
"Wells I be thinkin it be a map... I think dis be us here" Points to the spot on the map "and dis be der den, I thinks ... Wishin I be able able ta make out des critter scratches 'er and 'er" Points to the kobolds crude writing.
"I reckon dis be where we be findin whatever an Irontooth is."
Pfffffffffffffff......Just a piece of paper............Belimir walks away, dissapointed at what Varro is holding in his hands.
Seeing Belimir walking away disgusted "Is dis mark fer shinies? I wonder if dis be what I think it be."
Belimir stops instantly at the mention of shinies. Turns around and rushes with amazing speed to Varro. He almost grabs the parchment asking "Where?" Then turning back to the dwarf, his eyes sparkling.
"Careful Dagnabit ... right der." Varro points to a spot inside the kobolds lair. "Ya read critter scratch dos ya?"
Belimir looks a bit suspicious. "Are you suuuuuuuuure? I don`t know what 'critter scratch be'" (again he tries to mimic the dwarfs speech), flipping the parchment left and right, clockwise and counterclockwise. "Maybe so eneone else knows."
"NO! I am not sure, I don't read critter scratch, Maybe we be needin ta find sumbody who does read critter scratch den we know fer sure but till den I be thinkin dat da gold shinie means gold shinies"
"Now lets go show dis to da udders and see if any ov dem read critter scratch"
Belimir shrugs, slightly dissapointed, but hope still showing in his eyes. "Let`s go."
Varro with belimir close behind takes the map with the critter scratches over to the rest of the group to see what they make of it.
"What ya be making ov dis critter scratch map I be findin... Dis lead us to whatever be a Irontooth, ya recken?"
Ehud, disgusted with his new allies' lack of creativity in dealing out retribution, remains quiet for some time. Then he gets up takes the kobolds' dagger and approaches Bronn, kneeling over his body he intones, "By Irontooths words you died and by your tongue he shall meet his fitting end. By the Doombringer, I swear it." He then proceeds to cut out Bronn's tongue and wrap it in cloth that Ehud tears from his own coat. He then puts the wrapped tongue in his bag. "I'm for heading to Winterhaven and then attacking the kobold's Lair tomorrow morning, well rested."
Varro hears Ehud's word but doesn't notice what he is doing
Hmm ...a nice meal and a warm bed ... Dat be soundin damn fine
"Bah ...der be no time fer a good rest, we gots kobolds ta be slayin and whatever an Irontooth be, it needin ta be answerin ta killin me dragon, dos things don't come 'round very often. But i recken if yas be needin a rest der den I suppose wes can be letting dem dig in and be getting ready fer us instead ov us takin dem by surprise. Yea lets gos an take it easy and give dem a chance ta be killin us all a bit easier. Dat way dey can be carryin all ov us on da same funeral wagon back ta Fallcrest , it be costin less fer da mourners dat way." Varro stops a moment lost in thought.
hmm ... Mourners ... I always be wantin mourners at me funeral. dat be nice.
"ya know a warm bed and a meal mightin not be such a bad Idea afters all. der be some dat could use da rest, gettin der strength up and get me dragon out ov da middle ov da road. I be sure since we be so close ta Winterhaven dat we can get him der, ya recken. Dat way word can be sent ta his kin or whoever it be dat cares fer him, dat way dey can arrange fer his body and such"
Varro looks around for a couple of stout sapplings to make a strecher out of.
"Anyting we can make a dragon drager out ov ya recken?"
At the passing of his short time companion, Nuit kneels, bows his head and begins whispering a prayer to the Raven Queen to guide his companion into her embrace. He then stands, ready to move on. What could this Irontooth have done to make his minions more afraid of revealing information than dying at the hands of angry foes?
Varro Finds two stout sapplings and cuts them down and strips them of branches and bark. He takes the sappling quarterstaffs and makes a stretcher using Bronn's cloak. He then rolls Bronn onto the stretcher. Noticing the mutilation to Bronn's face.
"Dos critters where nasty to me dragon"
Securing Bronn to the stretcher using a length of rope, and securing Bronn's belongings as well as his own backpacks to the stretcher.
"Der we go, a dragon drager"
Lifting the head of the stretch that is designed to be drug behind one person, Varro begins to drag Bronn's body to Winterhaven.
"Well, get ya stuff if ya be still comin wit me, we be needing at get ta Der 'for it gets ta being too late."
Varro makes his way to Winterhaven.
Another day passes as you continue on the road towards Winterhaven. The journey is a bit slower as Bronn's body must be carried on the stretcher. You come up the road to the gates of Winterhaven. The sun is just rising as you reach the gates, they are wide open as if happily greeting your arrival.
Two guards on top of the ramparts call down to you as you approach through the gates.
"Hail newcomers!" The first guard smiles down to the party.
"We saw you coming from a mile away! Great view up here eh Martin?" The second guard nudges his partner.
"Aye, aye, Can see clear' cross the countryside up here. Whadda view eh Bart?" Martin the Guard nudges his partner back.
"'Course it is ya goof! I jus'said it was!" Bart shoves Martin on the shoulder.
"Hey! Whats the big idea ya big oaf? Don't go shovin' me on top of the wall! I coulda fell!" Martin shoves Bart back.
"Hey! Don't go shovin' me back on top of the wall either ya smelly Orc-Sniffer!" Bart shoves Martin back again.
The two guards have all but forgotten about the party as they get into a scuffel on top of the wall. They can be heard arguing and pushing and shoving each other as you continue into the town.
Villagers mill about the town conducting their daily business. In the market square you see several of the village's men and what guards are not on duty, practicing sword and shield drills. The Captain of the guard is giving instruction and commands.
Several buildings can be seen from the market square including an Inn, a blacksmith shop, a large tower, and a general store. There are other buildings within the confines of the walls as well.
