After accepting Miss Cordie’s proposition, the party gathered their gear together and met back up at the local inn. They promptly set off out of the village and met up with the mall group of kobolds at the location designated.
Muk-Tak, the leader of the small band, explained to them on the way that they did not mean to disturb anything in the mine. They were merely seeking someplace to live after a tribe of goblins had encroached into the kobolds’ territory and squeezed them out. The goblins were too many and the kobolds too few. The abandoned mine had seemed a blessing from the Green.
Only, it wasn’t.
The tunnels were cursed. Or so the kobolds now believed. When they explored the depths of the mine, something happened. The first explorers came back with pieces of blackened jade, which they passed around to their kin, wondering if such things had any value for trade . . . and then, they had . . . changed. Slowly, a darkness had spread into their very being, driving them mad, or worse. At first, for some, their scales started taking on a blackish hue around the edges. Then, their very natures seemed to do the same. The darkness spread through the clan until only Mak-Tuk and his few companions remained, only to be driven out by their mad kin.
Mak-Tuk, being clever and quick, knew that Corda Broome would hear their plight. She was known, even among the scaly folk, to be fair and just and touched by the Green. If the Black had taken Mak-Tuk’s clan, she would know what to do. And so the party of adventurers had come to share Mak-Tuk’s company.
Having learned more of the situation, the group continued on their way and near the end of their first day’s travels, came upon a long-abandoned farmstead. They did not know who it had belonged to, but the fields were overgrown, and the farmhouse itself looked like it had not been inhabited in many years. They considered it a good place to camp for the night and as they got closer they saw that a large pack of wolves had taken down a deer that had been grazing in the unharvested field near to the entrance to the house.
When the wolves saw the group, they jealously attacked. The adventurers were able to kill a number of the wolves and drive off the others. After dealing with the wolves, they noted among themselves that the pack had seemed surprisingly aggressive and wondered at the reason why. They then bedded down for the night.
As soon as they headed out the next day, they were attacked by a group of a half-dozen winged kobolds! Muk-Tak and his crew hid when the assault began, and the party was able to deal with the threat. When the fight was over, Muk-Tak and the others were able to identify each of the fallen. The kobolds had not only sprouted wings, but their features were hideously twisted and their scales blackened as if they had been burned.
The group helped the kobolds properly interr their dead and put them to rest and then moved on.
At approximately mid-day and while making their way along a very wide grazing trail that made an opening in the woods, a pack of Gnolls and their giant hyena burst from the treeline and right into the presence of the adventurers!
Chaos ensued and both surprised bands attacked each other. The party prevailed and wondered what had been chasing the monstrous creatures. Hearing sounds of a seemingly large battle of some kind far off in the forest, the party decided not to wait to see what had caused the gnolls to flee and quickly made their way down the trail toward their destination!
The group camped for one more night, this time out in the forest and under the stars. On the third day they made their way to the abandoned mine in the foothills and took stock of the situation.
The entrance to the mine had been boarded up, although a number of the boards low to the ground had been removed. One the stone posts of the entrance, runes had been carved he entire length. The party deduced that the runes were dwarven, but were unable to read them, or determine if they offered some kind of warning against entry.
They then made their way in and slowly made their way downward into the darkness. They came upon a stone shaft going downward, even deeper into the earth. The kobolds told them that down was where they had found the burned jade.
The shaft had a rickety old lift platform and winch system, which the group used to descend.
At the bottom of the shaft, there was what appeared to have once been a miners’ station where the dwarves had kept their equipment. Several mining cart rolling tracks branched off into the tunnels and there was a locked, iron storage cage next to the terminus. Inside the cage appeared to be a number of pickaxes, lanterns and flasks of oil, as well as what appeared to be some kind of full suit of armor standing upright as if on guard.
The group opened the cage forcefully, and the suit of armor attacked! It assaulted them physically and shocked them with electrical charges! As they were immersed in battle, the Black-corrupted chieftess sneak attacked them from behind, doubling their peril. The group was able to defeat their foes and steeled themselves for what they expected to be the culmination of their quest—dealing with the kobold chief and the remaining members of the clan!
They pushed on, making their way down one of the rail cart tracks and emerged in a large excavation cavern. There they fought the remaining winged kobolds and the corrupted Kobold chieftain. The chieftain wielded powerful clerical abilities granted to him by the Black. The adventurers faced their greatest test yet and were equal to the task. They defeated the last of the corrupted kobolds and toppled over the makeshift altar the scaly folk had built from all the pieces of burned jade in the mines.
They all exited the way they came and offered Mak-Tuk and his companions their condolences at the loss of their kin. As they stood outside, a troop of armored dwarves emerged from he wood.
“What be thy purpose here, skraelings?” Their leader demanded. Not liking the sound of the word skraelings, the adventurers and he dwarves discussed the situation.
These dwarves were a detachment sent from a larger group that had been pursuing a sizable raiding group of gnolls, some of which the party had encountered the day before. It was the sound of the dwarves engaging the creatures that the group had heard and moved away from! The gnolls had been harassing dwarven settlements and the dwarven thane had determined to wipe them out.
During the discussions, the party showed the dwarves a few pieces of he burned jade, which alarmed the doughty warriors. The band’s leader indicated that he would inform his superiors and that they would immediately set to work purging and fortifying the mines, as well as strengthening the security of the site against future intruders.
With mention of Miss Cordie’s involvement with the kobolds, the leader informed them that these few kobolds would be provisioned and granted safe passage toa safe ground the dwarves knew of in the north, so long as the kobolds promised not to return to these lands. Mak-Tuk eagerly accepted the offer.
The leader also sent word with his messenger that he intended to travel with the adventurers to consult with Miss Cordie and see what other information or insights she might have concerning this situation.
With that, the adventurers and a handful of dwarven warriors returned to Miss Cordie’s homestead to inform her of their exploits.
Miss Cordie was somewhat surprised to see the dwarves in the company of the young’uns when they arrived. All was explained to her as the group set down to rest on her porch and aid out the recently unfolded events. The dwarves told her that they did not realize that they had dug too deep into the mountains, as they had not ever encountered burned jade before.
“Well,” she said, after thinking or a moment and drawing deeply on her pipe. “I’d not seen any such thing neither, not ‘til last week, master dwarf. Seems yon mine’s been abandoned for years, so whatever’s been burnin’ that jade might be a recent development. . . or it’s a development we only recently larned of.“
“Either way, we got to stop whatever’s got the mountain all cantankerous.”
“Do you have any means to do so, Miss Cordie?” the dwarven sergeant asked.
Not m’self, no,” she replied matter-of-factly, tapping out the ashes of her now extinguished pipe. “But I ‘spec I know who does.”
“What oracle or savant could possess such wondrous knowledge?”
“Ain’t neither, I’m afraid. That’d be too easy. I’ll have to entreat with the fey folk, I believe.” Miss Cordie explained, to the frowns of the dwarves settin’ on her porch. “The sheehee’ll have some idea o’what to do.”
“Miss Cordie,” the sergeant protested. “We do not wish to entreat with the flighty folk. The last time we encountered those woodland sprites all nearly came to blows!”
“Not to worry, master dwarf,” she assured him, looking over to where the adventurers were sitting and gesturing in their direction. “Why, these very young’uns here are up for the task and could do with a bit of experience in the wider world outside the Holler.”
And with that, the
next adventure had already begun.
