Aporeu chronicles Issue 14: Diplomatic Connections
Stories from the adventurers
This week
Never trust a Gnome merchant guild master.Diplomatic Connections
So, they informed me that this newspaper is willing to take stories that Adventurers write down after their mission detailing what is done on those missions, and gives them magic items as a reward. Seems like this would serve the dual purpose of getting my story told the way it should be told, and earn me some powerful items in the process of doing so. Now, how do I begin this.. Well, I suppose at the start would be the best place. So, as I was regaling people with stories of the exploits my father had during his youth, and a story or 2 about what I've done, I was getting paid quite handsomely for doing so. Which is part of the reason I am writing this down. Passing down my story through word of mouth is nice, but history is always written by the victors. And a victor I was on this latest adventure. Anyway, where was I.. Oh right, the beginning. As I've agreed to go on a diplomatic mission to a world where some others have gone before and lost one of their compatriots to an unhappy dragon's fire, I report to the Guild hall like a common foot soldier. Usually a little beneath my stature, but I've resolved to take it like a champ and work my way up the ranks to prove everybody that I am fit to be here, and earn their trust. Can't lead an army, much less a world, if those fighting with or for you cannot trust you. So, as we arrive at the Guild Hall, we are greeted by an Elf named 'Eleban', who doesn't waste any time, and tells us that we are off 'to the world!', and he starts walking towards the Gate. I like this man. He doesn't dwell on the small details, and gets down to business right away. A commendable trait. He informs us that there is a village nearby on the other side of the Gate, and he will guide us from there to a larger town, to establish diplomatic connections. As we walk towards the gate, introductions between all in the group are made. I already recognize Orla and Cor'Torin. I am pleased to know I have at least 2 reliable people with me on this mission, in case things go bad. There is also a Dwarf, by the name of Ranra Surefoot. Like most Dwarves I've known, she turned out to be the honorable sort that looks after her friends. We also meet Borr, a Dragon-like man of the heavily armored persuasion like myself, though he feels the need to lug around a shield with a symbol of some deity on it. My verdict on this man is still out, as you will no doubt realize as I tell my tale. The last person I am introduced to is a man of diminutive stature, but a name to make up for that: Diederik-Robin de Schattigen. But he tells us to just call him DR, for short. In my experience, those with the longest names are usually trying to compensate for something, but this one is different. He possesses abilities that I would not underestimate, for it could very well spell one's doom to do so. I announce myself to those that are not yet familiar with my name. I do hope this will be remedied as well as I grow in power. It's such a drag having to introduce myself to everybody new I travel with. I suppose that's part of starting a reputation in a new world: You have to build it from the ground up. As we finish up our introductions, with gladly not too much strange looks my way regarding my appearance, Eleban has finished entering the code for the world he wishes to take us to, and we all step through the gate. The moment the air from that place hits us, I notice that while it's warmer than that of Aporeu, I do not feel much of any discomfort being here, as some of my traveling companions seem to have. DR has apparently been here before, as he readies his crossbow the instant he notices a small force of about 25 Kobolds standing a bit in front of the gate. These small things do not look friendly. There is also no cover to be seen for a while, as this Gate appears to sit in the middle of an open plain. At least we don't have to worry about not spotting any reinforcements these Kobolds might have waiting in the wings. After scanning the present crowd for something, he loads his crossbow. I am unsure if he has found his quarry within this mess of scales, but it doesn't matter. As he prepares for combat, the Kobolds charge at us. In the ensuing struggle, I apply my family's signature weapon, the 'Death Beam', as they call it, to a few of them, after missing the first shot. I over corrected to account for their small stature. I still say we call our innate attacking power at range a 'Frost Beam', since it chills those that are hit by it. I think I will refer to it as a Frost Beam from now on, since my brother isn't here to insist on the name he gives his. And this name makes a lot more sense to me. Anyway, I'm getting off track. Orla and Borr go down during the fight, but Eleban heals Orla, who in turn speaks a word of magic that rouses Borr back to his feet an into the fight. One of the scaled vermin dares to place itself within 5 feet of my glorious visage, and I am forced to rend it from hip to shoulder with a quick slash of my blade. The rest of them fall to our combined spells and martial prowess, with Cor'Torin taking out a sizable group of them with twin knives conjured of ice, that explode after they reach their target. It is very fortunate that I have seen this magic in this fight, as will become clear by the end of my retelling of this tale. After the last one is slain, they set about looting the bodies. DR and Eleban scavenge the corpses for money, and we are each 6 silver richer by the end of their search. Orla collects all the weapons these creatures used. I am unsure if she wishes to sell these, or if she is looking to supply her own armed forces. I strategically did not ask her this, but not because I simply forgot to do so. If I had, that would've been because of what Cor'torin did to these things after their spark had been doused. He collected the ears and tails from every single one of them. It was at this point that I recalled the list I copied for a certain man, back in Aporeu, who asks for Adventurers to collect for him parts and pieces of 'exotic' material. I must remember to collect things from my kills. Not for trophies, because I do not require them, but to help out someone that could one day prove vitally important to my successful conquest of worlds. We shall see how useful the elixirs this man produces and sells are out in the field. As Eleban leads us towards the village nearest the Gate, we notice that it's surrounded by Halflings. My suspicions surrounding DR and his having been to this world before are confirmed, as he tells us that the people here do not generally share the Common tongue of Aporeu. This fact could make this diplomatic mission significantly more difficult. Our slaughter of the Kobold welcome party was quite expedient, and it is still morning when we arrive to the village. We are stopped outside. Cor'torin worked his magic to understand what these people are saying, but cannot speak their language in return, unfortunately. We manage to make our intentions known, and we are led into the town square while under guard. I cannot fault these small folk for being cautious around me. Perhaps my reputation has reached here, though I fear this is not the case. In the town square, we are met by the town Elder, who thankfully speaks Common. A broken form without any elegance to it, but Common nonetheless. We learn that they believe DR's previous group, and their trek into this world, has allowed a dragon to learn of the village's existence, and they are not pleased by this. A sentiment I can understand completely. Fully grown dragons are formidable opponents, and any that do not respect the power such creatures wield are doomed to perish. We are also informed that the city we seek is 3 days travel to the South, through a desert. We are given an opportunity to buy and fill extra waterskins, and Orla tells us that she is able to create water to refill them during our travels. Cor'torin seems very pleased by their offer to sell us these waterskins, and he pays 15 gold for the lot. Which everybody seems to think is very excessive, and I'm inclined to agree. As we travel, I discover that DR has some special clothing that helps him keep his cool in this harsh-sunned world, and the both of us require only 2 full waterskins per day, where the rest requires 4 per day to stay properly hydrated. It seems I am blessed to have been born with a resistance to extreme heat like this. The 3 days of travel are uneventful, and we arrive to the city we sought as dusk falls. We are stopped at the gate by a Halfling and a Gnome, neither of whom understand our tongue. The Gnome goes to get someone higher up the ranks, who can understand us. We tell this fetched Gnome that we wish to stay in town for 2 days to 'make friends', as he does not seem to understand the term 'diplomatic'. They are helpful though, and give us directions to the "Nmire Traeg Nin" inn, supposedly one that has been built to accommodate larger beings like ourselves. As we walk towards the inn, we notice that the city is mostly built out of 'small' homes. The ones with small doors have 2 stories, and the few built for larger beings are single-storied, but each is roughly the same height. Until we get to what I assume is the 'outside district', where there are multiple-storied buildings for larger creatures. It's slightly jarring to see the stark contrast to what we consider normal. The South of the town is built against a cliff face, and we approached the town from the North. As we head into the inn that was recommended to us, the owner switches to 'our' Common, and comments that we must not be from around here. I just glare at him as if to ask if he's being serious. He does not seem to understand this non-verbal communication of mine. Perhaps I was too subtle. It also appears that it remains quite warm during the nights in this world, as we retreat to a communal room that can house up to 10 people. Eleban was generous enough to take care of the room and food for us tonight and the following morning. As we are enjoying our breakfast the next morning, a Gnome called 'Falxif' approaches us, and informs us that his boss 'Podon' wishes to speak with us, for the purpose of 'making friends', as they seem to call the diplomatic process here. We follow him through the town, and we pass small market squares, and temples to deities the names of which we do not recognize. There are a lot of small folk here, and a rough estimate would be that about 95% of the population is Gnome or Halfling, with the majority of that being Halfling. We also do not spot any Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Dragonborn, or the kind that I sometimes get mistaken for, Tieflings. We meet up with a fancily dressed Gnome, in front of what appears to be his business, or house. It doesn't matter. Eleban and Ranra go inside to discuss diplomatic matters, and the rest of us have about an hour to ourselves in this town. We all split up, with Borr and Orla heading to the temples to take care of their own things. DR goes off, talking about making some money with gambling. I go looking for someplace that sells alcohol, but am unable to find any such place. Accursed small folk and their strange language. We meet back at Podon's place after roughly an hour has passed, and Ranra stumbles out the door, looking a bit dazed. She tells that she was immobilized, Eleban was taken, and Podon wanted us to meet him in a cave roughly 15 minutes outside of the town, to quote: "Have fun". DR checks the double door inside, and when he is unsuccessful in opening it, asks Borr to 'open' it. Our dragonborn friend does a number on the woodwork, but encounters a hard substance behind it, and is unable to get through as well. As we head to the West gate to find this cave and free our guide from this demented Gnome, Borr insists that we report the situation to the city guard. In hindsight, I am glad that we did as he asked, because we learn that Podon is a Lord in this town, and the guard goes a little bit pale in the face as it is confirmed that we are not dealing with someone brazenly using a Lord's name without being one. Orla and Borr talk a bit to the person that was brought out to talk with, because once more, the language was proving to be an issue. Before we head to the cave, but outside the city walls, I inquire the rest if they have a problem with using lethal force. Surprisingly, Borr seems to be all in favor of bringing the hurt down on any who oppose us in that cave. He says something about 'justice'. I just wanted to be sure they would not get upset if I exterminate the things we face. As we reach the cave, we find a text, that I will not repeat here. Using the clues in the text, we find our way through the obstacles inside, and free Eleban. I will regale you with how we went about this in the next part. Just want to make sure you know that we were not deterred by what we faced within the cave. In the first room, there is a small cavern with mud at the bottom, and a door requiring a key on the far side of the bridge. Ranra changes into a large spider-like form, and inspects the mud, regarding a clue we got about 'dirty hands'. A mud creature comes out as she disturbs the mud, and we take care of both it, and the 3 others that spawn. I pierce one with my Beam, and Orla rings its bell. Cor'torin stays topside as well, as DR and Borr both jump down to whale on the poor things with ferocious might.
I respect their willingness to get down into the muck and take care of business without hesitation.
As there are 2 left, I shift back to the door-side of the chasm, and whip one on the head. My whip crackles with a divine spark I had not seen before, and the creature explodes all over DR, who is looking quite dirty by now.
After that, I whip the other creature into submission as well. Or to death, since it stopped moving. My whip did not crackle with power as it had the first one.
We help out allies out from the chasm, while Ranra acquires the key to the door. DR brings up some of the arms of these creatures at Cor'torin's request, and the elven man also collects some of the mud from DR's visage.
In the next room, we find a 15 ft wide gap. Ranra easily hops across the seemingly bottomless chasm to the other side, and Cor'torin gives her a rope to hold. DR scuttles across by the rope, and I try to leap across.
Sadly, I misjudged the distance ever so slightly, and I sadly fail to keep my balance on the edge. I blame my glorious tail for shifting my balance backwards into the abyss below.
As I tumble, I close my eyes and prepare for death.. Only to find myself caught by an invisible net, about 25 feet down from the edge. I am helped up onto the other side, only to find that there is no door on this side.
Ranra discovers the door to progress onward is underneath the ledge that we were on before. A clever design, I must admit.
I climb down and we all head through the door, to find a large open cave.
What we found in this cave is for some the stuff of nightmares. We were greeted by 2 Dragon Wyrmlings. Orla tries to compliment them, but they do not seem to understand Common either.
Borr tries to talk to them, but all he learns is that they are quite hungry because they haven't been fed for 3 days.
As they approach Borr's torch, we learn that they are Red in color, and they inform us that they had not seen Eleban.
One of the creatures moves to attack Borr, as the other positioned itself to breathe a gout of flame on most of the rest. I am, perhaps mercifully, just outside of its range to affect with this flame.
Ranra loses her spider form, and Cor'torin and Orla both make a swift retreat after being roasted quite effectively.
I move towards the one that breathed fire on us, and I channel the conquering presence of my bloodline. The dragon is frightened of me, and I keep this one occupied while the others take care of the other one.
I must have really scared it, because not only does this dragon not hit me, it bites its own tongue as it tries to get me. In a moment of pity for the beast that has its own tongue impaled on its fangs, I do not strike a blow to the creature.
As it tries once more to bite me, probably out of fear of what I would do to it if I remained breathing, it dislodged the fangs from its tongue quite brutally, and I get some blood on me. This cannot stand.
I slash out at the creature that dared dirty my glorious presence with its blood like this, and I rake my blade across the already sensitive tongue.
I was a bit preoccupied to see them take care of the other dragon, but I was informed of its demise when I spotted a knife made of ice flying at the one in front of me and I saw the other one fall in that same instant.
I reflexively brought up my tail to shield my from the explosion these knives possess as they reach their target. As I said at the start, it was very fortunate that I was made aware of this particular magic in our fight against the Kobolds.
Then Ranra focuses her attention on the second dragon, and fells it with another ice knife. I shield myself from this one as well, and I tell my supposed friends that they should stop tossing exploding things at targets I am fighting.
It's bad enough that they took the kill that was rightfully mine.
For my troubles, I collect 6 vials of the dragon's blood, 5 fangs, 3 scales, and it's breath sac. I remembered the Doctor's list of items he would like to buy this time around.
Orla and Cor'torin both get some things from the other dragon as well, and the rest of their bodies are chopped up and stuffed into Bags of Holding, which are much more spacious than they appear to be on the outside.
While we dismantle our former foes, DR went ahead and found a door with a lit room beyond it. We join him after we are done with our butcher's work, and find 2 Halflings in plate armor.
We also find Lord Podon, and our friend Eleban. He starts talking about how much fun it was to see us fight. Orla tells him off, and agrees with DR that it's not quite as fun for us, if we don't get a reward for our troubles.
As they negotiate for a good monetary reward for killing the dragons, he replies that a lot of people can kill dragons. I ask him how many people he knows that scare a dragon into basically killing itself.
He admits that such a feat is quite rare, and agrees to give each of us 25 gold. He also pays for our stay at the inn. We happily take advantage of his generosity. I personally order a bottle of strong alcohol and test the quality before putting it into my bag.
The Doctor should be quite pleased with this. Orla and Cor'torin do something similar, and foot Podon for the bill for everything.
DR partied a bit too hard and had quite the hangover the following morning. We try to get the innkeep to give himself a nice gratuity, but he refuses.
Oh well, his loss.
We don't go by Podon's place, and instead travel back to to Gate. We step through, back home, and report out mission to the Guild. We get 15 gold from them, and 5 gold each from Eleban for saving his life.
Sadly, the Guild thinks our mission wasn't a success. We tried to work it out, but Podon just was not the right man to strike up diplomatic relations with.
Signed, Arkonn.
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