HotDK 3: “After Them!”

General Summary In the aftermath of the raid by the Cult of the Dragon, Governor Nighthill approaches your group with a proposal: If they locate the raider's camp and find out certain information, he offers to pay you 250gp each. He wants to know where the camp is sited, how many raiders are there, who their leaders are, what’s motivating these attacks, and where they plan to strike next. If you recover valuables that were stolen from the town, he would like them returned but that is of lesser concern than determining what the Cult is up to.   The town, despite the disarray, supplies whatever gear is needed for the trip. The Cultist raiders have had a 2-3 hour head start, but after about 4 hours (around mid-day) you come upon a group of 4 human cultists and 8 Kobolds that are apparently just stragglers from the main group as they're fighting over how to cook some chickens they've managed to get hold of for lunch. So much so that the Kobolds have taken their share of the food and are sitting several yards away from the humans, who have left their weapons leaning against a rock out of arms reach.   You surprise the small encampment and kill 3 of the 4 cultists in such short order that the Kobolds run away and the remaining cultist surrenders and while at first tight lipped and defiant, eventually admits he doesn't really know much more, other than the, what he calls, "Wearers of Purple" ordered them to do, which is to look for gold, gems, and other valuables to added to "the great hoard to honor the Dragon Queen." He also gave up that there would be a rearguard and potential ambush site closer to the camp.   Several more miles south/southeast, sure enough, you come upon an area in the increasingly rocky terrain that could serve as a perfect ambush site as the rocks form a natural tunnel overlooked by a natural arrow blind. You even occasionally see someone peak out from it as though keeping watch.   Not knowing nor having a way to ascertain the strength of the rearguard, you find a more circuitous route around the ambush site but still manage to locate the valley that obviously serves as the Cultist's camp. It is abuzz with comings and goings of large numbers of Kobolds, Guards, Cultists, etc. so it's unlikely that your small band would be noticed entering the area.   Rewards Granted Session XP = 300XP (which put everyone at 600 of the 900 needed for Level 3)   Missions/Quests Completed GM Notes Completed "The Stragglers"   Character(s) interacted with left one Cultist alive from the small camp; obtained information about Rearguard and where the camp is, but he didn't know what the loot was for, only that they were told to gather it for "the great hoard to honor the Dragon Queen" Cultist set free with a broken scimitar.--- may bring him back in Episode 3 ? Avoided "Rearguard" using above info.