One Shot 1: A Very Kobold Adventure

General Summary

Our adventuring party looked a little different than usual this week. Instead of following our usual band of heroes(?) our story focused around a band of four odd kobolds trying to do right by their clan.
Called together by their newly appointed leader, Yusdrayl, our party consisted of Zihru Bonemender, former matriarch and current clan shaman; Negg Eggsnatcher, rogue extraordinaire; Galax, paladin of Kurtulmak; and oddball tinkerer Snarf, along with his construct, Daniels Jr. These four were brought together for the difficult task of acquiring a white dragon egg for the clan, a rare artifact that had been tracked to the small village of Cropsford by some divinatory visions of Yusdrayl. They were tasked with arriving at the village and there meeting her contact, who would have means to deliver the egg quickly back to the clan.
Arriving at the forest outside the town, our kobold heroes scouted around the outskirts of Cropsford, finding a small stump with hidden draconic runes marking it as a meeting location. They had found their drop off point and waited for their contact to arrive.
Wait they did, as it was hours before their contact, Meepo, arrived on the scene. He filled them in on the happenings of the town: a hot shot gnomish archaeologist, Blimpy Jones, had arrived in town a few weeks back and discovered a long forgotten Telmuni temple dedicated to dragons up in the mountains near the town. It was Meepo's best guess that the egg was likely still in the temple somewhere as he had not heard talk of it in the village (although regrettably, after an incident with a small dog, he was too frightened to stray too close to town).
Our party decided they needed more information, and so, disguised as a halfling commoner and a cat, Negg and Zihru made their way into the village's local inn, the Sleepy Jackrabbit, for some reconnaissance. There they discovered that Jones and company were stumped by some sort of puzzle door in the temple, and had sent word for a wizard to come and help disenchant the door to make access easier. The wizard should arrive within the next day or two, claimed Jones, and they would just have to wait it out until then. His second in command, a brutish green dragonborn, was none too thrilled by the proposition, but submitted to Jones' expertise on such matters.
Meanwhile, back at Meepo's camp, Galax was growing suspicious of Snarf the tinkerer. Something seemed off with him, more off even than his personality suggested. He could not put his finger on it, but Galax was sure Snarf was hiding something. As the two conversed, Daniels Jr. dug out a pit at Snarf's command to add some extra security to the campsite, security that would unfortunately soon be needed.
The spies returned from the Sleepy Jackrabbit and shared what information they had gained. The group hatched a plan: make their way up into the temple and try and steal the egg before the wizard arrived. Plan set, they were ready to leave. Unfortunately for them though, their trouble was just beginning. Wolves had descended on the camp while they slept, attacking the company and giving them their first real taste of battle on their excursion thus far. No casualties were had, although Meepo did fall out of a tree and Daniels Jr. did ultimately need some repairs, and the party was able to make their way partway up the mountain before making a second camp and waiting for the following nightfall.
Evening the next day, our kobolds left the safety of their cave and ventured up the mountain into the camp of Blimpy Jones and company. Negg, disguising himself as the gnome extraordinaire, convinced the guards guarding the temple entrance to take the night off, allowing himself and fellow compatriots to sneak easily into the temple structure.
Once inside, our party pushed deep inside, coming to a fork in the road. A sign marked the left passage as the way towards the main chamber and the right passage as unexplored and therefore potentially dangerous. While they argued about which way to go, footsteps approached. Hiding, the party saw the real Blimpy Jones, his lieutenant, and a guard enter and head down the left passage! Zihru followed in mouse form, and made her way into the main chamber area (narrowly escaping a guard's boot!), a large open room, one wall filled with the giant statue of a rearing white dragon. In the middle of the room stood Blimpy, the dragonborn, and a third figure. The door was being guarded by a spectator! Zihru made her way back to the party, and the group decided to chance it down the right pathway.
Creeping their way along the darker passage, our group (literally) ran into a gelatinous cube. While it ate Daniels Jr., some ingenuity on the part of the adventurers quickly led to the explosion of the cube, leaving everyone and the walls and floor covered in cube-juice. The passage eventually wound its way upwards, and the group found themselves on a hidden balcony overlooking the chamber Zihru had found herself in just minutes before.
Using a spiderclimb spell, Zihru gave Negg the ability to explore the chamber from above. He searched all along the upper portions of the statue, finding stanzas of a cryptic poem written in draconic on each of the statue's hands. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the group, Snarf snuck his journal over the edge of the balcony, down to the explorer's below, alongside a note written in gnomish. A man entered telling Blimpy and company that the wizard was on his way up. They emptied the chamber to go and meet him at camp, the dragonborn picking up Snarf's journal, believing it to be Blimpy's. A voice spoke telepathically to our kobolds, "I know you're there." Now was the time to take action or lose this opportunity forever!
Our party climbed down into the main area of the chamber, and there (ridiculously quickly) solved the spectator's riddle. Snarf touched the draconic letter for "E" on the door, and it opened before the trapped chamber even had time to fully set up its puzzle. The spectator thanked them for ending its long watch over the room, before spontaneously combusting in a fit of laughter, and the group made it into the treasure vault. There, each of them grabbed all the gold their little kobold bodies could carry, alongside the white dragon egg, and snuck their way back out of the temple as quickly as possible.
Luck and trickery got them out of the temple and away from the camp, with the sounds of discovery and pursuit growing louder in the distance. They made their way back to the cave, where Meepo (slowly) teleported his way with the egg back to the kobold clan. The party's task was complete, now all they needed to do was escape with their lives!
Without asking for a second opinion, Snarf jumped on Daniels Jr. and bounded out of the cave to face the pursuers head on, offering to sacrifice himself for the sake of the party. Suspicious of his motives, Zihru followed in squirrel form and watched the standoff unfold. There, before an armed group of fifty or more, Snarf revealed himself to actually be Alvyn Ningelton, gnomish anthropologist and colleague of Blimpy Jones. Apparently he had accidentally transformed himself into a kobold permanently while trying to research the species, and had lived among them for multiple years. Blimpy was intrigued by the kobold due to the journal and note he had been snuck in the temple, and approached Alvyn along with his wizard companion, Carl the Magnificent, who made quick work of the magical transfiguration, returning Alvyn to his normal gnomish form. Shocked, Zihru prepared a spell, ready to sacrifice herself should Alvyn give away the kobolds to the gnomes and company. Blimpy asked if the Alvyn's kobold companions had made it away with anything of particular value, and the world stood still for just a moment.
However, just as Zihru was certain of Alvyn's treachery and prepared to release her animal form and strike, Alvyn responded with a resounding "no." He covered for the kobolds, claiming they had made it away with little other than some gold pieces and jewels, pittance in comparison to the hoards of treasure still remaining in the temple. In Alvyn's research, he had grown fond of the kobolds, and wished the clan the best, even if he knew he would no longer be welcome among them. He rode off with his gnomish companions back towards Cropsford, ready to celebrate and discussion all their findings together.
The remaining members of the kobold party made their way back through the Underdark, following the signs of their clan's movements, until finally they found themselves in a large temple space dedicated to red dragons, deep below the earth's surface. There, sitting on a dragon-shaped throne of marble, sat Yusdrayl, who congratulated the party for a job well done and welcomed them to their new home, The Sunless Citadel.

Character(s) interacted with

Meepo, Yusdrayl, Blimpy Jones, Alvyn Ningelton

Report Date

29 Mar 2018

Secondary Location

Solara (Continent)