Session 4
After many trials and tribulations, the party reach Kobold Korners. Burly bugbear mercenaries guard the entrance to the bustling market, and will only allow the group to pass if they surrender their weapons. The party do so willingly. Nobody tries to smuggle a dagger through the checkpoint, which must be a first in the history of roleplaying games. The market is heaving with visitors from across the width and depth of Stonehell; the party see orcs, goblins, bugbears and even a few other adventuring parties perusing the kobold wares.
There is no sign of Elouard, SQM or Ulric at this time, although Spence has reappeared.
Aifer sees a vendor selling grilled snakes, and realises he can communicate with the still-living specimens yet to be cooked. The snakes beg for freedom. Aifer buys all the remaining snakes and carries them around in a big cage.
Nohelp finds an animal trainer and buys a small yappy dog, who he names Binky and introduces to a diet of raw meat.
Lightfingers visits a wizened kobold fortune teller and crosses her palm with silver, in exchange for a vision of the future.
Meanwhile, Spence posts Missing Person posters, appealing for information on the whereabouts of his missing students.
The party encounter Trustee Sniv, a corpulent kobold bureaucrat wearing ratty furs and a fez. He is pretty much the 'boss' of Kobold Korners. Sniv offers the party a job, and asks them to visit him in his personal quarters to hash out the particulars.
The party retire to the Rat Kebab Kafe for a light lunch. Another adventuring party is present. Lightfingers spots a halfling woman glowering at him. He recognises her, just as she produces a knife from her boot and leaps toward him! Aifer intercepts the attack and interposes himself between the two rogues. The halfling woman curses and cuts him down to get to Lightfingers, who immediately runs away and hides where she cannot find him. A pair of bugbear mercs respond to the ruckus, but Nohelp sends them on their way. Once the halfling wench has calmed down, the party learn her name is Lily Longham. Her comrades are Morrie Minehorn (dwarf fighter), Simon Funkgarfel (human cleric) and Elandorr Qidi (elven mage). Lily explains that on a previous delve, Lightfingers abandoned the party and left her and her brother for dead. Her brother actually did die, but she survived and swore vengeance - only for Lightfingers to cowardly flee her retribution. The two parties agree to keep their distance from each other, while Lily works through her shit.
Lightfingers rejoins the grop once Lily is out of the way. The party attend their covert rendezvous with Trustee Sniv, who tells them that the Hobgoblin Occupational Army has claimed the floor below Kobold Korners and is sending spies up to test the Korner's secuity. Sniv wants to know what the HOA are planning and promises to reward the party handsomely if they find out.
The party head down into the hobgoblin redoubt. The entrance is guarded by a pair of tight-lipped sentries. The party murder them and wait patiently for the end of their shift, then murder the two hobgoblins sent out to replace them. The HOA catch on and sally forth fom a side door to flank the party. They were not counting on the game-breaking potency of the Blast power and Spence annihilates their entire brigade with a flourish.
Lightfingers creeps off to scout, groping in the dark as he still lacks darkvision. Two hobgoblin sentries spot him through a portcullis and open fire. Lightfingers drops prone and crawls away. Spnce drops another Blast spell on the portcullis, melting the bars and immolating the guards.
Beyond the breach, a stone bridge spans a pit of spikes. The HOA have fortified the opposite side of the bridge. One sentry is manning a curious device, that looks like a clay pot mounted to an iron tripod. As Aifer emerges, the pot activates and spews an endless stream of pressurised water. Aifer is knocked prone, and is unable to cast as water fills his mouth and nose. Spence teleports himself and Lightfingers across the pit. Lightfingers takes control of the strange device, tuning it on the remaining hobgoblins and knocking them into the pit. Nohelp identifies the pot is a Decanter of Endless Water. The party detatch the pot and add it to their inventory.
The party have penetrated the hobgoblin reboubt and must now secure evidence of the HOA's plot against Kobold Korners.
TBC