Session 10: Meet the Sootscales

in which the group tries to forge an alliance with a tribe of Kobolds

Mikmek was anxious to get back to his tribe with the statue, but the group wanted to explore first the area and continue documenting the region. The hills around the Old Sycamore were rugged, and only thanks to the savvy of Gam'el'gar, they could navigate the maze of canyons and ravines without getting lost.

In one of the ravines, the group encountered a strange creature, an 8 feet tall bizarre half-bear, half-owl monstrosity, that was feeding on a prey, apparently a deer. Kii had read somewhere about these strange creatures, called Owlbears. In wizardry circles, it was believed that they were the result of some deranged wizard's experiments. The creatures were dangerous and extremely aggressive, so the group decided to give it a wide berth. Nevertheless, Kii mentioned that young owlbears fetched a high price in the cities' markets, and he also remembered that, during the interrogation of some of the captured bandits, one of them had mentioned that the Stag Lord kept a horrible pet, a mix of owl and bear, called Beaky... but from what Kii had read, Owlbears were feral and impossible to truly domesticate...

During their exploration, the group was caught by a thunderstorm and got quite wet. That night they slept again in the Mites' lair; only Cardot's coughs broke from time to time the silence in the caverns: apparently they had found a safe place to sleep, at least for the moment.

In the morning, Mikmek led the group to the entrance of the Kobolds' lair. A fallen sign reading "Oaktop Silver Mine" leaned against the side of a narrow opening in an outcropping of large boulders that emerged from the weathered face of a hill. When the characters approached the entrance with Mikmek they saw a cage made of branches and sticks with a Mite and a Man in it! When the man saw the characters, he started shouting: "Help! Please help me! My name is Rufus Seadwell and these monsters have kidnapped me!"... Things seemed to start getting interesting...

The group told Rufus to calm down, and that they would soon rescue them. He did not seem very pleased when the characters followed Mikmek into the kobolds' lair. As they navigated the small tunnels, several kobold guards joined the group and escorted them to the common room of the kobolds. There they met Chief Sootscale and most of the tribe; the Chief seemed confused and unsure on what to do, and the heroes requested an alliance in exchange for the Statue of Old Sharptooth.

Just as the Chief was reluctantly accepting the deal, a strange purple scaled kobold made his appearance. Four tough looking kobolds came with him, and he had the vestments of a shaman... This was the strange interloper shaman that the Sootscale kobolds feared and that had started a war between the kobolds and the mites!

Tartuk, the Kobold-Gnome Shaman

A tense discussion started in which Tartuk, the purple scaled kobold, tried to intimidate the tribe and to force them into attacking the group while the characters tried to convince the kobold that they should revolt and that they could help them get rid of the shaman. After several minutes of discussion, the negotiations ended abruptly in violence; the group had managed to convince many in the tribe that they were powerful enough, so Tartuk tried to escape, but Am managed to grab him and pin him to the ground.

As soon as the heroes gave him the statue, Chief Sootscale destroyed it and the kobolds started dancing and hugging each other, some of them even daring to kiss and hug the strangers that had saved them from Tartuk's tyranny.

In the loot of the tribe, the group found Svetlana's ring, which had been robbed by the bandits, then by the Mites, and finally by the kobolds. They also found Tartuk's diary, which told his sad story:

Tartuk was not born a kobold—he was
born a gnome. He was killed in a fight against a group
of ogres who were tormenting his village, but his
accidentally heroic sacrifice was enough to give his village
a chance to defeat the ogres. The village, sorrowed by
Tartuk’s death, unanimously voted to restore him to
life—so they decided to use a scroll of reincarnate that had
sat in the village treasury for years. In an ironic twist of
fate, poor Tartuk came back as a kobold.
Scandalized, the village didn’t know how to react.

Tartuk did—he hadn’t meant to give his life to save
the village (he’d actually been trying to surrender to
the ogres and offer to help them destroy the village in
return for sparing his life, but the ogres crushed him

before he got his offer out), and now they’d turned him
into one of the most hated of monsters—a kobold! The
fact that his new scales were the same deep purple as his
hair in his previous life served only to ensure Tartuk’s
shame. Enraged, he fled into the woods, only to nurse a
deep grudge. 

He found a tribe of kobolds, joined them,
used his magic and manipulative lies to rally them, and
led his new army in an attack against his old village. The
resulting battle was furious, and only Tartuk survived.
That was fine with him.

Since then, the mad kobold has drifted through several
River Kingdoms, periodically haunting towns and
murdering gnomes he finds and at others insinuating
himself into kobold tribes, taking them over from within,
and then driving them to extinction by forcing them into
wars they can’t possibly win. The Sootscales are but Tartuk’s
latest project. He has used a combination of lies, magic, and his
favorite tool—a non-magical statue of a devil—to seize
control of a tribe. He’s become quite skilled at convincing
tribes that the statue is magic and that it will curse the
entire tribe if the chieftain doesn’t follow its commands—
commands, of course, that only Tartuk can hear.

Tucked into the back of the journal is a single scroll of fly;
his journal indicates that when he grows tired of his life,
he intends to use the scroll to fly up as high as he can,
effectively committing suicide when the spell expires in
5 minutes and leaves him at a height of nearly 2,000 feet,
well out of the safety range for the spell’s expiration.

(story taken from module 31 of Pathfinder, "The Stolen Land")

After the short battle, the group negotiated with Chief Sootscale an alliance with the kobolds tribe, which was sealed during a kobold ritual in which the characters had to dance, eat some musty mushrooms and share hugs with half the kobold tribe... The main points of the (verbal) agreement were, more or less:
1. In exchange for weekly shipments of food and adequate mining tools, the kobolds would provide the silver they obtained in their caverns.
2. Chief Sootscale demanded Tartuk's magical bracers, the masterwork metal shield and the magical crossbow bolts. He gave the rest of the tribe's loot to the adventurers in payment of their help on ridding the tribe of Tartuk.
3. Tartuk's tribe was to be decided by Chief Sootscale...
4. The Chief agreed to accept the adventurer's ruling in future problems with neighbours and also agreed to stop attacking any merchants, in exchange for the adventurers' protection.
5. Finally, the Chief also agreed to lend the support of some of his brave warriors in a future assault on the Stag Lord's fort.

Rufus Seadwell demanded that the kobolds should be punished for having held him prisoner. The adventurers argued with him that the kobolds were not the main culprits, as they had been pushed to these bad decisions by Tartuk. Still, Rufus Seadwell was not convinced, so the adventurers agreed not to receive any reward and offered him his unconditional freedom. The merchant still seemed a bit unconvinced, but seeing he would not gain anything more reluctantly agreed and left the Kobolds' lair.


The characters then discussed with Chief Sootscale about the surrounding lands. The kobolds had knowledge of the location of the Stag Lord's fort and of a field with many fangberry bushes, and the Chief agreed to provide them with a guide.

With the feeling of a difficult negotiation satisfactorily concluded, the adventurers stayed that night in the Kobolds' lair, and took part of their strange celebration of their liberation from Tartuk's machinations.

XP:
- 100 (exploring the Old Sycamore hex)
- 400 (completing the quest The Sacred Statue of the Kobolds)
- 3200 (defeating the Shaman Tartuk and allying with the Sootscale tribe)
Total this session: 3700XP
Total campaign: 17,180XP

Loot:
- On Tartuk:
    i. Tartuk's personal journal.
    ii. a magic wand (wand of Magic Missile; 28 charges).
    iii. magical bracers (Chief Sootscale obtained it during the negotiations).
    iv. masterwork cold iron sickle.
    v. a magic scroll (scroll of Fly).
- Kobolds' Loot (piled in Tartuk's quarters together with all sorts of worthless shiny objects):
    i. 500 gp.
    ii. masterwork metal shield (Chief Sootscale obtained it during the negotiations).
    iii. 7 magic crossbow bolts (+1 flaming crossbow bolts) (Chief Sootscale obtained them during the negotiations).
    iv. a pair of magic boots (boots of elvenkind).
    v. a leather bag with 400gp, a plain brass wedding ring (Svetlana's), and a pouch containing magic dust.

Time Passed:
- 2 days.
The time now is 10th Gozran (April), in the morning. The group is in the lair of the Sootscale kobold tribe, in the old Oaktop Silver Mine.

Session 9: Under the Old Sycamore Tree

in which the characters storm the Mites lair

Grabbles, the "Mite King" on Tickleback

Fighting the Mites
The characters thought that the best course of action was forging an alliance with the Kobold tribe of the Kamelands, and what better way to do it than recover their statue, which had been stolen by the pitiful Mites?

It took them three days to arrive at the Old Sycamore, a graying hulk of a tree that loomed over the hills in the northern Kamelands. Visible for miles around, they had no problem approaching the tree in the early morning of their third day of travel. A root-lined shaft, hidden amid the ancient tree roots, descended into a network of narrow tunnels. Though the group descended carefully and surprised two mites in the first cavern, it took them too long to overcome them, and the noise alerted some of the other Mites.

Kii, who was exploring in front of the group, was ambushed by a group of six mites in a cave the mites used to torment their prisoners. A pitched battle ensued, and the noise attracted a gargantuan centipede from a nearby chasm that pinned Gam'el'gar against the walls of the cave. When all seemed lost for the ranger, several precise shots from Am's bow put the critter down.

In the meantime, Kii had been busy with his wand of Color Spray and most of the mites were unconscious on the ground. While Cardot healed the group, a second wave of mites, this time led by its "king" Grabbles and strengthened with three giant centipedes, surrounded the characters. Grabbles was riding a giant tick, shouting orders to his subjects, but apparently to a poor result, because the mites and their centipede pets showed at all times very poor tactical judgement.

Conversation with Mikmek the kobold
In the end, the group prevailed, although the battle left them exhausted, and Kii was almost crushed to death by the giant tick's pincers. In the torment chamber, one kobold prisoner was still alive: Mikmek. Mikmek promised the characters many fine treasures if they helped him recover the statue. During their conversation, the characters learned that the kobold tribe had two leaders, a shaman named Tartuk, and the old chief Sootscale. The characters noticed that Mikmek seemed nervous when describing the relationship of these two with the statue, so after a bit of pressure, he gave them a lot of information about the tribe.

Apparently the relations between the two leaders were strained. Mikmek described Tartuk as a "magical kobold" that had joined the tribe some months before. Tartuk told them that the statue, Old Sharptooth, was magical and that it would increase the strength of the tribe. They had prayed to the "Rope God in the Glowing Cave" before (at this, the characters remembered the crude altar they had seen in the golden cavern some days before, in which they had been attacked by a strange crab-like creature) but the few kobolds that objected to this change soon became ill and died, their scales turning yellow, dry, and brittle.

Tartuk had ordered the kobolds to attack the mites to increase the territory controlled by the tribe, and they had even started attacking and robbing some human merchants. Whenever they suffered a setback, some kobolds were sacrificed to Old Sharptooth to ask for his forgiveness and power. When the Mites robbed the statue, Tartuk told them that it was a priority to recover it, as otherwise they would be punished for their weakness. Mikmek had been part of a failed expedition to recover the statue.

Exploring the Mites´ lair
After a short rest, they explored thoroughly the Mites´ lair, and found the Kobold's statuette, together with a list written in Undercommon with two columns labeled "Us" and "Them". The "Us" column listed "kobold statue" and "lots of spears and coins", whereas the "Them" column listed "magic dust", "lots of coins" and "shiny human ring". The small statue depicted a crouching horned devil and was a beautiful work of art; the characters examined it carefully but could not discover anything about the statue except the obvious.

Finally, as both Kii and Gam'el'gar were in bad shape, they decided to stay the rest of the day and that night in the lair. As it was pouring rain outside, they all felt lucky to be indoors. During the night, they discussed how to approach the kobolds and gain their confidence to form an alliance.

XP:
- 1900 (Mites)
- 600 (Giant Centipedes)
- 600 (Gargantuan Centipede)
- 935 (Grabbles and Tickleback)
Total this session: 4035XP
Total campaign: 13,480XP

Loot:
- kobold statuette (fine work of art depicting a crouching horned devil).
- 50gp.
- Necklace with a strange coin with both faces depicting a face of a beautiful woman.
- Centipede parts useful for alchemical ingredients.

Time Passed:
- A bit more than 3 days.
The time now is 8th Gozran (April), in the morning. The group is at the Old Sycamore.

Buying items through Oleg and Svetlana

Mundane Items (things that cost less than 10gp or that make sense to have available for explorers, merchants and trappers)  

At any moment, Oleg has approximately 500gp of equipment available for you. This is mundane equipment: armor, weapons, adventuring gear, some alchemical items (sunrods, for example)... In general, he won't have more than 50gp invested in the same type of item.  
The available equipment is replenished once a week, on the first day of the week.

Special and magic items

For special and magic items you will have to order them and he'll be able to provide them in 5-10 days, depending on whether he finds someone that sells them in Restov or needs to find a contact in New Stetven, which is farther away... Pitax is a den of thieves and bandits, not suitable for honest commerce (this is what Oleg tells you)... As for the exact number of days, we'll decide it using a Luck check (done by the person for which the item is intended). The time will be 5 days + 1 day for each point of difference between your luck test and 11; maximum number of days will be 10.

- A 20+ (or natural 20) in the Luck check means the object is available immediately with a 20% discount.

- A 1- (or natural 1) in the Luck check means the object is not available at that moment. You can retry the check 10 days later, but the item will cost an extra 20%.

Special treatment from Oleg

Thanks to your help with the bandits, Oleg will provide boarding at his lodge at half price, he will also waive his commission for bringing special items, i.e., he'll assume the risk of the item(s) being stolen. On top of that, and also thanks to the moon radishes you gave Svetlana, Oleg offers you a discount of 50gp per adventurer for 1 item each (could be the first item you buy).

Alchemical Items (potions, oils, poisons, and similar)

Finally, he also tells you that he buys most alchemical items from a hermit called Bokken, who has a hut 15 miles east of Oleg's Trading Post. Bokken also brews potions, so it could be well worth the visit... He also agrees to trade with him in your behalf if you prefer it. Therefore, alchemical items and potions will take 1-5 days to arrive (same Luck check as with other magic items, so 1 day+difference of Luck test to reach 11).

- A 20+ (or natural 20) in the Luck check means the object is available immediately with a 20% discount.

- A 1- (or natural 1) in the Luck check means the object is not available at that moment due to lack of components. You can retry the check 5 days later, but the item will cost an extra 20%.

Luck Check

This is a Charisma check, with other modifiers depending on the circumstances.

Map

Davik Nettle's Diary/Ledger. Info 2

The ledger continues with Davik detailing the comings and goings of many merchants and trappers. They were all happy to be able to easily cross the Shrike River, making the journey to Jovvox and Taldor much easier. Davik made even more money than expected, as news of his bridge reached the right ears in both Brevoy and Jovvox, so he calculated he would be able to fully pay back his investors in a bit less than 2 years, instead of the three he had first calculated. He goes on detailing the names of the members of the Restov Merchants Guild that had invested in the bridge.

Davik got once into a verbal fight with the trapper Breeg Orlivanch, as he was a miser and always haggled the fee to use the bridge. After that fight, Breeg told him he would never use his bridge again, and some trappers told him that he had moved his hunting area to the northern Narlmarches.

A bit more than a year ago, the merchant Rufus Seadwell told him that he had seen a group of Kobolds move into an abandoned mine to the southwest of the bridge. Davik shows some sign of worry in this part of the diary but soon is relieved after some other merchants told him that they had seen some signs of skirmishes between them and the Mite tribe that inhabited the Old Sycamore tree. According to the stories told to him by other trappers and merchants, Taldan colonists once made an attempt to settle in the Stolen Lands. They failed, but not for lack of resources. There’s supposedly some old and abandoned mines somewhere in the Kamelands, and Davik was making plans on investigating and possibly developing these mines.

About a year ago, more and more merchants and trappers started reporting an increase in bandit attacks. He explained Davik that a group of evil monks and priests of a lesser-known goddess of hatred, extortion, and spite had once dwelt on the northern shore of the Tuskwater to the south and that he was convinced they were the cause behind the sudden rise in banditry!

Also a year ago, another trapper named Timitius Bandy had paid him with an ancient medallion he said he had found in a battle sight near the western edge of the Narlmarches. He was happy to accept it, as soon after a travelling Pathfinder named Ollix Kaddar had paid him a good sum of money for the medallion and offered him to buy any other medallion he could find. He even said that he would try to organise an archeology expedition to find such a site, as he was sure the medallion was a relic from the ancient Barbarian Lords of Numeria.

Davik Nettle's Diary/Ledger. Info 1

From what he writes at the beginning of the book, Davik was an engineer from Restov (remember Brevoy is mainly the union of two kingdoms, you can check it in the blog). Some years ago, he was contacted by a group of Restov merchants who wanted to increase the trade with the kingdom of Galt (to the south of the Stolen Lands). The only bridge crossing the Shrike River was in Mivon, one of the River Kingdoms, and the tolls to cross that bridge (and the danger of having to cross the Narlmarches wood to reach it) were too high. They convinced Davik to build the bridge and paid for the expenses. 

Davik did not intend to stay in the area, but in the process of building the bridge he developed a liking for the rugged beauty of the Kamelands (the hills just to the southwest of Brevoy that the Shrike River crosses) and decided to stay as toll master when the construction workers left. As he had enough money and received a nice bonus from the Restov Merchants Guild, he kept the tolls low. 

One of the first persons to use the bridge two years ago was Nugrah, a strange mendicant druid of Gozreh who was travelling with a teenage boy of 17 or so. The boy had scar marks in his face, as if he had been burnt in a fire, and the druid did not treat him well, as he was constantly hitting him in the back of the head and calling him names. Davik asked the druid to stop manhandling the boy, but the man told him to mind his business, as "his son was a lazy boy and a retard and needs to be taught discipline if I have to make a man out of him".

Dealings with Restov Merchants (3rd and 4th Gozran 4710)

Conversation with Jonah Renton (the merchant attacked by Trolls)

Jonah is open to the development ideas of the characters. He explained them the following:

1.- Davik's bridge is very important for the merchants to be able to reach Galt, and Taldor further to the south, both of them rich lands with demand for northern goods (although Galt is now in the middle of a rebellion/civil war). Not having the bridge means dangerous and costly detours, so its reconstruction would be a high priority project for the merchants, for which they would risk investment if you are able to keep the area secure and promise low fees to cross the bridge.

Without the bridge (even with it), the merchants have to cross the Kamelands hills, and here there are 3 problems at the moment that need to be solved before the merchants are able to fully use this route: bandit raids from the Stag Lord (already diminished thanks to your actions in the past weeks), Kobold raids (there are still reports of merchants being robbed by the Kobolds), Mite raids (same thing as with the kobolds).

2.- Another important area is the Narlmarches (the forest in your area of influence). It would be important to have a nice road and several safe places to stop. Oleg's Trading Post is one. Another one could be the Temple of Erastil (now starting to be developed by the priest Jhod Kavken). The problem here at the moment is that west of the Temple there is not much you know, so you would need to explore the west a bit... specially important would be finding a good place to ford or cross the Thorn River. Jonah tells you that there was an old bridge to the south of the area you have already explored (south of the Bandit camp you assaulted) but that it is at the moment too near to the Stag Lord's fort to be used safely.

This is an important area to reach Pitax from which it is easy to take barges to Lake Encarthan and other exotic lands to the west. At the moment, Pitax has a new leader, Lord Castruccio Irovetti, who is intent in developing the "bandit kingdom". He has funded an Academy of Arts and there is great demand for some products: musical instruments, paper, fine cloth for costumes, etc.

3. As for natural resources, the Greenbelt has been a wilderness area for a long time, so there are many untapped resources, although many trappers and merchants complain that most developments have been harashed not only by bandits, kobolds and mites, but also by strange accidents and mishaps attributed to the "forest spirits"... In order to develop these resources, these spirits should be taken care of somehow.

4. As for the Troll assault, they are a very rare sight in the northern Narlmarches, and that's the reason Jonah's team was taken by surprise. He thinks they might be a small roaming band from a big tribe that must be much more to the south... He asks you to keep an eye, although he doubts you'll see any of them... You also talk with other merchants and trappers at Oleg's and only a third of them report sightings of Trolls, and mostly lone Trolls.