A Kobold Comes to Call

Scenario Overview #

My scenario had two storylines running through it.

One was that of the Urushi, a Gaian sect far to the northeast of the core spires. They were masters of lacquer art, and the Angry Rash technique, which allowed those who mastered the technique to live in the Green without fear of suffocation or corruption. The Urushi have been isolated from all other folk for a thousand years. The people were happy to welcome visitors to their small spires, but aside from the relationship with the rats, leadership had concerns. The expeditions that focused on this storyline broadened Spireling relations with the Urushi, brought the Angry Rash technique to the Spires, brokered an alliance between the Urushi and the Folivora, and gave their leader, Urushiol, hope that Gaia had not abandoned them.

The other storyline involved airship clan politics. The expeditions that focused on this storyline discovered the wreck of an ancient metallic airship, the Quicksilver, which appeared to have been built and crewed by kobolds, which ran counter to common knowledge that the only two airship clans were composed of humans and half elves. Adventurers aided the kobolds in securing the wreck so that it could be repaired, retrieving the gongs that enable the firing of a powerful sonic weapon, and finally raising the Quicksilver and announcing the rebirth of the kobold airship clan.

Dumpster Diving #

Friday 17:00pm - Saturday 1:17am in Frist 309

Player Characters #

Bonathri Trapwind III, Half-Elf Rogue
Judge Mentor, Kobold Barbarian
Lulaza of the Emerald, Kobold Paladin
Roarzjakk, Kobold Barbarian
T-I-A AKA "the Cat", Elf Druid
Trill, Kenku Barbarian

On the expedition #

[GM note: the below is written from the perspective of a run report, and melds the report by the player with some of my own text]

Approached by a kobold in the blue-gold livery of the Montang Airship Clan to "do something useful" while the Sect Elders argued. The airship Captain Kirav, of the Dagger, wants us to go on a secret mission to salvage technology from a crashed airship. "Is this legal?" we ask, to which he replies, "yes, but the Montang elders would not approve." Kirav seems very young to be an airship captain, and his valet seems to be a babysitter (we find out later that Captain Kirav pretended to be his own valet in order to join us on the mission – he thought adventurers would insist the captain stay safe on his own airship).

The airship dropped us off at a point where we could walk down to the wreck. While the wreck was about 200' down from the top of the Green, it was a few miles away on whatever path we could pick towards it. During the trek, we heard noises of frogs/toads. The positioning suggested intelligence and watchers as an early warning system. We debated what to do…

"I'm not suggesting we sacrifice the mastiff (the paladin's mount). I have a perfectly good dead kobold here!" -- Judge, who was carrying the desiccated corpse of his brother

Eventually Bonathri snuck up and discovered a small toad-like person hiding in the scrub as the rest of the party passed by. We decided the toadpeople weren't directly dangerous, and whoever they might be alerting already knew we were here.

When we reached the wreck, what at first appeared to be the airbag rose up into the air as a mass of stinging insects that attacked us. Afterwards was revealed a massive metal airship named the Quicksilver. It has a 200 ft gondola, bigger than the Mindbi, the biggest airship in active service. A conning tower extends 30 ft above the main part of the gondola. The name Quicksilver was written in both common and draconic. Was this a KOBOLD-manned ship? Did the Montang and Capsule airship clans steal airship technology from kobolds? [GM note: they hadn't; there were once many airship clans, and the Gǒng had simply been forgotten]

Found a 10 ft diameter circular opening in the front of the hull. Inside was a 40 ft wide x 60 ft long x 30 ft high space that seemed to be infested with green creatures. One of them created an obscuring spore cloud – they could see us, but we couldn't see them! "Only swing high, because it's mostly kobolds in there." T-I-A thorn whipped one of them to pull them out of the spore cloud:

"That's the smartest thing... that any of us has done." -- Lulaza
"The bar is low." -- Judge

… and we began to concentrate on how we could move the creatures to where we could see them. After the battle, we found a 20 ft diameter gong chained to the floor(?) – beginning to think this airship might have crashed upside down…

The gong had inscriptions in draconic: "We exhort you, descendents of dragons, remember your gransires and ROAR!" and "This is the final step, the thunderous roar that starts deep in the belly and pours out through the maw of the dragon." Did our kobold ancestors have some gong-based dragon breath technology? Exploring the ship, we found some tubes with oil & salt marked "PC-48 countermeasures", explosive ballistae, and some other ancient tech.

In the conning tower, we found the Green-infected corpse of Captain Avro Gǒng (Kobold). We destroyed it and found scraps of the Initiative manual. The ship began moving, sliding further down the mountain! The glass of the captain's room in the conning tower was too tough for us to break; Trill cut through it with an Initiative Chainsword we found earlier. Set off a flare and were rescued … by Julie Capsule! She seemed extremely pleased to have Kirav "owe her one".

Found navigation logs coated in lacquer; we made a copy of it before giving it to Kirav (we don't understand the markings ourselves, but an airship navigator could make sense of them). We recognized a symbol on the paper as that of an ancient lacquer artist.

The Groves Above #

Sat 08:58 - Sat 13:15 in Frist 309

Player Characters #

Ailin Hollum, Tortle Druid
Henry Calystryx, Kobold Bard
Quisp, Dragonborn Fighter
Thuruln, Dwarf Druid
Ulzur Stonefingers, Halfling Barbarian

On the expedition #

The party had a choice of missions:

there is a kobold named Mercu Gǒng who wants to retrieve what he believes to be his family's airship (the Quicksilver). See Cass & Liam's writeup for Mercu's encounter with his ancestors.
investigate the location indicated on the navigation logs found in the Quicksilver

We chose to go with Kirav Montang aboard the Dagger. His navigator, a kenku named Kettle Whistle, is decked out in Krieg W. Garret Resort & Casino (+ bathhouse) merchandise, and claims to be a "friend" of KWG. When pressed, she clarifies this is her membership level in the KWG Rewards system, but she gets invited to preview new attractions at the resort.

Along the way a Green flying serpent rose toward us with the intention of spreading the Green, but we negotiated our way past it with Thealian Mind by convincing it the Green was already spreading through Thealian Mind.

At the location indicated on the navigation logs we found a series of small spires, and on the tallest of them is a docking port. We were met by a hobbit in a sparkly robe; his name is Cappie and he calls himself the "Minister of the Groves Above" and the people of these spires are the Urushi. This spire has a number of lacquer trees that are tended by Urushi who are learning a technique that allows them to survive for a time in the Green. Masters of the Arts of the Urushi live deeper in the Green.

The Groves Above seem to be mostly hobbits – mastering the arts is "a lot of work and bother, and, well, it's very comfortable up here…" explained Cappie. Apparently there used to be many other types of folk in the Groves Above, but many of those folk moved permanently to the Groves Below. Cappie has never met a kenku, tortle, or dragonborn before, and "the last of the dwarves" went Below a decade ago.

We want to meet Masters of the Art; Cappie's daughter Sprout will escort us. She is 14 and has "earned her second mark" of lacquer. She can survive for a limited time in the Green, but must return quickly to the Groves Above. Cappie is very proud of her.

Sprout leads us down at a quick trot; she says that keeping a good pace helps to avoid dangers from the Green. We evaded a set of plant ambushers (again with Thealian Mind), and encountered a billy goat named Fukubukuro (Fuku for short), who has three lacquer marks on his hindquarters and seems unbothered by the Green.

At the base of the spire we met with three Masters of the art: Kani, Lilian, and Carmine. Lilian and Carmine escort Sprout back up the Spire, Kani takes us to one of the Groves Below. Kani explains that the chief of the people here is named Urushiol. We think Urushiol may be a chosen of Gaia, and was mentored by Gaia personally before the Green covered the world. The society of the Urushi worships Gaia. Fuku's immunity is explained by Urushiol's experiments to make fauna immune to the Green. Lacquer from the Groves Below is stronger. Fuku is one of very few successes. We get the impression that Urushiol doesn't care much for demi-humanity…

Along the way, we heard the wailing of infants. Kani said they had something to take care of, and gave us instructions on how to reach the grove, told us to gather our lacquer, and would rejoin us soon. We reached the Grove and waited. Eventually we started to need to make rolls against Green corruption.

[dark GM note: the cries of infants are from the Green, copied from corrupted babies born to Masters of the Urushi Arts in the deep Green, before the Urushi realized they could not safely have children in the Green. Kani, as last of the dwarves, was drawn to the cries and killed by the Green.]

We respectfully harvested the lacquer and waited some more. Henry played a song of thanks to the Grove. At its conclusion, we realized another being was with us in the Grove, who we believed to be Urushiol. She has green eyes, which concerned us. Reaching out with Thealian Mind received a strong rejection and psychic damage. Lilian arrived and led us through the rest of the ceremony. We think Urushiol may be negatively affected by lacquer being taken from trees (she seemed weak and listless afterwards).

Angry Rash technique unlocked!

We Are (Gǒng) Family #

Sat 14:36 - Sat 18:08 in Frist 309

Player Characters #

Guido the Glorious, Tortle Barbarian
Judge Mentor, Kobold Barbarian
Roarzjakk, Kobold Barbarian
Thulsa dar Mufasa, Dwarf Cleric of Daglir

On the expedition #

This party aided Mercu Gǒng in reclaiming the Quicksilver. They would need to find where it finally came to rest after sliding down the spire, secure the area around it, and then fully clear the ship of Green infestation. Mercu was able to provide an airship skiff and pilot it, and the party obtained a barrel of salt and enough Green protection for the journey. Finding the Quicksilver proved easy enough, and they covered areas around all entrances to the interior of the airship with salt. While this didn't keep out Green corruption, it did help prevent Green creatures from entering the airship again.

Inside, the party eliminated a group of fungal-based Green creatures that exploded with poisonous spores when killed. There appeared to be no other Green infestations on the ship. Kobold engineers could now bring in more salt to expand the "safe" area around the airship and begin repairs.

The Groves Below #

Sat 19:21 - Sat 23:15 in Frist 309

Player Characters #

Bucky Boo-Boo, Half-Orc Barbarian
Grumdrig, Dwarf Paladin
Ravaxas Ur, Dragonborn Wizard
Rusty Crustfoot, Halfling Wizard
Stroag, Goliath Druid
Whipple II, Kenku Monk

On the expedition #

Stroag organized a mission to the Urushi to complete an arc that began in Megan's first expedition (where he experienced a vision of Gaia marking a young girl with three lines of lacquer) and continued in Delphi's Saturday morning expedition (where he met Yuri, a Master of the Arts of the Urushi). The goal was to further diplomatic relations between the Folivora and the Urushi.

In order to reach the spires of the Urushi people, the party approached Julie Capsule for transport. Because Bonathri had made a copy of the navigation coordinates in the first expedition, this party did not have to obtain them from Kirav (or his navigator, Kettle Whistle). They told Julie of the noble goals of their mission, which piqued her interest, and pointed out that the lacquer of the Urushi would be in high demand in the Spires, which sealed the deal.

Unfortunately, when they arrived, the Dagger was just finishing loading up trade goods, and Kirav Montang was visibly excited to have stolen a march on the Capsules. The party apologized, worried that Julie would be angry with them, but pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation, Julie muttered, "I should have known. That's on me. But I will wipe that grin off his face." [GM note: Whipple II wondered whether Julie and Kirav are hiding more feelings than they're letting on, and when I described it as a "friendly rivalry" that perked the attention of the party]

The party met with Cappie, and wondered whether Sprout may or may not be the next vessel for Gaia. Before heading to the Groves Below, Stroag performed Plant Growth on the lacquer trees. On the way down to the Groves Below, Sprout noted that the Urushi were on alert for croaking noises; the party suspected this was likely due to the unstable relationship with the Folivora and Sylaticae.

They met with Lilian and Urushiol, convinced them that Yuri hadn't gone mad and they should explore friendship with the Folivora, and that there were perhaps better ways to reintroduce fauna to the world than through their alchemical experiments. Stroag's moving address to Urushiol convinced her to visit the Spires and experience the memory of Gaia for herself.

On the way home on the airship, Whipple II and Grumdrig plumbed Julie's feelings for Kirav, and while she didn't make any definitive plans known to the players, eventually decided to ask Kirav out on a date.

BOTH YOUR AIRSHIP CLANS #

Sun 10:14 - Sun 14:51 in Frist 3 Hall

Player Characters #

Athanatos, Kobold Barbarian
Groznik, Kobold Cleric of Daglir
Klixko, Kobold Rogue
Nox, Goliath Barbarian
Prasi Verdant Claw, Kobold Druid
Suorra, Goliath Fighter
Terte El, Tortle Wizard
Zorblin, Kobold Bard

Prior to the expedition #

[GM notes]
An element of my scenario was the reconstruction of a sonic weapon aboard the Quicksilver, composed of a series of four gongs. Michael Jay's Saturday noon party gave a gong to Julie Capsule, who was unaware of its importance. My Saturday evening party, with the goal of getting Julie to make out with Kirav Montang, got Julie to think about asking Kirav out. Mercu, a leader amongst the kobolds who served the airship clans, arranged a romantic candlelit dinner at the KWG Resort & Casino (+bathhouse) so that the adventurers (+Mercu) could "borrow" Julie's airship, transport it to the Quicksilver, install the gong, and return Julie's airship so no one would be the wiser.

There were many ways this final expedition could go. As it turns out, the players were extremely sympathetic to Mercu's cause. So many players this weekend kept asking me whether what Kirav, or Julie, or Kettle, or Mercu, or pretty much any NPC was doing was legal. It was just the final run that was like, "you want us to steal Julie's ship for kobold kind? SAY NO MORE."

On the expedition #

Started at Hireling Hall. Being aware that Julie had left her airship the Antidote behind, we joined Mercu with the mission of "borrowing" it.

[an exchange during the planning session]
Prasi: "We are all in agreement that we're going to--"
Athánatos: "Steal."
Suorra: "Borrow."
Prasi: "Liberate the airship for kobold kind."

Used sleep to knock out the crew. One crew member remained awake; he was convinced this was a sleeping sickness and ran out yelling, so we tackled him and tied him up. Tyberius Capsule, Julie's speciest cousin, saw this from his airship King of Cats and became suspicious.

[this led to]
Athánatos: "Tyberius Capsule saw us take the airship! Let's go back, knock him out, and take him with us so he can't blab!"
Prasi: "This is a heist, not a kidnapping."
Suorra, Tertle El, Klixko: "What about the seven (non-kobold) airship crewmen we have tied up in the hold?"

Eventually Zorblin attempted to talk our way out of it [GM note: rolled a 33 on deception] by telling him we were moving Julie's ship while she was at the Resort & Casino. This put off Tyberius's immediate pursuit, but as we reached the limit of shouting distance, we heard Tyberius reply, "What do you mean she's at the Resort & Casino?!?!" [GM note: He promptly sailed off in that direction, stormed into the restaurant and broke up the dinner, insulted Kirav's honor, and was grievously wounded. Kirav is currently in exile and it's unclear when there will be a second date.]

We headed to the site of the Quicksilver. Green sent out swarms of piercing insects. Casters readied spells; Prasi handed out magic throwing stones. Unfortunately, the barbarians had sworn off anything but melee attacks.

Prasi: "Are you going to throw a stone?"
Nox: "That sounds like a ranged attack."
Prasi: "Just throw a stone!!!"

A swarm damaged the airbag; Suorra threw a stone, rolled a 1, and made the tear larger (barbarians: vindicated!).

Tertle El debated whether to counter the swarm with a Fireball
Suorra: "People who fly wooden airships shouldn't throw fire balls."

Suorra and Nox scrambled up the rigging to pinch the hole shut until Groznik could mend it; Nox rolled a 1 and nearly fell over the side of the airship, but Athánatos, Klixko, and Tertle caught him.

Mending worked and we landed (mostly) safely within the salted zone around the airship. Got breathing apparatus to protect from the Green. We took the last gong off Julie's ship and installed it on the Quicksilver; discussed how the device might be activated ("Maybe these gongs are a kobold railgun."). Completed repairs and rose up from Green, defending the Antidote and Quicksilver from more swarms. The Green starts forming a thing to reach us, but the kobold crew fires up the gong weapons and wipes it out. The damage took down the smaller spire as well…

Safe and on the way back home, Klixko and Zorblin decided to ransack the officer's cabins of the Antidote and found Julie's diary. Entries were like:

"Captain's log: today we took on supplies bound for Sunrise Plateau. Wind out of the east. Green a little more active than usual today."
"Captain's log: transported adventurer's to the Urushi people far to the northeast. Was promised new trade for the Capsules; when we arrived, the Dagger was just finishing up loading its hold with lacquerware bound for the Spires. One day will wipe that grin off Kirav's face."
"Captain's log: made some trade deals with the Urushi Minister of the Groves Above. He's obviously new at this and missed the included language that carved out some exclusive rights for the Capsules."
"Captain's log: took on supplies bound for Sparkling Fall. Passed the Dagger heading south. Asked via our coded semaphore whether Kirav would like to go out sometime, just the two of us. THAT took the grin off his face. Mercu eventually responded with a date and time for dinner at KWGR&C(+B)."

On the way to Spireling Hall ran into Tyberius's airship w/Julie at the helm. We told her we rescued her ship & crew and were returning it. She didn't believe us, but getting her airship back was the better part of valor. Also we are forming a kobold air clan.

Kobolds soar free! We have an airship and do a tour of the Spires with the following message:
"
Brothers, sisters, those descended of dragons, it is time to soar once again where we belong!
Throw back your heads and roar with us. Join us as we rebirth our airship clan with a ship, the Quicksilver, far superior to theirs. And we will build more! Fly free fellow kobolds.
"

With her airship recovered from the players with a story she didn't believe but had no hard evidence to deny, Julie decided to keep the Quicksilver in sight, so she was nearby to catch PC's who were falling in Ed's final run.