8 Starfall 500

Althessamari, Lee Xin, and Elhana Yarrowyn are all sitting in their favorite tavern in Kalimsport, the Alehouse of the Cats. Their usual barmaid, Gwynfer, comes by and brings them drinks. She is her usually perky self, bringing them their usual fare without having to be asked.

The party notices a dwarf sitting nearby crying into his mug of ale. He’s obviously drunk and speaking loudly. “Ruined! It’s all ruined!” he cries into his brew. He looks up and sees the party staring at him. “Ruined!” he says again. He gets up and drunkenly wobbles over to their table, kicks over the fourth chair at the table and sits himself down. “It’s all ruined!”

Lee Xin finally can’t resist any more. “What’s ruined, sir?” he asks.

“My mine! It’s ruined!”

“Why is it ruined?” Althessamari asks.

“It’s infested,” the dwarf says, casting his head down.

“With what?” Lee Xin asks.

The dwarf gets a disgusted look on his face and growls, " Kobolds. "

“What happened?” Althessamari asks.

“We were mining for ore in mine when we break open a fissure into a new cavern. And out they come. Kobolds. And my men, they took off. Now they’re everywhere in the mine,” the dwarf says. He eyes Elhana’s curved Elven blade. “Say, you’ve got a pretty fancy sword there. How would you like to help me with my kobold problem?”

Elhana looks a bit surprised that the dwarf is addressing her, but says, “Alright.”

" I’d pay you, of course. Never let it be said that Bogrund Blackhammer doesn’t pay for services rendered. I’ll hire all of you. How does 25 gold apiece grab you? " the dwarf says.

The party discusses it briefly and agrees to help Bogrund with his problem.

“Excellent, you can find me here when you’re finished,” Bogrund says. “My mine is due east of Kalimsport at the base of the Jorani mountains. About ten miles out of town.” He gives them some landmarks and directions so that they can find the mine. “Be careful,” he says, “Those kobolds are crafty bastards.”

So after a brief discussion about their supplies, the party leaves the city by the Eastgate road and heads off to Blackhammer’s mine.

As the sun is sinking beyond the horizon, they come upon a small mining camp. There is a sign written in dwarven that says “Blackhammer’s Mine.” There is a tunnel dug into the side of the mountain.

As night is starting to fall, the three decide to make camp and tackle the mine in the morning. They set three watches for four hours apiece, with Althessamari watching first, Elhana watching second, and Lee Xin watching third.

During Elhana’s watch, she hears movement come from behind her—the sound of claws moving on stone. She turns and sees a short, reptilian creature with red scales and a snout full of sharp teeth—a kobold. It’s holding a spear menacingly and charges at her. The two begin to fight.

Lee Xin is awoken by the conflict. Althessamari is blissfully unaware. He goes to investigate just in time to see Elhana obliterate the kobold with her sharp Elven blade.

“Do you need me to guard with you for rest of your shift?” he asks.

“No, I think I’ve got it,” Elhana says.

The rest of the night passes without incident.

9 Starfall 500

Althessamari wakes up to find the kobold corpse in camp. She hears from the others on how it came to be there. They check the creature’s body and discover a pouch with a silver piece and a tigerseye gemstone. They decide to let Elhana carry the treasure they find as she has a masterwork backpack. They then head into the mine.

Elhana and Lee Xin lead the way, the tunnel being wide enough to accommodate them. Althessamari follows behind. She casts Light on one of the monk’s shuriken. When the tunnel widens into a chamber with pick axes on the floor and a mining truck. They can veer left or right; they veer left, forming a “bubble” around Althessamari along the wall.

As they go along, they hear movement up ahead. Lee Xin throws his lit shuriken into the darkness. They see two kobolds, surprised by the sudden light. Althessamari casts Light on Elhana’s breastplate, extinguishing it from the shuriken, placing the kobolds in darkness once more. The creatures charge toward them, but in a fury of blows, Lee Xin manages to fell both of the creatures. They collect more silver and minor gemstones off of these creatures.

They continue to head left down the corridor. Elhana hears a noise up ahead. They opt to keep going. Althessamari casts Guidance on Lee Xin and Elhana. A pair of Kobolds charge toward them from the darkness—one hits Lee Xin with a spear. They pair off with the monk and with Elhana. Lee Xin takes out one and Elhana takes out the other. They collect more silver and minor gemstones off of these creatures.

They continue down the left side of the cavern. As it curves around, Elhana and Lee Xin are pelted with stones, doing some damage. They hear kobold voices from the deeper darkness. They continue further and are charged by three kobolds. Althessamari attacks one with her longsword, but misses. A kobold pierces Lee Xin in the kidney with its spear. Lee Xin then takes out the kobold. He then quickly takes out Althessamari’s kobold as well. Althessamari takes out the last kobold. They collect more silver and minor gemstones off of these creatures.

The group ventures forward and comes to the end of the tunnel. They backtrack a bit and venture into another part of the cavern and take what they called the “middle” tunnel.

This tunnel is not as worked as the mining tunnel—the floor is rough and it is more cavern than tunnel. As they venture down the tunnel, Elhana hears six of the kobolds talking up ahead. Althessamari casts Guidance on the party and they move forward and engage with the six kobolds. After a few exchanges, they are down to the final two creatures on Althessamari. Lee Xin flanks Althessamari’s kobolds for a tactical advantage. Althessamari critically hits one of her kobolds, doing massive damage and dropping her sword—then one of the spirits that haunt her throws the sword 10’ away from her. Lee Xin grapples the final kobold, holding it in place. Then Elhana critically hits it, turning it into a bloody mess. They collect more silver and minor gemstones off of these creatures.

They recover Althessamari’s sword and continue through the cavern. They hear three more kobolds up ahead. The oracle casts Guidance on each of the party members and they all move forward to engage with the creatures. Althessamari decapitates her kobold, Elhana takes out her kobold, and Lee Xin takes out his kobold. They collect more silver and minor gemstones off of these creatures.

They continue to a fork in the cavern. They can go straight or they can go to the right. They opt to go straight. The cavern narrows to where they can only go one at a time, so they opt to go Elhana, then Althessamari, and then Lee Xin As they move forward, they hear a ‘click’, some distant clanging, almost as if pots and pans were hitting each other, and then the ground moves out from under Elhana as she falls into a pit trap. Althessamari narrowly dodges falling into it herself.

They lower a rope to allow Elhana to climb out of the trap. Althessamari figures out how to reset the trap and does so. They then opt to take the other tunnel.

Once again, the tunnel narrows to where they have to take it one at a time. This time, they hear another ‘click’ and a cone of fire fills the corridor. Everyone dodges out of the way and narrowly misses taking the brunt of the damage.

Althessamari casts Cure Light Wounds on the party. As they continue, Lee Xin starts looking for traps.

The come upon a sizable chamber. Toward the rear of the chamber is an antechamber filled with sunlight from a hole in the ceiling. The main chamber has a pile of coins and gemstones scattered on the floor. Lee Xin searches the room, but finds nothing than what is obvious.

They go through the treasure found on the cavern floor. There is fifty gold, fifty silver, 1 amethyst, 1 amber, 1 onyx, 1 star-rose quartz, 1 moonstone, 1 smoky quartz, 3 agates, 2 blue quartz, 2 lapis lazuli, and 3 tigereyes.

Elhana ventures to the hole in the ceiling. There is a pile of stone that is climbable to get up to it and she does so after a couple of tries. She pokes her head out and sees mountains, sunlight, and a few eagles flying.

They decide to go back to the tunnel with the pit trap.

Althessamari springs the pit trap and then Lee Xin and the Oracle jump over the pit. Elhana climbs down into it with a rope and climbs back out.

As they continue down the tunnel, they start to hear rhythmic chanting of kobolds down the corridor. They decide to charge in after getting a Guidance spell from Althessamari. So they charge into the room and see a large green kobold wearing a headdress sitting on a makeshift throne of cobbled-together stones. Before him are four kobolds bowing to him obsequiously, rhythmically chanting to him. When the party comes bounding in the room, they all look up at them and the kobold on the throne points at the interlopers and says something in their language. The four bowing kobolds attack.

Lee Xin makes quick work of his foe, taking him out quickly. The kobold on the throne stands and looks like he attempts to cast a spell on the fast-acting monk—but to no avail. The others focus on their opponents. The kobolds have no weapons, but they do have sharp claws. The kobolds are quickly dispatched as the spellcaster repeatedly attempts to cast spells, but no avail.

Lee Xin moves in to grapple with the spellcasting kobold and puts him a hold. Elhana moves forward and attacks the held spellcaster then Lee Xin attacks the spellcaster within his grasp and feels him go limp in his arms.

The party collects more silver from each of the creatures, as well as more minor gemstones. From the spellcaster they collect two scrolls, a bag of caltrops, and a vial of silversheen, as well as a small-sized light crossbow. They also get 54 gold pieces. Althessamari casts Read Magic on the scrolls and discovers that they are scrolls of Mage Armor and Vanish.

When the party emerges from the mine, it is afternoon. They make the long walk back to Kalimsport and arrive there after nightfall when the city has closed its gates. Althessamari tries to sweet talk their way in, but the guards won’t have it. So, the party camps outside.

10 Starfall 500

That morning, the party reenters Kalimsport and pays their gate taxes. They head to the Alehouse of the Cats and hope to see Bogrund Blackhammer there. Sure enough, the dwarf is there, apparently nursing a hangover with a bowl of porridge and a piece of bread. He’s glad to see them and even more glad to hear that they were successful. He seems a little fuzzy on the details of the deal he made with them but says, “Let it never be said that Bogrund Blackhammer backed out of a deal.” They opt to back to his office to handle their business.

Bogrund leads them to an actual office with a sign out front. Inside, they find another dwarf recording figures in a ledger. This dwarf expresses surprise at seeing Bogrund and Bogrund gruffly says that he has business with these folks and he’s not to be disturbed. He takes the party back into an office that is furnished with fine, dwarven-made furniture. He opens up a strongbox and takes out 25 gold for each of them. Then Althessamari brings up the treasure they found with the kobolds and what is to be done with that.

“Well, if its fine with you folks, let’s consider that to be hazard pay. I’m fine with letting you folks keep it. Those kobolds are crafty little bastards and you folks risked much by facing them,” Bogrund says.

The party is well pleased with the arrangement and thank the dwarf for the consideration. They all shake hands and leave the dwarf’s office, happy with the results of their first adventure together.