Participants: Killian Sahelion, Azzit, Cartoq, Kayzen, Lazz'Ru
Location(s): Watchers' Tribe Village, Watchers' Holy Lands, the edge of the Silent Forest
Keywords: Kobolds, Watchers' Tribe, village, Rydess, Holy Land, Fawkes, Taint, Silent Forest, Father Lightning, Tarka, desert, blue Dragon, swamps
Killian's in-character report, supplemented by other people's commentary, can be found here.
Short summary:
A group was assembled to visit the Watchers' Tribe and attempt diplomacy with them. The Kobolds don't easily allow Unscaled into their Holy Lands, believing them to be susceptible to 'the Taint', 'an illness of the soul' that can corrupt both the individual and the land that they walk upon. Gifts and stories were exchanged, and two notable Kobolds were met - Father Lightning, their spiritual, religious, spellcasting leader, and Tarka, their military commander. The Watchers worship the Blue Dragon Rydess, who lives in her desert up north, like a goddess; while they recognise Tiamat, they've never heard of Apsu or Dahak.
The party then proceeded to travel through the Holy Lands towards the Silent Forest, which they did not enter, but it appeared sickly and unnatural. Along the way, they were attacked by a vicious Ahuizotl, and with the help of the Orc named Fawkes, they barely managed to slay the beast.
Full report - Killian:
A record of events which occurred during the travels of Azzit, Cartoq, Kayzen, Killian, and Lazz’Ru, as transcribed by Killian, with addendums by others.
We set off from First Landing guided by Master Lazz’Ru’s dream of achieving peaceful relations with his distant kin, the Kobolds north of the city, and with the further objective of scouting the unnatural Silent Forest. We considered bringing a gift for the Kobolds, thinking they would especially like gems, but anything of true value was out of our budget. Master Azzit supposed, and the rest of us agreed, that attempting to use coloured glass as counterfeit would be foolish.
We chose to set out via the Kobold Village, hoping to secure passage and cut down on the duration of our adventure. Our first day’s travel passed without incident, but the night was not so calm. During this one’s watch foul vipers snuck in and bit all of the rest of the party, who were sleeping! While the snakes were soon cut down or fled, Master Lazz’Ru was severely poisoned and nearly died. Master Azzit prepared countertoxins, and he and I treated our wounds.
Overractions. Just rub some dirt on it, you’ll be fine. - Kayzen Just for reference for future reports: The correct term is a generation of vipers. And they still make surprisingly good leather, even if fried by magical lightning. - Cartoq My adventure to this land was almost cut cruelly short, what a waste it would have been to deprive the world. - Lazz’Ru |
The next day spelled the start of horrific weather. The heavy rains significantly impaired our ability to see, and despite searching for signs of the Kobolds our second day passed without further incident. Master Kayzen supposed that the rains may have stopped others from finding us just as it stopped us from finding them.
For better and for worse. - Kayzen Considering the weather got better the next day, probably for better. Sunny weather is a good sign for negotiations. - Cartoq This land has too much rain, I hope we make it to the desert soon, my scales need some healthy dry air. - Lazz’Ru |
Our third day we approached the Kobold’s encampment and engaged in diplomacy with them: they respected a white flag of truce, but were only willing to talk to the scaled members of the party at first. Master Cartoq escorted Master Lazz’Ru into the camp to talk to the Kobold’s leader, while the rest of us waited outside.
What follows is a long note by Lazz'Ru. This was perhaps a foolish idea, but it played out well enough as we are still here to report on our findings. It took some convincing but they did permit us entry into their camp to speak with the leader, Father Lightning. Of note here is that the Kobolds of the Watchers' Tribe, as they identify themselves and hereafter will be referred to, seem to know nothing of the Draconic deities Apsu and Dahak. While they acknowledged the great mother Tiamat I am unsure if this was simply a confusion with the Blue Dragon Rydess, whom they look up to as a god. I am taking it as such until further clarification and assume the gods have abandoned this world, or at least this section of it. The Watchers seem to accept any reptilian humanoid into their encampment, although there were rumoured doubts about my companion Cartoq he was accepted. Travel through the camp is possible for those welcomed. Father Lightning is an elderly Kobold, and from clues gathered a spellcaster of no small means. See attached picture drawn from memory in the evening after. The tribe appears to be composed of blue Kobolds exclusively and the grounds are crisscrossed in erratic pathways, the inbetween land avoided, whether this is due to religious significance or traps of an unknown nature I cannot say. Also of note was the transporting of crates to a central larger building, this warrants further investigation on return visits. Inside of the Father's tent we met with Tarka, see attached picture, one of the Tribes' explorers and previous survivor of an encounter with our Guild. His presence may have been as another viewpoint but given our later experiences I believe Tarka to be one of their military leaders, equivalent to a squad leader and having authority independent of Father Lightning. Tarka is prideful and territorial and during our talks was a confrontational voice while Father Lightning was the voice of reserved reason. In brief review the Watchers shall only permit Scaled guildsmen select access to their territory so long as they follow the tribes' traditions. In turn they will not seek retribution nor further claim to First Landing or the surrounding lands. I fear how this will resolve itself in the Guild's and its members' growing ambitions, but continued talks should be maintained and all attempts at non-lethal confrontation be made possible. Mistress Killian has already written what I relayed of the “Taint,” a seemingly unseen force that the unscaled can bring with them into the Dragon Rydess’s domain. "The Taint is an illness of the Soul. One you welcome into your heart, lured by the promises made without words. The secrets about it have been long lost, but our role remains." - Father Lightning Further talks with Tarka on our expedition revealed only Rydess and Father Lightning could sense this “Taint”, and I am eager to discover the means with which they do, or if it is all merely a means of control over the tribe. I am in agreement with Azzit that this must be taken as a serious investigation in the face of an unseen threat to First Landing. After our talks concluded I was presented with a gift of scrolls that had been passed through the tribe and a scarf that serves as a memento of our visit. I have disseminated the scrolls amongst our members. Note - Do not let the Watchers know of this, it would not be taken well that I shared their secrets with non-scaled. I am happy to provide monetary compensation in exchange for the scrolls remaining with myself. - Lazz'Ru |
The Kobolds believe that all non-scaled may carry the Taint, some sort of contagion capable of corrupting the land if Tainted walk upon it. They did not give any further details about the Taint other than its effects are “subtle”, and refused the passage of any non-scaled due to the possibility of spreading the Taint. This, taken alongside derogatory comments, may simply be the manifestation of speciesm, or it could be a real phenomena.
While it would be considerably beneficial to pursue a greater study of this so-called “Taint”, the Kobolds seemed to have some sort of particular issue with Ysoki. Perhaps someone else could inquire for further details about symptoms, signs, and causes at a later date. - Azzit |
The Kobolds did not permit the non-scaled to enter or pass by their encampment, so we decided to switch routes, heading west to the mountains in search of a pass. Master Azzit noticed that we were shadowed by a group of Kobolds led by Tarka. We managed to persuade them to share a fire and spent a peaceful night swapping stories. This gives me hope that we need not enter violent conflict with them.
Tried to teach the buff one of that group how to arm wrestle during my night watch, but didn’t work out with the language barrier. I think he took it as some weird ritual dance or greeting or something. - Cartoq It was a gamble greeting our would-be predators with open arms, I am glad it was Tarka, and that he was amenable to reason. It could have gone very differently. During the evening we were able to swap stories and experiences, and I like to think we made progress on changing his opinion on the Unscaled and the Guild in general after our disastrous first encounters. - Lazz’Ru |
Our 4th day had clear weather. The Kobolds decided to leave us to our business and stopped following us. We headed north towards the mountains.
Our 5th day was of heavy fog. Master Cartoq pointed out the dangers of mountain travel, so we tied ourselves together. Through bad luck however Master Kayzen slipped free of both trail and rope and tumbled into the mists! Luckily for us all he fell into the tent of a wandering merchant, a masked psychic Unknown by the name of Harlequin. Harlequin was selling discount magic items (which later turned out to carry very minor curses, justifying their discount), accepting either gold or souls. While they were quite cheerful and polite, I would caution against attempting to cheat or attack a creature capable of harvesting souls. Master Kayzen and I both bought an item. Upon exiting we asked Harlequin if it could remove the heavy fog for us, as it is a Mistwalker. It did so.
Apart from that weird soul thing, that guy seemed alright. But some of his wares might need some quality control, but who am I to talk. Probably hard enough to get that stuff so cheap. - Cartoq Prices were cheap, what can I say? Only wish I’d made a better first impression. - Kayzen Note: we will need to do further research into the nature of the Mistwalker. There is a clear relationship to the strange fog we encountered, but more remains to be learnt about the stranger in the mask selling discount potions and amulets. - Azzit Note: I do not trust this Harlequin, bearing cursed gifts (as I suspected..) and trying to lure us into purchases with honeyed words, makes one wonder if whether the Taint is something more insubstantial than a mere curse. - Lazz'Ru |
It took us 2 more days of careful travel to get through the mountains, but they passed without incident. See attached map for the pass we took. The far side of the mountains is a vast marshland of water and very tall grasses, tall enough to be over the head of Cartoq and I! That night a thunderstorm descended, but Cartoq made an important discovery: herbs that can be used for tea!! See attached sketches of the plants comprising this vital discovery.
Just to clarify, in case you are not a Iruxi, use gloves. These have a little bit of sting like a nettle to them before being boiled. And don’t take chances with herbs if you don’t know what you are doing. - Cartoq Cartoq, please remind me to obtain samples for alchemical examination at a later date. - Azzit This entire area is believed to be Kobold Holy Lands, while the grasses hid us it would not be wise to be caught there without an invitation. - Lazz'Ru |
Our ninth day was a rainstorm severe enough to impede movement and stop any attempt to fire a bow. This day proved full of weal and woe, as we encountered a horrible creature: an Ahuizotl, a cruel, intelligent super badger-otter with a grasping tail. It was doing battle with an Unknown (Master Fawkes, who hit it repeatedly with powerful lightning) and was thankfully already injured before we encountered it. The creature cried out for ‘help’ in Draconic, delaying our initial response, but it was a ruse. It proceeded to speak in some other language, indicating that the monster was intelligent.
The Beast was a vicious creature, but I was unable to recognize the language it spoke after giving up its mimicry of its poor, Kobold victims. - Azzit Note. The language in question is Aklo, the deep-speech and is taxing on the mind to properly perform. From our brief conversation that I still shudder to think about it indicated a fondness for consuming spellcasters. - Lazz'Ru Excuse me Master Lazz’Ru, it wanted to eat both of us? … Goodness. I thank you for being more snackable than I. - Killian |
Masters Kayzen and Cartoq engaged it in melee, but it proved incredibly deadly, being capable of crushing Master Kayzen to the ground with a single swipe of its claw. Master Lazz’Ru attempted to fool it with an illusion, but it was too clever. Master Kayzen was revived several times by Master Fawkes’ magic and Master Azzit’s potions, and while he scored several hits on the creature he was on the edge of death. The creature beat Master Lazz’Ru senseless and attempted to run away with his body for consumption. Some minor elemental magic from myself and a heroic charge by Masters Cartoq, Azzit, and Kayzen managed to down the beast.
Nasty bastard, and if I have to face another one, it’ll be too soon. Killian’s got the right of it, varmint knocked me down a couple times and left some lasting scars, but I got it in the end. - Kayzen I’ll be honest, I’m doubting that Kayzen would ever tap out, no matter who he is fighting or how much he is wounded. He would probably even try to smack Pharasma to get her to allow him back in the fight. - Cartoq This was a most unfortunate situation and it was fortuitous having such courageous companions alongside me. I did not relish awakening in this beasts lair if I ever awoke again. - Lazz’Ru |
Master Fawkes shared with us much information, including his map of the region farther to the north, which shows a vast desert. It is ruled by a blue Dragon named Rydess. Rydess is cruel and arrogant, but will let live someone who can entertain her with stories. She does not leave the desert, though the reason why is unknown.
Note - As a storyteller and a Kobold of the deserts, I would quite prefer to be among the first to venture to her territory. There is much I would like to know of her domain. - Lazz’Ru We did a quick stop at the lair of the beast (the otter one, the dragon was a bit out of our way), Fawkes somehow did some magic tracking there, and there was some nice stuff there. Even found some cacti grenade things. Clerk at the Guild mumbled something about their worth being thousands of gold pieces, but sadly he was talking about the really high-quality ones. Sadly didn’t find those, so we didn’t get super-rich. - Cartoq |
We finished our journey by travelling to the edge of the Silent Forest: it is a sharp transition from live to dead vegetation and has an ill, cold wind blowing from it. Fawkes informs us that it is haunted, and that even he would not venture in without preparations. Our journey back to First Landing with Master Fawkes was thankfully uneventful.
~ Killian of No House