The next couple days are almost a bit of a halfway point between waiting and doing, like packing your bags for a big trip. It doesn’t feel like there’s much to do, but you’re also incredibly busy while doing it.
Berdol actually works great with Thing and Queen. They have him test all sorts of things for moving metal embedded in other materials, and he heads to bed with an eager tiredness each time. The kind of tired that makes you look forward to getting tired again, knowing you’ve actually done something.
The tests are looking pretty encouraging, too. It looks like the force Berdol can exert on metal inside materials is proportional to the strength of the metal. A stronger metal mage could probably do some damage, but even they will only be able to do so much with a bit of foil. A composite with metal also looks to be more resistant if the metal is a single piece, instead of links in chainmail.
It looks like the pieces can move a bit against each other, but with a single large piece embedded, it’s difficult to get traction to do anything. And again, with the embedded foil, it’s difficult to do much anyway. I think a honeycomb will give a bit more to grab onto for a metal affinity, but all the resin and silk in and around it will basically make it impossible to tear out of the armor. Other materials also seem to get in the way of noticing the metal in the first place, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Thing can obfuscate it further with enchantments.
At the Southwood, we’re starting to get reports back from the forward scouting base. They’re pretty confident they’ve mapped out the Maw’s borders, and have a few potential angles to try sending in the tunnelbores to dig our own way into the Maw. The team of scouts have successfully done a delve, and are carefully mapping it out.
As far as Leo and Honey can tell, the information seems legit. The details contradict with some of the suborned rockslides, so I’m cautiously optimistic they’re as good as they said they are. It also hints that the Maw isn’t more attentive than me, which is a relief. I’d imagine it would have an easy time getting an exact number from the townsfolk or the clergy about how many are delving, but it hasn’t bothered to cross reference. Three people isn’t enough to make it notice extra bodies, so it also probably has regular delvers.
From what Lechula and Merrik said, it probably has more delvers than usual right now, what with the recruits needing to train and gain levels.
The changeling lady has also started her infiltration of the town. She hasn’t reported much back just yet, but she warned everyone that’d probably be the case. She can’t be tracked back to the base if she doesn’t go back. My other eyes and ears haven’t noticed any significant change in the activities of the town and the Maw yet, so things are probably not a disaster yet, right?
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Jen
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She really hopes she hasn’t bitten off more than she can chew. She told Thedeim she could sneak in and get information about the town, and she doesn’t intend to make herself a liar.
Still, she’s nervous. She’s used to working solo, but even on her own, she always had the guild to retreat to, whether it was the thieves or adventurers, it didn’t matter. But here, she doesn’t have anyone even theoretically nearby to try to pull her out of any mess she might get into. No safety net makes her a bit nervous, but just like any acrobat that might work without one, she’s good enough to not need it.
Hopefully.
She crushes that small bit of doubt just as she crushes the urge to scratch her beard. She should have taken a pale elf form, but the best place she could find to slip in as an unnoticed worker was in an industry with mostly dwarves: hauling. Moving goods all over has enough turnover and crossover between different overseers that she had no trouble slipping into the role.
Well, maybe a little trouble. She did some careful exploring to learn the tunnels, but changing her shape can only change her strength so much. Thankfully, she was able to shyly admit to her superior that she hasn’t been hauling long. He just gave a deep sigh, clearly being used to having sudden inexperienced people on his payroll.
She’s been assigned a regular route that’s not too long, though the loads are heavy. She almost asked where they would even get milk down here, but managed to keep her silence and her cover intact. Seeing the caverns with rich loamy soil didn’t explain anything, until a fat worm poked out and crawled over to a dwarf with a pail.
She couldn’t hide her stare at the process of a worm getting milked, and the dwarf doing it chuckled before coming over to greet her.
“The worms never look like what people expect. First time seeing them in the flesh?” he asked with a friendly grin. She could only mutely nod, earning a guffaw at her expense.
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“Milking them is harder than it looks, too! But you’re not here to hear me jaw, you’re here to bring Ol’ Bessy’s juice to the cheesemaker.” Her reaction to him calling it ‘juice’ earned another hearty laugh from the rancher, and he waved her and her cart over to the side of the pen, where canisters of milk awaited.
Her first couple deliveries, the cheesemaker was busy, so she just put the canisters in their place outside, gathered the empties, and returned them to the worm ranch. The deliveries took most of the day, and she’d take her pay to a tavern to drink and listen.
In her experience, taverns are the best place to gather information without arousing suspicion. Everyone talks in a tavern, and most people are not as subtle as they think they are. She heard lots of rumors, but nothing especially actionable. She did, however, start noticing an interesting trend.
The kobold cheese has been getting more popular, which isn’t especially surprising. According to the two defectors, it’s a campaign to reinforce the kobolds’ place in their society as the Maw’s chosen. Most of the townsfolk would simply enjoy their cheesy treats and move on.
But some would take the time to examine the cheese, to see the details. Those ones often ended up looking a little conflicted before eating. Even more than that, the tavernkeeper seems to notice those ones, and on subsequent nights, he would take their cheese from under the counter, instead of from the large crate.
Jen only noticed thanks to her particular class and set of skills. It’s like dealing from the bottom of the deck to guide a game where the dealer wishes. Today, her mind chews on the possibilities as she makes her deliveries to and from the cheesemaker, wondering what the significance of the cheese could be.
She hadn’t noticed any messages tucked into the cheese, nor any particular differences on the outside. They seemed to be more kobolds in various positions. So why give the thoughtful ones special cheese? Could there be some kind of magic involved? Maybe a bizarre cheese-based alchemy to shield their minds from the Harbinger?
She snorts at that thought as she rounds the last bend to the cheesemaker’s shop. Weird alchemy isn’t out of the question. She’s had cobble bread before, so she knows effects can be put into food. No, the ridiculous idea is that just looking sympathetic to the kobolds would make someone a target for the Harbinger. That kind of paranoia, on the Harbinger’s part or the peoples’ part, would cause the situation to collapse without Thedeim doing anything.
As she nears the shop, the door opens, and a tall pale elf exits, his focus on the canisters by his shop. His pointed ears still work, though, and he turns at the sound of Jen’s cart coming down the tunnel. He smiles at her and waves, speaking as she gets nearer.
“Ah, you’re the new milk hauler! I’ve been hoping to catch you, but it looks like we’ve both been busy,” he says with an amiable tone. Jen, for her part, grunts and sets her cart down, playing her role as a bit of a rough, business-like dwarf.
“Catch me? What do you need?” she asks, giving the elf a weary eye.
Her suspicions don’t seem to bother the elf, who reaches up to pat one of the milk canisters. “I actually wanted to ask if you could pour them, instead of leaving the canisters here?”
She squints at him. “What, just dump it in front of your shop?”
He laughs and shakes his head, and leads her to what she mistook as a partially buried barrel. When he removes the lid, she can see she’s not fully wrong about that. The barrel has a large hole in the bottom with a pipe leading deeper. “My tank is buried, with my workshop in my cellar. I’m surprised nobody noticed you not bring back the first set of canisters. But you’re supposed to pour the milk and bring them straight back, instead of leaving them here.”
She looks surly at that information. "But there were empties outside that I brought back."
The elf just looks apologetic. “Those were decorative. You couldn’t know. But now you do. Oh!” He brightens as he gets an idea. “Come with me and I’ll get you a bit of cheese as an apology. It’s very popular.”
She puts on a cautious look and nods. She’s usually not too much of a cheese person, but the locals are pretty skilled in making it. Even if the image of a worm getting milked will haunt her dreams. She follows him to a large cellar door and down a wagon ramp.
“What’s with the ramp? I didn’t know you did the kind of volume to need a full wagon, instead of a hand cart.”
He chuckles as they get to the main floor, and she can see the simple equipment required for making cheese. “I usually do bulk orders, but I’ve also been experimenting with new varieties. My latest one has been much more of a success than I could have ever hoped. If there’s much more demand for it, I might not get to make simple wheels for much longer!”
He leads her to a rack of lumpy molds, and it’s not until he upends one and hands her the contents that she realizes what she’s looking at.
“You’re making the cheese kobolds?” she asks, flashes of the tavernkeeper playing in her mind as he nods.
“I am! I thought it might be the perfect way to help.”
She nods absently at that, her mind churning. There’s something more to this cheese maker than meets the eye, she’s sure of that. She just doesn’t know what. For now, she files his statement away and offers her hand.
“I’m Jen, by the way. Never introduced myself. I’m still getting used to hauling.”
The elf smiles and shakes her hand. “I’m Serd.”
The two make small talk as they head back up and pour the milk into the bottomless barrel. She’s glad her current persona isn’t exactly chatty, it gives her time to think about what Serd said.
He said he wanted to help, but never said who. The townsfolk would assume he means the Maw, of course. She’s starting to suspect otherwise. She’ll need to be careful, though. If her suspicions are wrong, she could be captured as an ordinary rebel or heretic or something, rather than a spy. The end result probably wouldn’t be much different. But if she’s right… She might have a valuable insider to find not only the kobold enclave, but to keep the townsfolk from all attacking when the time comes.