A few moments ago near the edge of the palisade of the Kobold village taking shape in the clearing in front of James’ Dungeon.

I, Ssylasss stood watch near the wall the tribes ogre had been building for us. I have been uneasy these past two nights, since the night the dungeon roared at us. Yes, we managed to silence its trumpets, but not without cost. Over half the tribe still hears a ringing in our ear hole’s, myself included. Not only did the dungeon roar at us, but it closed the way into the dungeon. The Elders and I are worried, none of us are sure what it means besides the dungeon is unhappy with us, and yet the dungeon has not sent out creatures to kill us, so its behavior is quite different from the stories of other dungeons that have been upset, most odd.

My watch is just about over, I turned back towards the main cook fire to look for some food, when the next display of the dungeons wrath started. A sharp crack like thunder and a spray of dirt and rocks next to the ogre was the start of it. What followed was like nothing any tribe has ever encountered before. To start the palisade the ogre had been building started to explode from the edge of the ground as though cut with a slow unseen blunt blade, the noise like continuous thunder, followed thereafter by more rolling thunder. The spray of splinters striking my own and my fellow watchers scales with incredible speed, as I dove for the ground trying to avoid what was destroying the palisade, I happened to glance up and saw what looked like a tube poking out of a wall above the dungeon entrance, and then, that tube spat more fire.

The main cook fire erupted from the ground, sparks, splinters, dirt and flame spraying in every direction except back towards the dungeon. The tribe was in chaos, running, and screaming in panic, soot and dust filled the air, our already damaged hearing taking yet another round of damage due to the thunder created by this terrifying dungeon weapon. The ogre, normally somewhat controllable, reached down and grabbed a large stone out of the the ground and as it raised the stone over its head, another burst of fire and thunder caused the stone to shatter in its hands, causing the ogre to knock itself unconscious with the largest of the remaining pieces.

After the ogre collapsed, I happened to notice that the dungeon had started to hide the weapon behind a wall that came from above. A few moments later it was impossible to tell what terror lay hidden within, had I not seen it for myself, a smooth unnatural wall was all that remained. I turned to look for members of the tribe in the half complete village and wondered how many injured and dead I would find, their wails bringing dismay to my bones.

The damage was both, more, and yet less than I would have expected, given the surprise and power of the weapon the dungeon used. The palisade had been reduced to splinters and all the cook fires had been scattered, yet the weapon did not kill anyone, only one of the elders died, and she from fright, or so it seemed. The ogre was still unconscious, three younglings had broken tails from being trampled by other tribe members, two males and one female had broken or sprained wrists from falling, all the watchers had splinters sticking out from between our scales, and so did one of the cooks. Breakfast was a ruined, scattered burnt mess, and the worst material damage besides the palisade.

Despite the dungeons displeasure, neither the Elders nor I wanted to move the away from the dungeons mana field, but we are not sure whether or not we will have to anyway. The Elders gathered around the remains of the main cook fire to discuss what to do, just like they did after the dungeons trumpets had been silenced. The only decision they actually made in the hand that the sun had risen since the attack, was to send my scouts and I out for food, the rest they would decide after they and the rest of the tribe had eaten.

Half a candle-mark ago just outside of the pocket canyon campsite used by Felipe and the rest of the advanced scouts.

There had been one final sharp crack of thunder before the noise faded to silence. Karl and the others shared my slightly worried look, as I considered our options. Karl was the last of our scouts as I had sent Erik and Lief back for reinforcements yesterday afternoon, of the rest of our group Serena was the best suited to act as a temporary replacement for them, especially given the extra set of eyes from her summons. Timoteo was also a possibility, given he was at least slightly familiar with the terrain. I looked over the rest of our group as I finally made up my mind. I called out to Serena and Timoteo, saying “Serena, Timoteo, join Karl and see if you can’t find and surprise a kobold hunting party if there are any out after whatever that noise was. Capture them alive if possible, and bring them back here, we will try and negotiate with them here where we will at least out number the hunting party.”

There was a bit of surprise on Timoteo’s face as he was included in the order, but he quickly nodded, and reached for his bow before standing to join Serena as she headed over towards Karl. A few moments later and the trio headed out, followed shortly by Serena’s summon. After they left, I looked over the remainder of our group and took stock, Dimitri and Ronaldo were on their way back with the initial report and the dungeon device. Erik and Lief, were on their way back to request reinforcements. Overall our group in camp was down two human pathfinders, a wolf-beastkin axe wielder and a forest elf archer.

We still had three other archers, Raquel, the youngest forest elf in our group, the moon elf Alexio, and myself. I called out to them and sent them to watch the entrance to the pocket canyon, I didn’t want anyone to disturb the casters in our group as they setup a redoubt for us, we would need it if the kobolds decided to rush us, I would join them after I finished getting the group moving. Next, I called out to Giovanni and Sandoval our sun and moon elf sorcerers and said to them, “Giovanni, Sandoval, I thank you for being patient with Serena, now is the time that we need the both of you to work together, we are going to need a redoubt, and wood will simply not do.” They grinned and looked at each other, then started moving closer to the front of the canyon, already starting to discuss the details of what they intended to accomplish. I called out to them again before they got too deep into their discussion and said, “Go ahead and add all your tricks to the defenses, Serena should be able to lead the group back despite them.” They both frowned at me as I said that, but then nodded and got back to their previous discussion.

I turned to Einar and Alesandro our wizards and told them, “Einar, Alesandro, coordinate with Giovanni and Sandoval. We will need the wall that is the structural part of their defenses reinforced as strongly as possible, we don’t want it to crack at the first blow from that ogre.” They nodded as they got up from were they had just finished their breakfast and headed over to join Giovanni and Sandoval. I called out to Rhys and Elis, our perpetually grumpy gnomish sappers and said, “Rhys, Elis, see about making up that kobold parley flag, before starting in on some throwable bombs for us, we will need them to help even the odds if we get swarmed.” The two of them glared at me for a moment, before grunting and getting to it.

The rest of our group, besides the tiger-beastkin shaman Maxim, were all melee fighters. I turned to Maxim, and said, “Maxim, I don’t know as much about what you can do with ritual magic as I probably should, but prepare as much as you can to either support our defense or weaken their offense, we might just need that support if it comes down to it.” He gave me a big toothy grin before replying in an accent thicker than Dimitri’s by a fair margin, “Sure thing, Felipe.” He knows that grin of his unnerves me, ugh, I will get over it eventually, if we survive this mess. I turned my attention over to Diogo, our dual wielding moon elvish swordsman, and said to him, “Diogo, you will lead the rest of the group in defense of the wall if we are besieged, and if I fall, you are next in command. Hopefully it doesn’t come to either of those scenarios, but, best to say it now.” He nodded, the serious look on his face not even twitching at my proclamation. I hope the group wont need his stoicism to help fend off the grief of loss in the next few days, but we shall see.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I nodded, satisfied with my allocation of tasks for the group, and collected my bow and quiver of arrows before heading out to Alexio past our sorcerers and wizards. There was already some progress on our defenses and I was glad that they hadn’t delayed, even though the walls were only to the height of my ankles so far, they hadn’t stopped growing yet. I reached Alexio in short order, he was set up behind a tree some twenty five paces from Raquel who was similarly set up to the south of his position. I tapped him on the shoulder before saying, “Alexio, go see if there is any game around after that noise earlier, and bring back as much meat as you can. I will take over this position and watch over Raquel.” As I had made sufficient noise as I approached him, he did not jump in surprise and replied, “I will do my best, when would you like me back?” After a moments thought, I replied, “Be back no later than the end of the noon mark, our magic users will probably be about finished by then.” A quick nod and he was off, now for the hard part, the waiting.

A candle-mark and a half after Karl, Serena, and Timoteo had left the pocket canyon in search of a kobold hunting party.

We had made quite good time and had traveled almost two leagues since we had left the pocket canyon where the others were setting up some defenses, at least that is I would be doing in Felipe’s place. Also judging by the winces that have been crossing Serena’s face for most of the past candle-mark it is likely that the defenses are not only sizable, but magical as well. Serena and I huddled behind a bush as Karl scaled a pine tree to check the state of the kobold village, despite the fact that we haven’t had too much interaction over the past several years, I still find it impressive how good her woodcraft really is, the human Karl on the other hand, is beyond impressive, in fact his skills are downright frightening.

I am well over four times Karl’s age and he puts my skill to shame, it just goes to show that I shouldn’t settle for good enough when it comes to certain things. We hadn’t seen any sign of a kobold hunting party yet, but given how close we were to their hopefully still incomplete village, that was only a matter of time. Almost and eighth of a candle-mark had passed before Karl came back down to tell us what he had seen, we had started to worry, as he had been up their more than twice as long as normal. Karl joined us, and waved us in closer before saying very quietly, “There are at least a few hunting parties out by now, but the important thing is, the palisade has been destroyed, and the ogre is either unconscious or dead.”

I couldn’t contain my shock, and said, “What!?” At the same time as Serena did. We glanced at each other before turning back to Karl, who replied, “You both heard me.” Well, this might change things, obviously the dungeon has some tricks that neither I nor Dimitri had seen when we were at the dungeon previously. I remembered the worries that Dimitri had expressed that night we made camp after we had left the dungeon, and gulped thinking that he was right to have worried, hopefully we managed to find some of those kobolds soon. Felipe would definitely want to know about what had happened there this morning.

A couple of moments later my mind finally caught up to the rest of what Karl had said and I asked, “What do you mean by the ogre is either unconscious or dead ?” Karl turned back to me and sighed saying, “I saw it on the ground, four kobolds fussing around it, probably unconscious, the kobolds likely wouldn’t be fussing with it after this long if it was dead.” I agreed with that assessment and lightly clapped my thighs saying, “well we aren’t going to catch any kobolds just waiting around. Karl, lead us to a likely prospect.” He grinned, his teeth standing out on his green stripe painted face, then turned away and waved to us from over his shoulder as he said, “this way then.”

It was almost half a candle mark later that Karl waved us down behind another bush, he then asked Serena to send her summon to knock out the lead scout who was the guard for the trio of kobolds coming towards us. Whilst Serena’s summons took care of that one, Karl and I would knock out the two carrying the deer between them. I would use one of my prepared knock-out arrows, and Karl would use his sling. If we timed things just right, the trio wouldn’t know what hit them. Karl, made his way off behind and further to the side of the game trail the kobolds were following, I prepared my shot from where I was some fifty paces to the side of the trail and behind a tree. Serena, stayed in the bush where we had convened a few moments ago, and closed her eyes, taking full control of the elder forest sprite that was her summons.

The lead kobold had been wary, and was skilled, he hissed and turned his head towards me bringing his spear back to throw, right as the sprite reached out from behind the tree it was hiding behind and smacked him up side the back of his head. Karl and I both released our shots at that moment, I having to aim a bit high to compensate for the small pouch of heavy wet clay on the tip of my arrow. We were lucky that neither of us needed a second shot, the one I had hit was faster than the one Karl had struck and had managed to reach his spear as he had dropped the front of the pole holding the deer. I was especially lucky in that he had turned into my shot as opposed to away from it.

Karl and I broke out some rope we had brought with us and started trussing the three up. While we did that, Serena broke out her special blend of poppy extract and dosed them so we could get them back without them struggling on us. Karl and I put our captives over our shoulders, whilst Serena had her sprite do the same. It was a waste leaving the deer, but we simply couldn’t carry all three of the kobolds and the deer, not and get away from their village without being detected anyway.

I led the way for the first candle mark of the journey back, Karl was cleaning up our back trail. Just before the start of the noon mark, Serena called out to me, saying, “let me lead now, the others have the defenses up and running. Timoteo, Karl, you may want to hold onto me so you don’t get lost when we get within range.” Karl and I shrugged and did as she had asked. An eighth of a candle mark later and we were glad that we did so, as all I could see was dense forest, and my sense of equilibrium was completely gone. Later, Diogo told me it looked like two drunkards being led by an angry housewife who had had too much lemon in her lemonade, good thing Serena wasn’t around when he said that. The both of us, and the sprite managed to not drop our captives, although for Karl and I that was a near thing.

When all of us got past our defenses, Serena, walked quickly towards the back of the canyon, furthest away from the wall. It made sense, given her sensitivity towards magic, frankly I was surprised that she had manage to get through the defenses without collapsing in pain, obviously I underestimated her. Felipe directed Karl, myself and the sprite to deposit our unwilling guests by a set of sturdy posts they had pounded into the ground not too far from the wall. Diogo and Marco, one of the sun elvish spearmen, took charge of transferring the kobolds to the posts that had been picked out for them. Elis and Rhys brought out the parley banner that they had been tasked with making and started attaching it to a pair of posts in front of the ones the kobolds were being tied to, Marco helping them once he had finished working on his kobold. Felipe, satisfied that everything seemed to be in order, turned towards Serena and called out asking, “Serena, how much longer will they be out for?” She called back after a few moments thought, “they should all be awake by the end of the noon candle mark. They should have one Hades of a headache though.”

About half of us chuckled at that, this was definitely not the usual way we would go about a negotiation that is for sure. Felipe, sighed, and called out, “Well, not much we can do until they wake, let’s have lunch while we wait.” To think, it was almost two months ago that Ramirez suckered me into this simple scouting mission, well, it has definitely gotten more complicated than that since then. At least I have a good group with me, and barring a full rush by all the kobolds in the village, we should be alright. It will be interesting to see what the kobolds say, if anything intelligible, it is going to be difficult as none of us speak their language, we are going to have to make do.