El wakes up early and gets his work on the farm done while Kib slowly rouses in the barn. The kobold goes out into the fields to meet cattle for the first time. Kib approaches a large heifer and reaches out towards it with trepidation. He turns away, clenching his teeth, as he places his hand on the side of the cow.
Its fur is soft, it radiates heat, and it looks up from the grass field to look over at Kib. The heifer lets out a slow and annoyed moo.
“Sorry?” Kib steps back away from the cow.
The cow flicks its ears and then lowers its head to investigate the kobold. Kib’s hands slowly rise and cup the snout of the cow.
“You are hot, you keep grazing, and you keep looking at me like you need something.” Kib talks to the cow. “I’ll go get El,” Kib says with a smile.
The kobold finds El on the farm and drags him to the field. El looks at the cow and then back at Kib. He points down at the utters of the cow.
“She’s late, but she should have a calf. When her baby comes out she’ll need milk for it. She is probably irritated. Let's try to milk her to relieve some pressure, and get Arkin over here in case we need to induce labor.” El retrieves a lead from the barn and returns.
“What’s milk?” Kib blinks staring at the utters.
“It’s, well, ugh. I guess it's what babies need to live if they aren’t hatched from an egg.” El answers.
El shows Kib how to milk the cow before retrieving Arkin. The old man sighs as he presses his ear to the side of the cow.
“Her baby is dead. We’ll need to operate to save her since the stillborn was not delivered naturally.” Arkin chews on a stalk of rye as he grimaces at the task ahead.
“Need me to go tell Helen?” El looks at Arkin.
“Yeah, we’ll need her.” The old man replies.
“Alright, shit, okay.” El turns and runs towards the farmhouse.
“Do you need me to help?” Kib looks at Arkin.
“I think you hired some laborers last night, why don’t you go show them the mine, and I’ll stay with her.” Arkin smiles at Kib.
The kobold nods and runs off out of the barn with his tiny legs. Arkin shakes his head as he looks back at the cow.
“You’re in for a lot of shit today.” The old man pats the cows back.
Earn Capital
Result = Silver Earned
35% chance random event
Profession: Farming
2(D20)+11(Skill) =13
10%= Event
Downtime Event
Result = Event Occurs
Random Event % Reset
Generic Building Event
37(D100)
Building Specific Event
Downtime Event
Result = Event Occurs
Rolling on Guildhall
Building Specific Event
74(D100)
Rival Guild -10
Some of Arkin’s buyers look to another farm for goods. The farmer worries his bottom line will be severely affected by this. El promises to stay till the end of the month, tell his rent is up, and try to help the farm.
Kib heads to the mine and continues working, this time, he heads out with a group of halflings to do the labor. He smiles seeing the company, including Top.
Earn Capital
Result = Silver Earned
20% chance random event
Profession: Mining
17(D20)+8(Skill)=25
46%= No event
Passive Income
Laborers
12 Silver
El heads to the mines after Arkin performs surgery on a cow, Helen heals the cow, and El cleans up the cow and barn. Kib and El sit down in one of the living spaces in the mine. El awkwardly approaches a topic of convo with the kobold.
“I’m going to the Village of Crestfall. The town is a bit bigger, has bigger farms, and has someone who could train me.” El tells Kib.
“Is it far?” Kib picks at his nails nervously.
“Three days away. We can write to each other.” El smiles.
“I guess others can help me. But no one can fight like you.” Kib looks down.
“When Bandlor comes back, we will have him teach you everything he taught me, and then we’ll both be fighters,” El reassures Kib.
“Are you going to come back?” Kib looks up at El with a worried gaze.
“Yeah, of course. We’ll take on the world together.” El nods. “You want to go see where these Goblins are coming from?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Yeah.” Kib nods and the two leave the warren. Kib grabs a few weapons and supplies on the way out.
“I don’t plan on leaving forever, but I have to keep training,” El says to Kib as they walk.
“I don’t know how long forever is. Sometimes a night where I am up too long feels like it could be forever. Forever feels lonely.” Kib kicks a rock as they walk.
“Loneliness is sometimes a choice or an obstacle. You have to overcome it, connect to others, and create your own connections in life. Arkin isn’t anybody to me from an objective viewpoint, but he might as well be my father after the years I’ve spent with him.”
“So what are you to me?” Kib cocks his head waiting for an answer.
“Friends. I owe you my life thanks to your cover fire in the Warren. Fighting that group was terrifying, but I had you.” El smiles as the two keep walking.
They head out into the hills following their notes on goblin activity and picking up tracks as they near the forest. They follow broken branches and trample bushes through the forest to the outskirts of a small and poorly made village. The two watch from the outskirts as goblins mill about; men, women, and children.
Kib hands El a weapon he’s been holding onto that he didn’t let Bandlor take. The two walk through the houses. Goblins turn and make worrying squeaks scrambling away. Kib shifts uneasily hearing the lowly creatures call out in fear. They call him and El murderers, monsters, killers.
A goblin rushes at El swinging an ax. El raises their secret weapon and presses a hot poker into the barrel.
BOOM
The goblin flies back as his body crashes through the mud.
“As far as I am aware! Goblins don’t take orders from Goblins! Show me to your leader and I’ll end our fighting without any of you needing to die.” El calls out to the village.
Kib looks up at El. Would they all turn on their leaders? That’s like asking a kobold to turn on a dragon. It would never ever happen.
“Show us to your leader!” Kib yells out in goblinoid.
One of the goblins points to what looked like a hut built on the side of a hill. On closer inspection, the structure is much older than anything else in the village and is in fact the entrance to a mine. El nods to the goblin and walks to the mine’s entrance. Kib follows and they descend a flight of stairs. El lights his lantern as they delve into the darkness.
The mine quickly turns to flagstone, as if someone had carved out some sort of base in these mines. The walls are warm to the touch and every thirty feet is an unlit torch in a holder.
The pair reach the end of the stairs and emerge into an old decrepit library. El looks around confused. Why would a library be in a mine? There’s a shift of movement and Kib quickly points out something floating in a completely transparent slime monster that slowly oozes towards the two.
With enough time to launch two attacks each, El fires two crossbow bolts at the slime, and Kib slings two stones at it. They deal sixteen damage but the ooze keeps moving towards them.
El draws his longsword and steps forward to block the slime while Kib steps back to stay out of harm's way. El slashes it with his sword and Kib launches another rock. They deal ten damage, but the slime tilts backward before slamming forward into El knocking him into the back wall. El manages to get his sword in between him and the blow to absorb some damage. El only takes 3 damage from bludgeoning and the burn of slime’s acidic form.
El and Kib launch another combo attack, El scoring a critical hit as he slices through the slime, dealing 21 damage. The slime lurches forward, this time attempting to engulf El.
Saving Throw
Engulf
DC 12
Reflex
15(D20)+1(Skill)= 16
Passed
El rolls to the side as Kib launches another stone through the ooze. The slime moves towards El but pieces of it slop off and it sinks to the stone losing its solid form. El and Kib breathe a sigh of relief.
Gained EXP
El
8000/14000
800/2
Kib
4600/7500
El reloads his rifle and the two move through the room down a hallway. They walk through a room full of crates, barrels, and empty cages. Pushing a door open and entering another room the two walk through a barracks of sorts. Kib takes note of a snake curled up on one pillow. Must be a good snake.
The two move into a large room with various bits of machinery and wood around the room; there are half-built carts, battering rams, a catapult, and in one corner a ballista. Three goblins are scrambling onto the ballista as six other goblins move towards El and Kib. The six of them have crude picks and shovels, no armor, and hold their tools with no skill. They must not be fighters.
Behind the goblins are two smiling goblinoids covered in fur; Bugbears. One has a bag full of javelins and the other wields a chain with a spiked ball on the end of it.
El raises the crossbow in his hand and fires at the bugbear with the javelins. It hits its target right on the mark dealing 6 damage. He drops his crossbow, reaches to unsheathe his sword, and charges towards the goblins. Kib follows El’s attack, dealing three damage to the monster. The oversized rifle is strapped to Kib’s back, wielding it in combat would be hard for him, but a slingshot he can hit his mark almost every shot.
The six goblins charge at El, surrounding him, swinging their picks, and El deflects and dodges as many blows as he can. He takes six damage dropping him to sixteen health. The three goblins on the ballista reload the huge siege weapon. The first bugbear misses his attack, throwing a javelin far wide and to the right. The second runs around the goblin horde towards Kib.
El slashes his sword striking a goblin down in the direction of the bugbear going for Kib. El turns his back on the goblins and steps towards the bugbear. The goblins bury their picks into El’s back dealing eight damage dropping him to eight health but he staggers forward towards the bugbear even with the picks in his back dragging him down.
Using Hero Points
Extra Action
Current Hero Points: Two
Standard Action
Longsword
DC= 17
Attack Roll
16(D20)+2(Skill)=18
9 Damage
Kib launches a rock at the far bugbear with the javelin dealing another three damage with his blow. The Bugbear is bloodied (below half health) and looks worried.
“Keep fighting! I have to inform the boss of the intruders.” The Bugbear scrambles out of the room and into the next.
“Don’t leave me!” The second Bugbear yells. He tries to push El away and run for the door. El runs his sword through the monster's back and yanks his blade back out. The goblinoid stumbles forward, blood spilling out at an alarming rate, but he lurches into the next room.
“Who wants to keep going!?” El screams at the goblins.
Having seen their commanders retreat the five goblins quickly flee out the way the two adventurers came. The three on the ballista quickly follow. Kib runs up and grabs El who looks weak.
Gained EXP
Encounter EXP 2000
Encounter Failed 1000 Gained
500 EXP
El
8500/14000
500 EXP
Kib
5100/7500
“Wrap this around my chest.” El hands the cloth wrap to Kib and sits on the ground.
“Oh, okay.” Kib wraps El up. “You are being too risky.”
“The goblins weren’t the enemies. I had to get through them.” El mutters.
“Then we retreat and snipe out the big guys,” Kib suggests as he tightens the bandages around El.
“Let’s see where they ran off to,” El says.
“No! You are really hurt. We are going back home.” Kib stomps one of his scaly feet on the stone.
“Alright. Then we go home and recoup. But we have to keep on the defensive. We kicked the hornet's nest.” El nods to the kobold and the group retreats back to the stairs.
Kib stops to reload his rifle and El reloads his crossbow.
“If anyone tries to stop us just fire it. They already know it kills. The noise should be enough to scare them.” El says to Kib.
“Alright.” The kobold nods.
The two leave the mine but find the goblins cowering in their homes instead of putting up any resistance. The two leave the village and head back to the barn.
“You don’t have to babysit me,” El says to Kib who has helped him walk all the way back home.
“And let you die in your sleep? No, I stay with.” Kib sits down next to the bed, stealing the bedroll off of El’s pack, and curls up on the ground.
“Whatever.” El lays in his bed.
His eyes close but he’s up for hours with his mind clouded with pain. This was the life he wanted. Adventuring. Thankfully someone was there to back him up. When he leaves for Crestfall he’ll be alone.
Long Rest
Heal 1 x Level
11/25 Health