Isla Monstruo, To cave or not to cave?

Session 3

 

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they came to a break in the foliage where a small cave opened on the face of a hill at a clearing’s center.  The ground was baron and devoid of feature save the charred trunk of an ancient tree carved into a totem pole near the cave’s mouth.  More of that angular writing covered the pole.  Bits of bone and hide broke up the writing as if someone used them as punctuation …and now…

 

       The group searches the area for clues as to what might be going on.  They find small humanoid tracks in and around the cave mouth.  While they are discussing what to do, a velociraptor charges out of the jungle.  A cart sized beaver with red eyes follows the predator into the clearing where it jumps on the lizard and beets it to death while the stunned group watches.  The dire rodent stands on the carcass of its latest conquest, beets its chest, and howls to the open sky in primal victory.

       As it finishes its celebration, it looks down and locks gazes with Tanner.  It experiences a moment of perfect understanding.  They both have tales, they both will conquer all that they survey, and together they will consume their way until the island is baron!  Tanner is not clear on the details but the beaver seems to feel it has found a kindred spirit.  The druid reaches out and names is animal companion Teddy…and then they were four.

       Tanner and Yuri discuss what to do next while Warren hops into the cave followed closely by Teddy.  Warren calls into the dark “I love your pole!” and starts to move deeper into the tunnel.  Teddy moves behind him, pushing the halfling to go faster while making a “ooog, ooog” sound.  The other two don’t want to be left behind and follow their companions.  Tanner shape shifts into a grizzly bear and Yuri uses a light spell to turn his hat into a giant mood ring to light his way.  He says it was on purpose…but…

       Warren leads the group farther and farther down into the ground.  The walls are covered in more of the strange angular writing which Yuri can almost identify…it had something to do with dragons…Warren remembers one of his clan’s encounters and identifies kobolds as the probable inhabitants.  Their conversation is interrupted as an arrow with a note in Kobold (which they cannot read) blasts into the wall beside them.

       Warren assumes this is a good thing and advances further into the tunnel with Teddy’s occasional encouragement.  More message carrying arrows punctuate their progress until a high squeaky voice calls out from the shadows.

“Guato Scout say go back!”

A lively conversation follows in which the group introduces themselves to Guato Scout, a kobold whose name is simply a combination of his job and clan.  Guato Scout stands before them as a three-and-a-half-foot tall gray brown scaled humanoid with a loincloth and short bow.  After they begin talking, he laces his fingers over his head and rhythmically thrusts his pelvis at them in a circular motion.  They have to clarify that Teddy and the transformed Tanner are “not food” while negotiating to be taken back to his home.  Guato Scout agrees to guide them back, get them an audience with his clan leaders, and introduce them as possible mercenaries after Yuri seals the deal by using a spell to levitate his dagger in a failed intimidation check.  Guato Scout just has to have the fly sharp.  They settle on the price of a single favor owed him and the magic flying pointy in payment.

Once the kobold is done fondling his new weapon, he leads the group to a room with five tunnels.  One larger one on the left goes steeply down and shows less signs of recent travel.  The one in the center extends further on the path they have been traveling.  Of the three on the right, one goes right and down, one goes right and up, and the other goes straight back into the earth.  Yuri casts detect magic and finds a magical aura around the right tunnel that goes down.  Guato Scout says that the great shaman put the spell there in case “they came.”  It is unclear what the little creature is talking about but they decide to follow him down the center path anyway.

       Guato Scout leads the group past several traps to the mouth of a huge cavern.  Within lies a kobold town thriving with thousands of the lizard creatures.  The various buildings are made from a fusion of bone, wood, and dob.  Some of the better constructed homes have been built around stalagmites.  The residents seem to be using the projections’ vertical faces to grow moss and lichen gardens.  Their guide shoots an arrow at a hanging arrangement of hundreds of bone wind chimes suspended from a blackwood gibbet.  A single chime rings followed by the sound of movement from just outside the tunnel entrance.  A deep voice bids the scout and company enter…slowly.

       The group enters the cavern and is surrounded by a platoon of kobold guards and their commander, a muscular female with her top two head spikes painted red.  They are held at spear-point until an even larger kobold arrives.

       Noble shaman, as the leader is called, speaks clearly with none of the pelvic thrusting his subordinates display.  He is polite if brusque, seeming not to care about the strange party in his city.  It turns out that the Guato clan is feuding with the nearby Torgar clan.  Noble shaman commands his people while his chief is making war down different tunnels.  After Guato Scout speaks for the group, the shaman offers them a quest in a very off-hand manner.

“Go to our enemies the Torgar clan.  Wreck their shit, bring me back something of interest, and I will contract with you.  Don’t come back if you can’t impress me.”

Yuri tries to negotiate a better deal by insinuating that someone is hunting the clan’s beloved spirit animals, the t-rex or the “near-kin” as the kobolds call them.  Unfortunately, the vicious creatures do not believe that anything could threaten their precious near-kin---which based on the group’s experience might be true.  While this is going on, the group notices that the shaman is conducting the pelvic thrusting of the nearby clan members as if in an orchestra.  Previously, the aggressive gyrations seemed like a strange dominance display but upon further observation, the lower the status of the clan member, the more frequently the paroxysm takes over.  Guato Scout looks pained as his body air-thrusts for all it is worth—clearly not enjoying the experience.

       Disturbed, they agree and are about to leave when Guato Scout masters himself for a moment.

“Noble Shaman!  I—go—with—them—right—of—trial!”

He turns to the group

“I—cash—marker.”

--after which he returns to his spastic movement.

“Guato Scout, I am surprised but yes, go and choose your death as is your right.”

Noble Shaman waves the group away, clearly not caring where they go as long as it is out of the city.

              The group retreats back to the five-tunnel room where Guato Scout explains they have a choice.  They can travel down the magickly warded tunnel and assault the Torgar head-on.  This route is direct but likely to generate heavy resistance.  The left-most tunnel leads to a possible secret entrance into the Torgar’s rear but comes with significant risk.  It seems there is a large undead presence which could cut their venture short.  Yuri and Tanner quiz Guato scout at length about the Torgar and the Guato clans.  It seems the pelvic thrusting is the Guato clan’s blood curse and the method by which they distinguish between themselves and other Kobolds.  The higher a Guato kobold’s rank, the more control they have over the twitch and the more power they have over others to manifest the behavior.  Yuri works out an agreement with their guide where he will teach him magic and help him take Noble Shaman’s place, after which he will give the group preferential treatment.  They discuss their options at length before deciding what comes next.

 

What will they do?

 

Find out next time on the next session of isla monstruo.