Musings of a Future Baron - 12. Tartuk

Day 2 Under the Old Sycamore

We had to backtrack almost completely to the kobold entrance. As it turned out, we went down the wrong passage, and hours of fighting spiders and centipedes had never needed to happen. Stay to the right. That became our mantra in the tunnels. Is there a split? Stay to the right. Did we get turned around in that fight? Stay to the right anyway. I can sincerely say I hope to never see these tunnels again. And the fact that we hadn’t thought to bring torches, that I was the only source of light was even more nerve wracking for us all. If I went down, everyone died. I had become the most valuable person in the party.

But finally, finally, we stumbled upon the kobolds’ lair. And there we found a surprise. Tartuccio had gifted his former companions to the kobolds, and they now sat in prison. I mentioned that there was no real point in leaving them in cages, they had no value to the kobolds.

Harrim and Jaethal left without a word, and good riddance to them. But the gnome, Theofrid, surprised us all, kneeling before me with bowed head. He begged forgiveness for following Tartuccio, and begged to be allowed to follow me. I couldn’t say no, but I also realised he had spent nearly a week as a kobold prisoner. I told him to find his way to Oleg’s and I would speak to him there.

Now I have to figure out what I’m supposed to do with a turncoat gnome mage. It’s a scary prospect, but I’ll find something for him. He’ll need to prove his loyalty first though.

With the prisoners freed, we borrowed the relic from the kobold chieftain, and set about the arduous task of retracing our steps back to the mites. It took ages, but we finally found our way back to the roots that guarded the sacred hall. Knowing the fight of our lives was ahead, we set ourselves up early, Linzi strumming an inspiring tune, Amiri drinking a potion to grow in size, and Tristian calling down a blessing upon us all. Then we were ready to face Tartuccio.

It was stupid, but I still tried to settle things peacefully. That didn’t work out at all. Not only did Tartuccio skip the customary villainous dialogue where he was supposed to tell us why he was killing us, the little bastard tried to throw a fireball at us, and ended up frying half his own kobold army.

Amiri was having none of that. True to her word, the giant barbarian charged through a mass of kobolds, her sword cleaving Tartuccio in half. I have to admit some satisfaction at seeing his body crumple into a bloody heap. But there was no time to celebrate, we still had nearly twenty kobolds swarming us.

My bow plucked a murderous tune, acid and arrow cutting through our foes as Linzi played her own tune. Valerie fought valiantly, but there was no way we were not going to take some hits, and I ended up with some rather nasty cuts as we fought. To my surprise, Amiri seemed right as rain, her mad dash through the kobolds not having any effect on her. Maybe there was something to the mindless rage of a barbarian. She would be feeling the injuries before long though.

Even Tristian was pulling his weight, calling upon Sarenrae to shake the bones of our enemies. It was gruesome to watch, but it was damn effective.

And through our concerted efforts, we carried the day, heaps of kobolds dead around us. Their corpses provided much loot, Amiri aiming one last kick at Tartuccio’s body before joining us in the collection of gear and coin.

When we made to leave, we were accosted by the mite queen and the kobold chieftain. I explained what happened again, reiterating that Tartuccio, Tartuk, had stolen the mites’ relic to make war with the kobolds, but was now dead. I presented both tribes with their relics once more, and bade them to put the war behind them. There was no sense in killing each other now that their true enemy was gone.

And as we made our way out of the tunnels, Tristian smiled at me, and said something I will never forget.

“You will make a great ruler of these lands.”

I would go through the Nine Hells to have him look at me like that again.