Chapter 31

Continued investigation of the downstairs

May 6

Kieron hides in the mine, and the others stay waiting in the side room. Five minutes later, Kieron notices that someones are walking past her. Kieron stands up, draws her weapons, and starts sneaking after them. One large kobold comes to the group, carrying a full-sized axe in his hand. The kobold is apparently some kind of king, and he has a jewel-decorated crown on his head and a large cloak on. The cloak is so large that it drags along the ground.

The king has two kobolds armed with spears and two soldiers armed with ropes and spikes, apparently the two who have been harassing the group earlier. The king speaks to the group and tells them that he invites the group to eat a feast and then participate in a ritual where the group’s hearts will be taken out, and the group will be sacrificed in a ritual that attempts to break the kobolds’ bad luck. Ertak and Neiia ask questions and find out that apparently the shaman is already preparing the first sacrifices, meaning apparently those children. The king orders them to put their weapons and armor on the ground.

Agnarr steps forward and says, “Where were these supposed to be put?” while having an axe in his hand. The king doesn’t like that and tries to hit Agnarr, but he dodges. Kieron starts sneaking quickly toward the backs of those rope men. The rope men notice Kieron and try to hit her, but Kieron blocks one strike, and the other doesn’t even hit.

Ertak tries to command the king, but the king doesn’t obey and attacks Ertak. Neiia moves Ertak to safety. The king’s bodyguard kobolds in the back row attack Agnarr and Kim with their spears.

Eogrin Galesong conjures a stunning blast spell and throws it among the kobolds. One bodyguard kobold and Neiia become somewhat dazed. The king continues to beat Ertak, and Ertak finally draws his sword. Agnarr fights with one of the guards and gets into a weak condition. Kieron drops one of her enemies and attacks the other.

Ertak irritates the king so much that he grabs his axe with both hands. Eogrin beats Agnarr’s enemy with a sound blade and gets the enemy dazed, after which even Agnarr hits the enemy, whereupon the enemy flees, explaining that he has a lunch meeting.

Neiia casts slow on the king and surprisingly even succeeds. The king tries to puff and break Neiia’s spell but doesn’t succeed.

The enemy that Agnarr chased away runs near Kieron and falls on a kobold body there, so Kieron hits the kobold lying on the ground a couple of times. The kobold stands up but falls after Kieron’s next strike.

The king gets annoyed with Neiia’s spell and casts confusion on Neiia. Ertak notices the situation and first swings his fist toward Neiia, trying to get her out of the confusion, but Neiia dodges. Next, Ertak commands Neiia, “Continue casting,” so Neiia casts a cold bolt toward the king and the bodyguard, but it misses. The rope-weapon man near Kieron states that he has to go tell the guy that the unconscious bodyguard was supposed to have lunch with that his friend can’t make it now. Kieron throws her sword at the rope-weapon man and hits him in the back. After that, Kieron goes to see what’s happening with the group.

Eogrin moves close to Kim while Kieron arrives and hits the bodyguard attacking Kim in the side. Agnarr has also drunk his potion and draws his weapon.

The bodyguard kobold states that the situation is no longer good when there are so many enemies facing him, so he tries to run away. Kieron is at the door and prevents the enemy from passing her. The enemy and Kieron collide with each other. Kieron takes a step backward and hits the bodyguard, and after that, the bodyguard tries to continue running away but falls next to Kieron.

Ertak has managed to keep the king’s anger on himself, so the king continues to beat him. Agnarr moves to the king’s back and tries to hit him in the back but doesn’t succeed as the king dodges. Kieron sees that the last bodyguard jumps up and runs so far that Kieron throws a sword at him, and after that, the enemy slows down. Kieron draws her pistol and starts running after him, shooting.

The kobold accelerates into the darkness, and Kieron can no longer see it, so it escapes. Kieron starts running back. Agnarr has already fallen unconscious and hasn’t gotten up even though Eogrin has tried to heal him. Kim and Ertak are still after the king. Kieron runs to the scene but stumbles on Kim’s legs, striking the king as she falls. The king dodges. The king moves to hit Kieron, but Kieron luckily manages to dodge. Ertak distracts the king, and Neiia even hits the king with her spell.