Chapter 12

The party searched the bodies of the kobolds and goblin, and mostly found mundane items, like daggers and shovels. The goblin’s chainmail armor looked to be of reasonable quality, but no one in the party could fit in it, and no one wanted to strip the dead goblin of its armor. So, they moved the corpses out of the way, and continued along the road. Vennoa and Fender went back to the cart, and the old donkey resumed trudging along.

Pua walked slightly in front of the party again, and this time, no one questioned his abilities. They went up a hill, but before they reached the top, Pua stopped everyone again.

“What is it?” Tempest asked.

Pua scoffed. “Can’t you tell? There are more vermin down this way.”

“More kobolds?”

Pua shrugged. Agate started taking a few steps to the top of the hill to have a peek, but Pua pulled him back.

“Not that way, they’ll spot you!” Pua admonished.

Pua led everyone around the hill through some dense foliage — Vennoa and Fender had to walk along this time — and soon they could look down the other side of the hill. Similar to before, there were many kobolds digging in the fields. But this time, there were no goblins in sight. Instead, there were two kobolds in the air circling around. They looked like ordinary kobolds, but with wings.

Kobolds can fly? Vennoa wondered if she’d be able to hit one of them with her firebolts.

Besides the kobolds in the field and in the air, there was also a heavily armored kobold standing a distance away from the rest, along the road and closest to the party. It was wearing what looked like chainmail armor, and it was holding a shield and a spear. Behind all the kobolds was a house. The family’s house!

“That’s it! We need to get to the house,” Tempest exclaimed.

“We don’t need to do anything,” Vennoa replied. “We were told to investigate, and we’ve investigated. We can go back to the priestess now.”

“We made a promise to that family!” Tempest said.

Vennoa sighed. She glanced at the rest of the party, and they looked ready to wade into battle again.

“Alright then, what’s the plan?” Vennoa asked.

Tempest looked relieved that Vennoa had acquiesced, and looked at Pua for guidance on what to do.

“Don’t you want to go up to them and talk to them again?” Agate said to Tempest.

“I would, but I don’t believe it will work this time. There aren’t any goblins,” Tempest replied.

Agate opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. He couldn’t tell if Tempest was being sarcastic or serious. Vennoa knew that Tempest probably meant what he said literally.

“Can you do that spell again?” Vennoa asked Fender.

“I can cast Sleep once more, and then I’m out of spells for today,” Fender said.

Pua nodded. “Good. Here’s what we can do. I’ll go on ahead as far as I can. The rest of you stay hidden around here. Fender will cast sleep on the group of kobolds like she did before. When they notice her, the rest of you engage them, and I’ll handle the armored one.”

“What about those flying ones?” Agate asked.

“Are any of you sharpshooters?” Pua asked. Not hearing any affirmative responses, Pua continued, “We can’t hit them from here. If they come down to fight us, we’ll deal with them then.”