The Primordial Campaign
The following are the annals of the first Heroes of Otan in what is dubbed The Primordial Campaign... this according to those who were there.
Primordial Campaign Timeline
The following sections are expressly for party use. The DM will fill in the basics, however all the gory details will remain for the party to fill in as they wish. Creation of other pages, adding in of conjecture, questions to be answered or theories about what anything encountered might mean are highly encouraged.
Day One
The party, not yet a party, find themselves congregated at the door of The Stuffed Kobold in Balagash, where they find a notice calling for adventurers needed to perform a service for the town governor, Irimshik Akimi. Those who would eventually become the party joined Balagash's Captain of the Guard Anasha Bastiga for a pint of ale and to hear out the wishes of the governor.
Anasha Bastiga explained the gist of the desired services as follows: The governor's son built a small keep north of Balagash which proved to be indefensible and has since been abandoned. Locked within the keep is a piece of parchment, for which directions for finding it will be given. Return of the parchment will grant the party a prize of 150 gold per person... a hefty sum. If the parchment is returned in perfect shape... the governor could further reward the party with as large a prize as the deed to the keep itself.
Anasha, not expecting the party of total noobs to survive a day's walk, much less any violent encounter, granted the party the use of a half-dead mule and a cart, presumably so the remaining survivor could return with the corpses of the brave noobs for burial. He also provided the party with a rough map to, and of the keep.
First Blood
Half a day out of town, the party ranger Rayjok sensed and upcoming ambush; kobolds! The party ambushed the ambushers and killed them all, surviving their first ever encounter.
Day Two
At the end of their first day of travel, the party left the road, set up their watches and camped out in the woods.
First Watch Shenanigans
The ranger Rayjok sensed overhead flippy flapping and got a good sight of a Dragonwrought Kobold, also known as an Urd. He chased it out to it's landing spot. Much fighting when a second one arrived and attacked the cleric Greef Roake. Greef's armor proved too much for the beast and the day was won.
Discovering the Keep
The party discovered the keep about 1/2 a day's ride further up the road. It was crawling with kobolds and urds... and a few armored tough looking kobolds of unknown might.
Laying the Trap
The party laid various snare traps to the north side of the keep opposite the keep's main gate. Additionally, they built a large signal fire to lure out kobolds, leaving Panamon Cree on the southern end of the keep prepared to infiltrate.
Forest Gumping to Victory
The signal fire did not burn well and was not noticed at all by the Urd lookouts, who can't see very well in the midday sun. When Obsidian Black started lighting up trees, however, the Kobolds acted sending a contingent of kobolds and urds out to investigate via an escape tunnel. They engaged the party from the rear, nearly overwhelming them, but Matteo and Greef held their own and slowly the tables turned.
Meanwhile, Panamon Cree kazzert'd a kobold and engaged another Urd during his 'infiltration' of the keep and escaped over the north wall. Cree rejoined Rayjok (who was struggling with an Urd he had lured down from the keep tower) and Black (who appeard from the woods just in time to vaporize said Urd) and the trio returned to the woods north of the keep (near the tunnel egress) as the remainder of the sleeping keep inhabitants began to rouse and regroup.
The party collected itself in the north woods to formulate a new strategy. They decide the Scooby Doo approach, to break up the party and attack the overwhelming numbers in a pincer movement. Greef and Obsidian mount the assault on the tunnel, while the remainder return to the northwest tower, with Panamon Cree's rope still dangling from it.
The latter group ascend the rope while the former carefully walk down the tunnel corridor toward the keep, noting small kobold-sized openings in sections of the tunnel.
The Scooby Doo Gambit
From there it was a simple matter of splitting the party into two rapid assault groups. Greef and Obsidian took on the kobolds advancing in the tunnel while the rest, under the cover of daylight, stormed the keep.
Between exaggerated claims of abilities and even more exaggerated claims of abilities and much slaughter, Greef and Obsidian pushed back the underground Kobolds.
Meanwhile above ground, the rest of the gang pushed their way into the keep's front door and discovered a troop of 8 armored kobolds and a koboldy looking wizard(?). Shortly (pun intended) Matteo and Rajok felt the sting of kobold magic and the party fell back to the southeast tower. A short chase was given, but it is not followed up.
No Rest for the Weary
Before the party has a chance to rest and heal up, Greef and Obsidian broke through the tunnel, entering the keep through the armory lock-up on the north wall. They emerged to find the wizardy kobold and his retinue preparing to defend the keep. Panamon, hearing the commotion rushed to the front door to give aid. Greef, using his massive ominous presence, intimidated the wizardy kobold into fear and flight. Taking his entire retinue, the kobold skedaddled up the stairs, out an arrow slit, and took to the skies.
Hero's Welcome
Sort of... Back at the old The Stuffed Kobold, the party re-unites with Anasha Bastiga. Upon making a joke about the party getting papercuts, only to learn they have been fighting kobolds, he is incredulous. He is unhappy. He explains that there are no kobolds in Balagash Forest. Trusting the 'evidence' of the Tsar's Guard artefacts, he believes the party and summons the governor to collect "the box".
In the end, a wagon load of loot and the parchment the heroes were sent to recover made its way back to town. The parchment was returned to the mayor and the deed to the keep was awarded as payment. The loot was sold and each of our heroes are now faced with a difficult decision. One four hundred gold piece wench? Or... four hundred one gold piece wenches? :-)
Day Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven
As the party re-outfitted itself with its newfound wealth, the late Anashar Bastiga summoned the party to settle his accounts with them. In that meeting, Greef Roake and company were asked to return to Koboldy Rock and return with physical evidence of the kobold infestation there. Matteo, meanwhile was being counselled by a "friend" to keep quiet about kobolds... a thing he did not do.
Strange Encounter
On the way to the keep and during the first watch the party witnessed the passing of a military scout team of Bugbears. In their strange language it could be made out that they were talking about stealing magic, but their destination was unknown.
Fire and Brimstone!
Upon arriving at Koboldy Rock the party witnessed a flying figure dispensing much flame and shouting oaths at the figures beneath him. These were presumably kobolds as evidenced by the scorched outlines of kobolds left behind. The figure, approached the party in a more or less non-threatening way and announced that there were 'No kobolds in Balagash Forest'... and then flew off.
Tracking
After much investigation the party discovered tracks to a kobold who headed out an east tunnel and then north, presumably heading for home in the Ungirsi Federation. They party tracked the kobold for 4 hours when discovering a military scout team of Orcs. The party tried to parley with the Orcs (perhaps wisely), but the Orcs were having none of it and attacked. Much bad form followed but the Orcs were ultimately defeated In honorable combat and the kobold was found in their supper pot.
Back to the Rock
Unconvinced that a pair of uneaten kobold ears would be enough "proof" for their commission from Anashar Bastiga the party scoured the keep once more for koboldy clues. They discovered the remains of the kobold cleric that had given them much grief on a previous encounter. In this case, the remains were baked rather than scorched and the body was whole... which was then put in a sack, strapped to Panamon's horse and ridden back to town.
Home again, Home again
The party rode home hard, so as not to have to camp outside of town. Arriving in the evening they were greeted with a lone man hanging by the neck from a jibbet. A sign read "By Order of the Tsar Batil Zhurek, under charges of sedition and treason, Anashar Bastiga has been condemned to be hanged by the neck until dead." He was very dead.
Panamon Investigates
After discovering the body of their benefactor, Panamon Cree went into town in disguise to discover what had happened. He discovered an announcement at The Stuffed Kobold that the new Captain of the Guard had been announced, one Hedgewind Jalinbeti. Panamon followed Hedgewind through the town, noticing that he was paying deference to various Tsar's Guard and Provincial Troops making their way in and out of the city and city keep. Hedgewind retired to the city keep where he apparently slept. A bat was lost.
Requiem for a Kobold
The party, thinking better of riding into town with a dead kobold, gave the creature a proper burial and proceeded to town to take up rooms at The Stuffed Kobold.
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
The next day the party woke to find that they had been summoned by the 'new boss' to the guard tower. The party arrived to find Hedgewind in familiar surroundings and talking about his plans of changing the landscape of western Ortalyk. Hedgewind offered to billet soldiers and builders in the party's keep IFF they can prepare the keep well enough to lodge and feed guests. For some reason, there were no threats, leaving the party to decide if doing more business with Hedgewind is in their best interest.
Days Eight and Nine
The day started when Obsidian Black was presented with a note from the innkeeper, addressed from Hedgewind Jalinbeti. The missive read as follows:
The commission was accompanied with a small tapestry depicting Koboldy Rock and the Lords of Koboldy Rock.
