7th day of Furrowbeard, 485 AGU

Night had fallen and Ulian went to scout out the Kobold Lair. Lawrence took the form of a mouse and rode in Ulian’s pocket. They discovered the large building was old but well kept. The windows had been filled with stone, either sealed by magic or an expert builder filled in the windows. Either way it was well after the building had been built.

Knocking on the door Ulian was confronted with an elderly kobold, who we found out was at least 500 years old, much older than the normal 90 year life span of Kobolds. Other than the Elder there were 2 winged kobolds and 2 normal kobolds in the main room. As well as an illusionary Ettin.

Loren arrived on the scene late, which surprised the Elder, who cast a spell. Lawrence identified the spell as Stoneskin, but the situation was smoothed over without violence.

The Elder explained they were only stealing from the town because they were unwilling to trade with them and they needed some basic supplies to survive. It was suggested that they set up a trade network between the adventurers and the kobolds.

The elder then showed them the extent of their needs. They used a moving platform to take them deep underground to another level. It did not look like it was kobold made. They were then led down some stairs to an underground network of caves, large parts of it were dug out but eventually they found and adapted a natural cave network. There were hundreds of kobolds living under the structure. It was a whole town.

Threw conversation and a spell, they were able to determine there are two auras struggling against each other; one that feels dark and menacing and the other that felt safe and comforting. The dark feeling felt like it was trying to invade and overtake the good aura that surrounded the structure. The Elder was unsure about the source of the auras or unwilling to explain them.

There was a tense conversation between the Elder and Loren. The Elder ended up admitting he was not telling the whole truth about himself and the settlement, but he was adamant that he was not and had not lied or miss lead them. He claimed there were just secrets that he thinks that are best kept till there is a better bond between him and the adventurers.

After they came back to camp, we all left in search of this evil but ultimately we did not find the source of the aura. We did find two hills that were unnaturally made. We determined that they were created many years ago. It was the remains of the excavating under the kobold lair. On one of the hills we found a blink dog, who we eventually found out was guarding puppies. We were able to talk to him but due to his inability to communicate more than yes or no answers we learned very little.

The other hill we found a pixie. Lawrence communicated with the pixie, Lacey, who told them about her journey from her home nearly 40 years ago. She left her home because the other fey were becoming more insidious with their pranks. Her last straw was when one of the pixies she knew was killed by a prank. All she took with her was a seed from her home tree which she planted on this hill and now lives in. She also noted that she moved here because it felt like a safer place to live.

We also learned from Lacey that it looks like the Goblin Mayor, Kralkin, had sent a brutish orc to try and intimidate the kobolds. It did not work as the stone guardians made easy work of the orc and he never even spoke to the kobolds.

The group decided they were going to journey to Lacey’s old home and talk to the other fey and figure out what was happening. We went back to camp to pack up but we decided to head back to the goblin town to get some more answers before making the trek to the fey forest.

We got back to the inn just as Oleg was closing up, luckily he had a few rooms. We had a late dinner and everyone but Ulian went to bed. Rather than sleeping he broke into the town hall and went through the records. He found some curious information. There was a change in the attitudes in the town, especially over the last several decades.

The records went from being more detailed and matter of fact to eventually becoming sparse and very opinionated. The opinion of the koblds went from being reasonable trading partner to hated enemy.

There was also an oddly timed fire about 40 years ago that destroyed a lot of the records around that time. They attributed the incident to the mayor getting drunk and accidentally catching the house on fire. He couldn’t recall how the fire started because he was blackout drunk.

Ulian also learned that the town is part of a larger kingdom. More recently the records also told that taxes have been increasing over the years and that the kingdom was raising money for an army.

8th day of Furrowbeard, 485 AGU

In the morning the mayor found us as we went looking for him. Loren and the Mayor had a very intense conversation about why the mayor hates the kobolds so much. The mayor was intimidated to the point that he broke down into an incoherent racist babbling rant about how much the kobolds are innately evil and need to be destroyed. They also learned that the tax collector from the kingdom was in town just a few few days. ago. The party agreed that they thought it would be a good idea to be here the next time the tax collector stopped by.

At this point we split up. Lawrence and Ulian went back to Erimos while Loren and Lance journeyed to the kobold area to wait for them. I went back with Lawrence and Ulian.

Lawrence made plans with the Majordomo to set up a trade network between them and the kobolds as well as getting prepared for the trip to the fey forest. I’m unsure of what Ulian did, he went off into the city to take care of some personal business.

Once everything is settled, we will leave for the fey woods and see if we can learn anything more about this invisible evil. It’s very curious and possibly important for the mission that we investigate what is going on here but there are limits to how far I will let this tangent continue before I remind the adventurers that they were hired to do a job and they need to refocus.