Chapter One - Part One: Greenest In Flames

The kobold howls in pain as the frostbite hits it, but it unfortunately seems to shrug it off. "Kill the magic man!", it screams but Octavia, Kirsk And Kel all position themselves in front of Zachary. Cuth backs away and finds a corner in between two buildings to hide and shield his children in.

Octavia thrusts her spear directly in the chest of an until now healthy looking kobold. It looks surprised for just a second before the lights in its eyes are turned off for good. The confidence that the kobolds had just a second ago has evaporated and the remaining four attack looking a little panicked.

Octavia, Kirsk and Kel feel the rain of daggers coming against them, and despite their best efforts at blocking the attacks. All three receive deep gashes from the blades.

Kirsk brutally swings his warhammer down on a kobold's head and full on crushes it under the force. The three remaining kobolds look really scared now, especially the two who are carrying injuries from the previous fight.

Kel looks at the two kobolds she injured in the last fight and quickly measures them up. With deadly precision she slashed her sword into the gash she made earlier on the one kobold, the blood spurting out at an alarmingly fast rate as it drops. Without breaking her motion, she sends a powerful punch into the throat of the other kobold, breaking its windpipe. The last kobold realises he’s on his own and looks completely overtaken by fear.

Octavia launches the spear just as the last kobold turns to run. It hits it in the back perfectly. The kobold stumbles a few feet and then falls over dead.

With no time to waste you motion for Cuth and his children to join you and you all make a run for the keep. Just as you approach the gate you hear a voice shouting, "Close the gate! Close the g-WAIIIIT!!. A dwarf with knotted, tangled, bright red hair holds one arm out towards the keep to motion for the soldiers lowering the portcullis to stop, the other hand is held out towards you, beckoning you to hurry up. You all sprint inside and as soon as you do, the dwarf screams "NOW!" and the gate is shut.

The dwarf turns to you with a look of amazement, "That’s the one bit of luck we’ve had all day, a minute longer and ye would’ve been stuck outside with...them". He spits on the ground in anger. "My name is Escobert. Escobert the Red. I’m the master of the keep, castellan if ye wan’ te use fancy words...welcome te Greenest". He laughs heartily and slaps Zachary on the back. "If there’s anythin’ ye might need, lemme know. We ‘ave a few priests that can tend te ye wounds. He looks you over, "Where did ye get all them wounds anyway?".

Before you have a chance to answer, Cuth cuts in and explains him what you did. How you stood up to a big group of kobolds, how you almost died trying to save Linan and how you finally managed to get him and his children to safety. Escobert looks at you with an appraising look, "Is that right?...well, let’s get ye patched up...and then I’ll get Governor Nighthill, ye guys should meet".

Escobert leads you over to a group of priests that begins to heal you while he walks off. You sit and wait for a couple of minutes. As the roar of the dragon above cuts through the night, you realise just how silent the keep is despite what looks like at least half the town hiding inside. The keep itself isn’t very big and the courtyard is filled with injured townsfolk, small groups of local militia and priests and volunteers walking around the crowd trying to help where they can. The looks on the town people’s faces are mainly disbelief and pure fear, this is obviously far beyond what the vast majority of these people have ever experienced before.

Escobert walks back to you accompanied by an older human man. His shoulder length brown hair is speckled with strands of white and his beard is immaculately trimmed. But his face and head is bandaged, covering his left eye, and his right arm is in a sling. His powder blue tunic is stained with blood. He looks at all of you, "Welcome friends, my name is Tarbaw Nighthill and I’m the governor of this...fair...town". Looking at the weight on this man’s shoulders, you start to wonder if the strands of white in his hair only appeared tonight. "You’re safe here, for now anyway, but I could use your help".

The governor looks at you Kirsk, his eyes narrow a bit as you speak. "The Cult of the Dragon? What the hell could they want from us...and why are they looting the town...". He runs his free hand through his hair. "Of course you can have time to do that...just...I don’t want to press too hard, but time is of the essence"