2. The First Delve

Guard Post
The kobold guard carelessly tosses Ricard’s weapons into one of the caged wardrobes.

In response to the fighter’s question about an inn, the kobold gestures over its shoulder with its thumb towards the door in the eastern wall.

---
Day 2, 12:30 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 1: 5/7
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...
Link to Tiberious' mega-maps ...

Jessica hands over her mace reluctantly. She feels naked without it.

Tiberious has been very interested in this "Kobold Korners". He only has a dagger, so he heads to the door and opens it up to look inside. Well, well, well. We finally made it. Let us check out the clientele. My guess is that a well-worn adventurer may have some stories to tell.

Fenwick notes the number of weapons that have been surrendered, the marketplace does seem popular.

"How does this work exactly?" she asks, handing over 'her' weapon with a glance at Gabbro for approval. "Do we get like a receipt or something to make sure we're the ones who leave with our weapons?"

Ricard has already asked the question she's most interested in, so she lets her eyes scan the market trying to get a feel for what's for sale and the attitudes of those doing the buying, and to see if she can pick out an obvious place where there might be temporary lodging available.

Pickles follows in Fenwick’s shadow bow and axe in hand, his sharp ears listening for the Kobold’s answer to a reasonable question and his eyes flicking over the market beyond. Not for the first time he wonders why he is not carrying a small blade.

The kobold guard looks taken aback by this reasonable question. He looks at the disorganised piles of weapons already in the caged wardrobes and sighs. After placing Fenwick’s weapon with exaggerated care atop one of the smaller piles, he bends down, picks up a pebble from the floor, and hands it to the elf. "Ree-seet" he explains.

---

Meanwhile, Tiberious, free from such security entanglements, heads through the guard post’s eastern door. A corridor extends for 20’ before an archway opens out into a very large chamber, the roof of which is supported by stone pillars. The area is a bustling and noisy bazaar filled with various species conducting business. Around the walls of the room and down its centre are a clutter of makeshift canvas and wood stalls offering various goods and services. Each stall is manned by kobolds, both male and female. The smells of cooking fill the air

---
Day 2, 12:30 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 1: 5/7
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...
Link to Tiberious' mega-maps ...

"Thank you...that will uh work perfectly." Fenwick assures the kobold with a smile. Placing the pebble in her pack for safe keeping, she hurries after Tiberious.

Gabbro nods as Fenwick hands over Druin's blade to the kobold; he follows suit with handing over her spear. Like Sister Jessica, he feels awkward and vulnerable without a weapon in his hand, and gives a little shiver. ::Let's hope this isn't all an elaborate plan the kobolds have with the dwarves to kill and rob adventurers...:: he thinks to himself.

Following Tiberious into the bazaar, Ricard keeps his eyes peeled for anything that might resemble either an inn or a tavern...

Approaching the guards Pickles hands over his bow and axe, but retaining his arrows. "Can I have a ree-seet as well please?" He says with a cheerful smile taking the stone handed over, "Thank you, is there a blacksmith nearby?"

Kobold Market
With your weapons deposited with the kobold guards, you are free to enter the market. After your relatively lonely exploration of Stonehell so far, this place is an assault on the senses. Orcs, goblins, humans and even lizardfolk all seem to mix freely, browsing the wares of the kobold stallholders. Armed and armoured kobold and bugbear guards patrol the market ensuring order is maintained.

There is a broad range of offerings across the various stalls, including a junk merchant, a cobbler, a blacksmith, a rope-maker, a fletcher, a weaponsmith, a snake vendor, a tailor, a weaver, a barber, a water seller, an armourer, a grocer, a soothsayer, a brewer and a tanner.

Asking around for an inn or a tavern, Ricard is directed towards an archway that leads east from the market. Similarly, Pickles has little trouble finding the blacksmith’s stall.

—

Mapping information: rectangular room, 50’ x 80’. You enter through an archway in the southernmost section of the western wall. There is a further archway in the middle of the northern wall, and a third in the eastern wall that is 40’ from the northern wall.

---
Day 2, 12:40 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 1: 5/7
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...
Link to Tiberious' mega-maps ...

Having no money, Gabbro isn't interested in shopping, but he's fascinated by the amount of commerce going on here, and the logistics of it. What happens when people buy weapons from the smith? Do they get to walk out with them? Are they escorted by bugbears until they leave the market? Where are all these customers coming from, and where are they going?

Fenwick does a quick inspection of the going rate for water since that seems something handy to resupply without needing to go above ground. She'll also peek at the junk merchant to see if the wares sold truly are junk or might contain interesting items from deeper in the prison.

She'll then join Ricard at the archway to investigate the available lodgings.

Pickles melds into the crowd and shadows walking unnoticed as much as possible, looking at the different stores and races of the market listening to conversations. After sighting the blacksmith he checks his coins and figures he is better off getting some money first, turning away he heads back to find the others spotting Fenwick at the junk shop. He appears suddenly beside the Elf with a huge smile on his face, "Anything interesting?" he asks in an innocent voice as he scans the wares.

Once done at the Junk Shop will follow Fenwick back to the Inn.

Kobold Market
As a quick aside, this is an astute question. Stonehell is not a "funhouse" or "zoo" dungeon. It has its own internal logic (albeit a "fantasy" logic). So, for example, you’re unlikely to find a goblin living next to a dragon, living next to a wizard, living next to a beholder, for no apparent reason. Therefore, you can safely assume that all the groups milling around the market either reside in Stonehell or have business here. And all the groups will have their own agendas, politics and inter-relationships (that may be influenceable).
The kobold water seller charges 1 copper piece to refill a waterskin. Looking into the barrel from which the water is drawn, Fenwick can see that it’s not the freshest and most crystal clear liquid she has ever seen.

The junk store contains a wide variety of wares that the kobolds have scavenged. Some are useless and broken, but others are serviceable. It includes various items of discarded (or stolen?) adventuring gear, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary.

From a game perspective, there is a chance that you can find any standard item of adventuring equipment on this stall. The more common the item, the greater the chance that there’s one of those lying somewhere amongst the kobold’s junk.
The diminutive halfling moves almost unnoticed amongst the bustle of the market, skulking to see what he can learn from the other patrons.

The goblins are a sorry sight - malnourished and wretched, even by goblin standards. Clearly penniless, they are mainly here to see what they can beg, borrow or steal.

The orcs seem to be here with an agenda other than shopping. Whilst they superficially move from stall to stall, feigning interest in the goods on offer, they focus most of their attention on a group of humans.

Those humans are shopping for supplies. They seem at ease as they move about the market, apparently oblivious of the orcs’ attention. You notice that all the humans are wearing at least one article of clothing (e.g. a scarf, a bandana, a sash around their waist) that is made from a yellow and black checkerboard cloth.

The lizardfolk very much keep themselves to themselves. It’s impossible to gauge their thoughts or intentions.

---

In search of the inn, you take the passage that leads east from the market. It continues for 20’, before reaching a corner section that turns north. However, before you get that far, you find the door to the inn in the southern wall of the corridor, 20’ east of the market. A sign outside reads "The Kopper Kettle". Sounds of raucous recreation emanate from within.

---
Day 2, 12:40 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 1: 5/7
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...
Link to Tiberious' mega-maps ...

Fenwick starts, having not seen Pickles approach, then smiles self-consciously, and returns to her perusal of a water-damaged journal. "Not really... I was hoping some scrolls or artifacts that weren't obviously magical might have wound up here, but nope. Looks like junk. Still, some useful bits if we run low on supplies--arrows, oil, that sort of thing. Which reminds me whoever carrying the torches should probably buy a flint and steel."

She nods toward the archway. "I'm most interested in finding lodgings. Exploring may take a while and I'd like to set up camp here where we can get food and supplies and come to recover. "

Ricard makes a mental note to buy a flint after the inn and then pushes open the door to the Kopper Kettle. Once inside, the warrior scans the room and then walks up to the bar and asks about a room.

Pickles just nods his agreement with the Elf’s appraisal of the junk shop, and is about to mention he owns flint and steel, but the Elf moves on. He shrugs and simply tags along behind Fenwick.

"Have you noticed the abundance of interest the Orcs are showing in the group wearing yellow and black checkered sashes? Well I call them a group cause they wear a similar piece of cloth, but in many varieties of fashion." Pickles starts halfway into a conversation he must have been having in his own head, and just decided to include Fenwick. "It is pretty obvious that the Orcs are not here to shop. Like that one is not even looking at items in the shop . . .", He points out a brute of an Orcs standing arms folded and staring at a human with a yellow and checkered sash, "I mean I have seen Zombies with better acting skills. What do you think that is about? Maybe we should asked?" He stops abruptly and looks back at the group of humans . . .

"Without our weapons, I hesitate to do anything that might start an argument," Jessica counsels. "Not only are we the guests here, we are unarmed."

The Kopper Kettle
Ricard pushes open the door to the Kopper Kettle and surveys the scene in front of him. As taverns go, it is the very definition of "makeshift".

A small bar opposite the doorway has been cobbled together from random odds and ends of wood, whilst the tables and chairs are an assortment of scavenged furniture (some of it originally quite fine), inexpert joinery and repurposed barrels and crates.

The clientele is of a similar mix to the marketplace, with the bulk of the noise coming from a group of rowdy hobgoblins playing a tile-laying game.

A door in the eastern wall is scrawled with the word "Bedz".

The barman, an ageing kobold in a grubby apron, smiles obsequiously at Ricard and gestures to an empty table.

Mapping information: rectangular room, 20’ x 30’. You enter through a door in the western half of the northern wall. There is one other door in the middle of the eastern wall.

---
Day 2, 12:50 pm
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Jessica, Cleric 1: 5/5
Pickles, Halfling 1: 4/4
Ricard, Fighter 1: 5/7
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...
Link to Tiberious' mega-maps ...