One Last Riddle SJ Conversion pt 9

Events:  A variety of events can occur depending on the time the PCs
spend dealing with the situation.  Events are based on time though most
rely also on location.
        Prisoner Visit:  Every morning, a little past dawn, Liffess gathers
her things for a visit with the slaves where she tends to blisters,
strained muscles, aching backs, and so on.  Due to her visits the
slaves are well treated by the kobolds, for now.  The lizard man guard
Oppol hired meets her at the entrance to the warehouse the kobolds have
occupied and knocks on the door.  Once the kobolds inside verify it^Òs
her and the guard they open the door and the two enter, whereupon the
door is barred once more.  A candle in the office is already lit so
that Liffess can light her torch from it.  Then the lizard man
accompanies her on her rounds (ostensibly he^Òs here to protect her from
rebellious slaves but he^Òs really here to help ensure the slaves behave
during what the kobolds think is the most dangerous period of the day).
 The war leader and his patrol are also present during Liffess^Òs visit
as their nightly patrol is over and to help ensure the slaves don^Òt
revolt.  What the kobolds don^Òt understand is that if the slaves didn^Òt
revolt while the kobolds are keeping their end of the agreement,
Liffess would not use her mace to aid them, but would instead help the
kobolds put down the uprising, using brutal force if needed.  The
slaves, however, realize Liffess is no longer their friend and they
have reasoned (correctly) that the town guard would react to help the
kobolds put down any revolt.
        Returning to the Lair:  After 7-10 days of watching the progress in
town, Oppol will take the Blackspear back to the lair things began at.
He will take the crew and his five guards with him but will leave the
two dire weasels that are on the ship and his apprentice to help
maintain order.  The lizard man sailor will also go along to continue
training the kobold crew but the marine will stay to help the kobolds
in town as will the lizard man guard.  He brings 10 halfling slaves for
the Thunderspear clan to use in beginning the excavation of a
kobold-sized lair.  The war leader is in charge of the Ripperspear clan
while he^Òs gone.  As soon as Oppol finds that the lair has been cleaned
out by enemies he will be very disturbed.  He will order his forces to
make a thorough search (this time they locate the elven chainmail if
the PCs didn^Òt) and prepare to depart immediately after.  If the PCs
left any kobolds (including eggs) or dire weasels alive here, Oppol
will reintegrate them into his forces.  If they left scavver or wyvern
bodies he will collect these (the wyverns provide hides for scale mail,
a stinger full of poison, potential spell components, and meat to eat
while scavvers will be checked with detect poison and at a minimum have
their skins removed for making leather).  Even dead weasels can become
a meal.  Also any weapons left behind with the dead kobolds will be
collected (the tribe is especially short of crossbows).  If any kobolds
(including young and females) were left alive in the lair they will
tell all they know about what occurred, possibly clueing Oppol in to
the identities of the PCs.  Oppol will return to Miel as soon as he^Òs
confident everything possible has been gleaned from the site.  He will
not split his forces again until they grow but he will keep the
asteroid in mind for future expansion.  Even if it^Òs not covered in
vibrant life, the caves have already been established with the elements
of life, food and water, and the asteroid is uninhabited (though that
may change long before he decides his tribe is ready to reoccupy it).
        Expansion:  With the military expansion Natal and Ujar begin thinking
up what^Òs needed to support it.  Currently there is no barracks but
within 5 days of the alliance being made they decide to convert one of
the confiscated houses to a guard barracks where are unmarried members
of the guard will live.  Officers will have private rooms while the
other guards will have open barracks accommodations.  Also they decide
at least 4 trainees should sleep aboard the town^Òs wreckboat each night
just as the kobolds^Ò ship always has crew aboard.  They make further
plans for a watch tower and several weapon emplacements to be
constructed to defend the town.  Except for the wreckboat idea,
however, they have to wait.  Workers are hired to convert the chosen
halfling house to human scale accommodations, a process that will take
a long time (entire floors have to be removed and repositioned without
ruining the building^Òs structural integrity, windows have to be done
away with or shifted position, etc.).  However, the dwarven community
welcomes the work.  Further, the town gets its first catapult finished
the 7th day after the alliance is made.  This becomes the first weapon
emplacement though it^Òs actually used for weapon^Òs drills and training.
        With an abundant supply of water available the farmers (humans and
elves both) get together and decide they want to be able to use it to
irrigate their fields more effectively.  After several afternoon
discussions they finally choose a course of action and force Ujar and
Natal to sit down and listen to them on the 10th day.  Ujar and Natal
resist immediate action but are forced into it anyway (both are
concerned about funding).  The next day they contract with some of the
dwarves and other engineers to dig a large stone basin near the edge of
town that the decanter of endless water will sit in.  They are then to
construct a short causeway away from the town that the water will also
flow into.  From there, it is up to the farmers to do their own
irrigating (there are no farms this close to town but the base will
have been established and the farmers will be forced to accept this as
the best they^Òll get on Natal^Òs funds^×as Natal is the owner of the
asteroid and everything on it, there is no separation of town funds and
his personal finances).
        In addition to structural expansion, the town^Òs military continues to
expand.  With the open offer to accept acolytes into the church of
Nirvana and its establishment as one of the new power structures of the
town, several people decide to join.  3 humans, a half-elf, and a dwarf
(who is promptly declared traitor by her people for abandoning the
dwarven gods and disowned^×effectively she^Òs exiled from the dwarven
community) are admitted and begin training under Statra and Ujar within
a month of the alliance.  The first signs up on the 5th day quickly
followed by the half-elf two days later.  The other humans and the
dwarf should be added when the DM feels appropriate.  Each is a Com1
and will become a Clr1 in time (the commoner class will be subsumed by
the cleric class as the new acolytes actually learn some skills) except
the dwarf who is an Exp1 and will multi-class to Clr1.
The offer to train new wizards and attempts to recruit the human
wizards in town makes its first breakthrough on the 3rd day when a
half-elf signs up for wizard training.  It still takes another two days
to final reach an agreement (a pay scale) to provide him training,
however.  On the 5th day two of the town^Òs human wizards sign up for
helmsman duty wile the third agrees only to train others as wizards, a
task all three will have in the town^Òs employ.  When the new wizard
recruit begins his training on the 6th day it inspires 2 humans to also
join up.  Another decides to join by the end of the month.  All 4 are
Com1 who will become 1st level Wiz1s when their training is complete.
All the new wizards have agreed to both serve as helmsman and battle
mages (that was one of the conditions of their training).
        The guard also has some success in their recruitment of common
guardsmen.  The initial 8 recruits that signed up within the first two
days continue their training and 7 more join up after the first militia
drill.  By the end of the month 5 more are recruited.  All but 2 of
these additional recruits are human with the other two being hadozee
hired away from the elven farms (the other hadozee farm hands see an
increase in wages to keep them from leaving as the elves continue to
remain nervous).  Of the recruits all the original 8 are Com1s who will
become War1s when they complete their training.  The later arrivals are
the same except for 2 Rog1 humans that will become Rog1/War1s and an
experienced War1 that joins up (the guards are happy to hired someone
experienced and put him to work immediately).
        Visitors:  It is left to the DM to decide how much ship traffic the
town receives but here are some clues as to how much it should have:
it is neither poor nor is large, with a constant stream of couriers,
merchants, adventures, and military vessels stopping by.  Further there
are no trained crew waiting around for ships or helmsman simply looking
for a vessel to sign them on.  As such it must maintain only a light
traffic.  Generally Miel sees at most one visiting ship at any time,
primarily merchants.  Most ships are run by halflings or humans (based
on the population) with gnomes of all sorts visiting only rarely.  True
to many merchant ships, mixed crews are likely.  Some merchants have
Miel on their regular trade routes while others stop by at random (such
as when they^Òre simply in the area).  At a minimum Miel sees more than
one ship/month throughout the year with a relatively even dispersal
between most visits (so as a minimum a DM might decide that in a sphere
with 12 months Miel has at least 15 ships visit each year with one
regular each month and three or more random stops per year).  Miel is
not located too close to another major power nor is it in an area
dominated by another military power (if this were so, plans of
expansion would be quickly overcome by reason).  Miel is also not in an
area preyed up heavily by raiders or pirates (or slavers, including
neogi and illithids) or else it would have ceased to exist or have
established a more powerful defense.
        When the first merchant vessel arrives at Miel after the deal with the
kobolds it is boarded to be inspected for contraband and have its fees
assessed by the town guard, including Juliet, Ujar, and Aton, all the
experienced guards, and a number of the trainees.  After conducting an
especially thorough search of the ship Juliet declares that it has been
confiscated by the State of Miel.  Any gnomes and halflings are
immediately taken into custody as ^Óillegals^Ô while other crew are
offered the chance to work for Miel or they can debark and enter the
town as free visitors.  Any hostilities are immediately dealt with by a
maximum use of force.  Statra and Liffess race to help along with the
remaining guard recruits.  The kobolds also react to a fight by flying
their ship over and sending their lizard man mercenaries to help subdue
the crew.  Oppol will also come to help, bringing those kobolds not on
duty watching the slaves, except his apprentice (who is ordered to keep
control of the headquarters).  He begins by summoning reinforcements
onto the ship (he has already cast mage armor and shield after being
informed of a ship coming arriving).  Any merchant vessel should
quickly be overcome.  Those who resisted and aren^Òt gnomes or halflings
are enslaved anyway, only other races are made slaves of the town
rather than being turned over to the kobolds.  The ship and all its
cargo (and the possessions of anyone enslaved) become property of the
town (i.e., Natal) and the ship is completely cleaned out so it can be
turned over to the town guard as a warship.  It will be re-christened
Miel^Òs Hope as it is now carries the hopes of the town.  If any of the
crew didn^Òt get killed or enslaved (likely on a merchant vessel) they
will be offered the chance to join the guard.  If they do they will be
used to show the existing guards the ropes of their new vessel.
Regardless of how many crew agreed to join the guard, no one is crazy
enough to allow Miel^Òs Hope to operate with less than a 50% native
crew.  When the guard finally feels up to it, Miel^Òs Hope will head out
under Juliet^Òs command to go pirate hunting.  Under new laws they are
also to board, capture, and confiscate any halfling and gnome vessels
they encounter in Miel^Òs territory (an area loosely defined but and
declared only locally so far).  In this way they hope to expand their
fleet quickly.


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