Magic and crap

[mad-mage-offical]

I SHALL NOW REMAKE MY INTRO (after accidently deleting it, twice, these darned mortal devices)

Name: Clover

Age: 429 or something? I do not possess such knowledge as mages don't age that much

Species: Human(ish)

Pronouns: he/him

occupation: I sell spells, potions, (AHEM and allegedly curses), AND DID YOU SEE MY NEW FLYER

my hobbies include: reading, baking, losing my mind, reading, calligraphy, reading, reading, repeating myself, AND OF COURSE, reading

I am allergic to turtles, STAY BACK TURTLES

I remember everything perfectly, except the things I forget

Basic DNI, let's all internet good

If you do care to visit my mage tower, just look at the signs by a cobblestone road that point to my home in Beyond!

ok that's it THE END

OOC: I am not a mad mage, nor am I a demon librarian in hell, and that's all you need to know

[dnd-offishal]

Sup, got any crypts or dungeons or labyrinths you need me to possess? Besides cursing and going on quests that's kind of my only job

Fare thee well!

@mad-mage-offical

In a future session, mayhaps :)

[mad-mage-offical]

whoo, future consideration!

[mad-mage-offical]

I should buy a wand

[true-neutral-kobold]

Searching the Burrows

Leaving the kitty to enjoy the chaos, Knot-A-Kobold conks the blonde gnome with the masterworks ladle and shoves them into the inventory. “Now they can’t tell anyone we don’t belong.”

Heading down into the burrows, Knot-A-Kobold stops briefly to admire the Gnome Park. They have all manner of mosses and fungi, even some varieties that appear to be imported and maintained by the gnomes. To the side they seem to have installed a small store. At the center of the park there is a fountain, where a statue of a gnome is fishing but the fishing rod spews water. All-in-all a pleasant place.

Hearing Clover next to them, “we should keep moving”, Knot-A-Kobold keeps moving.

“Let’s go to the Library,” Knot says, “they may have a Gnome to English dictionary. That will be helpful.” They head off down the burrows, nearly getting lost in the twisting maze that the gnomes live in.

The library is (unsurprisingly) empty. It appears the gnomes here are not big readers. They do have a dictionary. Knot hands it to Clover.

In the burrow next to the library, you see Kobold stop, surprised at the Gnome Study Hall.

“It looks like they have the wanted poster even in the school!” On the bulletin board, you see the Wanted poster along with what appears to be a map from the burrows to Beyond!

@mad-mage-offical , if they are using the school to train their gnomes for the revolution, do you think there will be a copy of their plan in here too?

[mad-mage-offical]

Well that takes care of that, jeez.

I it would be a good idea to take a look around the classroom. Even if they don't go into detail teaching the students, the teachers would have to know, they might even go so far as to say what the teachers aren't allowed to teach the students (or consequences for doing so).

If I were a gnome leader, I'd send out a letter or a pamphlet to the gnome teachers. And I were a gnome teacher, I'd put said letter pamphlet between two books or in a locked drawer. And If I were a locked drawer, I'd be on a desk or in a cabinet.

Any evidence would likely be in some gnomish, that's what I'd write it in if I were writing a gnome note in a language, it would stop outsiders, who were in too much of a hurry being chased by blonde gnomes to stop by the library, right in their tracks!

[true-neutral-kobold]

Hm, ok! Kobold isn’t great at locks, though.

Knot starts trying to open drawers and look through cabinets. Most of them seem to be filled with homework assignments in gnomish. Some of them are language homework assignments.

“Clover, check out this cabinet!” Knot shows you a cabinet with three locked drawers and some lettering that looks really official. It is, however, in gnomish.

Referencing the translation homework key, Knot realizes the cabinet is labeled ‘Official Teacher Stuff! No Unauthorized Viewing! Keep Away From Kobolds and Mages!’

Reasoning that they are, at the moment, Knot-A-Kobold, Knot starts tugging on the drawers.

[mad-mage-offical]

To be honest I'm not great with locks, but if I can find a blunt object-

"There is a bit of rustling in Clover's bad, and out pops the glass rabbit knickknack creature that was stowing away in Clover's bag from the start of their adventure, uh-"

"that one, which takes its time shimmying down and to the drawers. It sticks it's small, porcelain arms into the keyhole, messing with the lock's tumblers randomly until there's a click. To confirm, the small creature tugs on the drawer's handle and slightly opens it, then turns to stare at Knot-a-Kobold and Clover."

I do not recall packing that. Uh, well is that the correct drawer?

whole picture for context

yep there it is

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such a helpful little glass rabbit! Knot offers it some popcorn, delighted when it jumps inside for a full popcorn feast, and then opens the drawer to see what’s inside.

Lots of folders! And they’re all written in gnomish. They do look pretty important though. It might take a bit of time if we have to translate all of these papers.

If we try to translate right here, I’ll probably lose my very fantastic disguise before we finish, unless you have a translation spell.

If we take them with us and re-lock the cabinet, we can get away and translate them at our convenience, but the gnomes will know that someone was here.

We should probably try to get back to your tower soon also, to make sure nothing has gone awry.

What do you think we should do, Clover?

[mad-mage-offical]

I think we should take the folders, there's too many to translate quickly, all a translate spell will do is write is all down for you, won't take any less time. While time is of the essence, I doubt we have all the time in the world, but there's a bit of wiggle room for sightseeing. Just enough to walk instead of run or stop by a kebab stand.

If the spell starts fading we'll need to pick up the pace of course, having two wanted posters for one person is just silly and a waste of good paper. Of course when that blonde gnome wakes up who's to say they won't snitch. If only there was a way to get someone to not bring up a topic to others or they'll suffer a non-fatal consequence. Ahem, I do have a spell for that

It wouldn't be a bad idea to check on the tower, for all I know it could be on fire, or worse, covered in ladybugs. But we did come all this way to chat with a dragon, oh decisions! Tough decisions. Ones we'll have to make only a bit later I suppose. I can always use that bag of portal materials from your adventure with beetroot, once we get back to the surface of course, I'll just leave out the interdimensional part.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kebabs! Kobold, sorry, Knot-A-Kobold loves kebabs!

Knot heads off towards the food court, letting their nose lead the way.

Wait, folders! Kobold quickly returns and grabs the folders, meticulously closes the drawer so it’s not obvious anything’s been done, checks to see if they’ve left evidence laying around, and then heads off to the food court to look for kebabs.

“On our way out, we should drop the guard gnome off where we found him in the guard shack. If you can enchant him so that he won’t say anything, then no one will know anything about us being here.”

Knot finds a kebab seller, and manages to haggle for two kebabs down from the price of three interesting metamorphic rocks down to two. Knot tried to get them to agree to one, the nicest one even, but was not successful.

They did throw in a bowl of some grain (rice possibly) along with the skewers. Knot offers Clover the choice of which skewer he wants.

“Did you have other sights you want to see in the burrow while we’re here? I think we have time for one more stop before we have to leave. Or we could leave and give our selves enough time not to rush on the way out.”

[mad-mage-offical]

One more stop might be the death of us, but at least we won't have to run out. At a moderate pace, we may look about. Observe the general area. Look at the moss, the mushrooms, the gnomes, the structure, the beauty of the burrows that we will never be allowed to see in these forms again if we dilly-dally too much. Besides, I'm eager to check on my tower, luckily It's covered in eyes, the things in the portal bag will help me see through one of them

[true-neutral-kobold]

Sounds like a plan!

Knot finishes the food, which was quite good, and drops the plates back to the seller. “

“Let’s head out, at a moderate pace,” pulling @mad-mage-offical across the way to admire some mushrooms with long stems and a brownish top. Knot pulls out the handy field guide to check if they’re poisonous. On the page labeled mushrooms, it just says ‘unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t eat the mushroom.’ It does include a footnote: ‘this applies even if it looks really yummy.’

I guess we’ll stick to admiring the mushrooms in that case. Knot takes a few notes and scribbles so that they can draw a sketch later. They do the same for the mushrooms just a bit further on that are purple and green. “Those look really magical,” Knot exclaims, “I bet they grow in some kind of special substrate.” As Knot bends down, a small fairy-like creature pokes its head out to stare at them. Knot is easily startled and so backs off.

“Maybe we can keep on moving a bit. I think that thing can see through my disguise. Either that or it just likes staring,” Knot whispers to Clover. “The next room probably has better moss anyways.”

Knot and Clover move up through the burrows, with Knot taking notes as they go. None of the gnomes pay them any mind, so it looks like we had a good plan.

As they’re nearing the entrance, Knot starts to feel the guard gnome waking up. Quickly checking they’re not being watched, Knot removes the guard gnome from inventory.

“Okay, on to you. If you can spell him, that would be helpful us get away cleanly.”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover, thinks for a moment, then says, "Nemo dabis aut calcei tui implebuntur ignita carbones," and flicks the blonde gnome in the forehead, followed by an "Ow".'

That should do it, barring I said that right, if he tries to tell anyone we were here, his shoes will fill with flaming coals. That should be incentive enough. Goodbye blonde gnome, I hope to see you leave the burrows to explore someday!

Let's get going, he'll be fine, maybe a slight headache on account of being hit on the head with a ladle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“He’ll be fine,” Knot gently pats his head where the ladle connected, “barely any damage. And gnomes heal fast.”

As Clover and Knot-A-Kobold head out of the burrows, you notice Knot’s disguise starting to wear off, the facial features and hair returning back to normal Kobold state. For some reason, though, the horns shrunk but didn’t disappear entirely (short enough to fit under a hat but long enough to hurt if they ran their head into you). Kobold seems happy with this state of affairs.

“Guess we left just in time, right?”

Looking around, the landscape seems unchanged, though the light is dim. It could be either early morning or late evening. Kobold has lost track of time and isn’t sure which it is.

“Are you able to portal us back or should we ride back the way we came?”

When we are back safe and sound we can work on translating the gnome folders.

[mad-mage-offical]

Sure thing, the portal should be good to step through, but if there are still gnomes around, we should still be careful. I'll open it now, I have the bag of portal stuff, and for a conduit, which basically changes the size and shape, I'll go with one of my windows.

There are a few gnomes, but they look dormant and less angry mobbish, I think they'll get the idea I'm not there if we keep out of sight, they might even leave

[true-neutral-kobold]

Searching the Burrows

Leaving the kitty to enjoy the chaos, Knot-A-Kobold conks the blonde gnome with the masterworks ladle and shoves them into the inventory. “Now they can’t tell anyone we don’t belong.”

Heading down into the burrows, Knot-A-Kobold stops briefly to admire the Gnome Park. They have all manner of mosses and fungi, even some varieties that appear to be imported and maintained by the gnomes. To the side they seem to have installed a small store. At the center of the park there is a fountain, where a statue of a gnome is fishing but the fishing rod spews water. All-in-all a pleasant place.

Hearing Clover next to them, “we should keep moving”, Knot-A-Kobold keeps moving.

“Let’s go to the Library,” Knot says, “they may have a Gnome to English dictionary. That will be helpful.” They head off down the burrows, nearly getting lost in the twisting maze that the gnomes live in.

The library is (unsurprisingly) empty. It appears the gnomes here are not big readers. They do have a dictionary. Knot hands it to Clover.

In the burrow next to the library, you see Kobold stop, surprised at the Gnome Study Hall.

“It looks like they have the wanted poster even in the school!” On the bulletin board, you see the Wanted poster along with what appears to be a map from the burrows to Beyond!

@mad-mage-offical , if they are using the school to train their gnomes for the revolution, do you think there will be a copy of their plan in here too?

[mad-mage-offical]

Well that takes care of that, jeez.

I it would be a good idea to take a look around the classroom. Even if they don't go into detail teaching the students, the teachers would have to know, they might even go so far as to say what the teachers aren't allowed to teach the students (or consequences for doing so).

If I were a gnome leader, I'd send out a letter or a pamphlet to the gnome teachers. And I were a gnome teacher, I'd put said letter pamphlet between two books or in a locked drawer. And If I were a locked drawer, I'd be on a desk or in a cabinet.

Any evidence would likely be in some gnomish, that's what I'd write it in if I were writing a gnome note in a language, it would stop outsiders, who were in too much of a hurry being chased by blonde gnomes to stop by the library, right in their tracks!

[true-neutral-kobold]

Hm, ok! Kobold isn’t great at locks, though.

Knot starts trying to open drawers and look through cabinets. Most of them seem to be filled with homework assignments in gnomish. Some of them are language homework assignments.

“Clover, check out this cabinet!” Knot shows you a cabinet with three locked drawers and some lettering that looks really official. It is, however, in gnomish.

Referencing the translation homework key, Knot realizes the cabinet is labeled ‘Official Teacher Stuff! No Unauthorized Viewing! Keep Away From Kobolds and Mages!’

Reasoning that they are, at the moment, Knot-A-Kobold, Knot starts tugging on the drawers.

[mad-mage-offical]

To be honest I'm not great with locks, but if I can find a blunt object-

"There is a bit of rustling in Clover's bad, and out pops the glass rabbit knickknack creature that was stowing away in Clover's bag from the start of their adventure, uh-"

"that one, which takes its time shimmying down and to the drawers. It sticks it's small, porcelain arms into the keyhole, messing with the lock's tumblers randomly until there's a click. To confirm, the small creature tugs on the drawer's handle and slightly opens it, then turns to stare at Knot-a-Kobold and Clover."

I do not recall packing that. Uh, well is that the correct drawer?

whole picture for context

yep there it is

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such a helpful little glass rabbit! Knot offers it some popcorn, delighted when it jumps inside for a full popcorn feast, and then opens the drawer to see what’s inside.

Lots of folders! And they’re all written in gnomish. They do look pretty important though. It might take a bit of time if we have to translate all of these papers.

If we try to translate right here, I’ll probably lose my very fantastic disguise before we finish, unless you have a translation spell.

If we take them with us and re-lock the cabinet, we can get away and translate them at our convenience, but the gnomes will know that someone was here.

We should probably try to get back to your tower soon also, to make sure nothing has gone awry.

What do you think we should do, Clover?

[mad-mage-offical]

I think we should take the folders, there's too many to translate quickly, all a translate spell will do is write is all down for you, won't take any less time. While time is of the essence, I doubt we have all the time in the world, but there's a bit of wiggle room for sightseeing. Just enough to walk instead of run or stop by a kebab stand.

If the spell starts fading we'll need to pick up the pace of course, having two wanted posters for one person is just silly and a waste of good paper. Of course when that blonde gnome wakes up who's to say they won't snitch. If only there was a way to get someone to not bring up a topic to others or they'll suffer a non-fatal consequence. Ahem, I do have a spell for that

It wouldn't be a bad idea to check on the tower, for all I know it could be on fire, or worse, covered in ladybugs. But we did come all this way to chat with a dragon, oh decisions! Tough decisions. Ones we'll have to make only a bit later I suppose. I can always use that bag of portal materials from your adventure with beetroot, once we get back to the surface of course, I'll just leave out the interdimensional part.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kebabs! Kobold, sorry, Knot-A-Kobold loves kebabs!

Knot heads off towards the food court, letting their nose lead the way.

Wait, folders! Kobold quickly returns and grabs the folders, meticulously closes the drawer so it’s not obvious anything’s been done, checks to see if they’ve left evidence laying around, and then heads off to the food court to look for kebabs.

“On our way out, we should drop the guard gnome off where we found him in the guard shack. If you can enchant him so that he won’t say anything, then no one will know anything about us being here.”

Knot finds a kebab seller, and manages to haggle for two kebabs down from the price of three interesting metamorphic rocks down to two. Knot tried to get them to agree to one, the nicest one even, but was not successful.

They did throw in a bowl of some grain (rice possibly) along with the skewers. Knot offers Clover the choice of which skewer he wants.

“Did you have other sights you want to see in the burrow while we’re here? I think we have time for one more stop before we have to leave. Or we could leave and give our selves enough time not to rush on the way out.”

[mad-mage-offical]

One more stop might be the death of us, but at least we won't have to run out. At a moderate pace, we may look about. Observe the general area. Look at the moss, the mushrooms, the gnomes, the structure, the beauty of the burrows that we will never be allowed to see in these forms again if we dilly-dally too much. Besides, I'm eager to check on my tower, luckily It's covered in eyes, the things in the portal bag will help me see through one of them

[true-neutral-kobold]

Sounds like a plan!

Knot finishes the food, which was quite good, and drops the plates back to the seller. “

“Let’s head out, at a moderate pace,” pulling @mad-mage-offical across the way to admire some mushrooms with long stems and a brownish top. Knot pulls out the handy field guide to check if they’re poisonous. On the page labeled mushrooms, it just says ‘unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t eat the mushroom.’ It does include a footnote: ‘this applies even if it looks really yummy.’

I guess we’ll stick to admiring the mushrooms in that case. Knot takes a few notes and scribbles so that they can draw a sketch later. They do the same for the mushrooms just a bit further on that are purple and green. “Those look really magical,” Knot exclaims, “I bet they grow in some kind of special substrate.” As Knot bends down, a small fairy-like creature pokes its head out to stare at them. Knot is easily startled and so backs off.

“Maybe we can keep on moving a bit. I think that thing can see through my disguise. Either that or it just likes staring,” Knot whispers to Clover. “The next room probably has better moss anyways.”

Knot and Clover move up through the burrows, with Knot taking notes as they go. None of the gnomes pay them any mind, so it looks like we had a good plan.

As they’re nearing the entrance, Knot starts to feel the guard gnome waking up. Quickly checking they’re not being watched, Knot removes the guard gnome from inventory.

“Okay, on to you. If you can spell him, that would be helpful us get away cleanly.”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover, thinks for a moment, then says, "Nemo dabis aut calcei tui implebuntur ignita carbones," and flicks the blonde gnome in the forehead, followed by an "Ow".'

That should do it, barring I said that right, if he tries to tell anyone we were here, his shoes will fill with flaming coals. That should be incentive enough. Goodbye blonde gnome, I hope to see you leave the burrows to explore someday!

Let's get going, he'll be fine, maybe a slight headache on account of being hit on the head with a ladle

[true-neutral-kobold]

Searching the Burrows

Leaving the kitty to enjoy the chaos, Knot-A-Kobold conks the blonde gnome with the masterworks ladle and shoves them into the inventory. “Now they can’t tell anyone we don’t belong.”

Heading down into the burrows, Knot-A-Kobold stops briefly to admire the Gnome Park. They have all manner of mosses and fungi, even some varieties that appear to be imported and maintained by the gnomes. To the side they seem to have installed a small store. At the center of the park there is a fountain, where a statue of a gnome is fishing but the fishing rod spews water. All-in-all a pleasant place.

Hearing Clover next to them, “we should keep moving”, Knot-A-Kobold keeps moving.

“Let’s go to the Library,” Knot says, “they may have a Gnome to English dictionary. That will be helpful.” They head off down the burrows, nearly getting lost in the twisting maze that the gnomes live in.

The library is (unsurprisingly) empty. It appears the gnomes here are not big readers. They do have a dictionary. Knot hands it to Clover.

In the burrow next to the library, you see Kobold stop, surprised at the Gnome Study Hall.

“It looks like they have the wanted poster even in the school!” On the bulletin board, you see the Wanted poster along with what appears to be a map from the burrows to Beyond!

@mad-mage-offical , if they are using the school to train their gnomes for the revolution, do you think there will be a copy of their plan in here too?

[mad-mage-offical]

Well that takes care of that, jeez.

I it would be a good idea to take a look around the classroom. Even if they don't go into detail teaching the students, the teachers would have to know, they might even go so far as to say what the teachers aren't allowed to teach the students (or consequences for doing so).

If I were a gnome leader, I'd send out a letter or a pamphlet to the gnome teachers. And I were a gnome teacher, I'd put said letter pamphlet between two books or in a locked drawer. And If I were a locked drawer, I'd be on a desk or in a cabinet.

Any evidence would likely be in some gnomish, that's what I'd write it in if I were writing a gnome note in a language, it would stop outsiders, who were in too much of a hurry being chased by blonde gnomes to stop by the library, right in their tracks!

[true-neutral-kobold]

Hm, ok! Kobold isn’t great at locks, though.

Knot starts trying to open drawers and look through cabinets. Most of them seem to be filled with homework assignments in gnomish. Some of them are language homework assignments.

“Clover, check out this cabinet!” Knot shows you a cabinet with three locked drawers and some lettering that looks really official. It is, however, in gnomish.

Referencing the translation homework key, Knot realizes the cabinet is labeled ‘Official Teacher Stuff! No Unauthorized Viewing! Keep Away From Kobolds and Mages!’

Reasoning that they are, at the moment, Knot-A-Kobold, Knot starts tugging on the drawers.

[mad-mage-offical]

To be honest I'm not great with locks, but if I can find a blunt object-

"There is a bit of rustling in Clover's bad, and out pops the glass rabbit knickknack creature that was stowing away in Clover's bag from the start of their adventure, uh-"

"that one, which takes its time shimmying down and to the drawers. It sticks it's small, porcelain arms into the keyhole, messing with the lock's tumblers randomly until there's a click. To confirm, the small creature tugs on the drawer's handle and slightly opens it, then turns to stare at Knot-a-Kobold and Clover."

I do not recall packing that. Uh, well is that the correct drawer?

whole picture for context

yep there it is

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such a helpful little glass rabbit! Knot offers it some popcorn, delighted when it jumps inside for a full popcorn feast, and then opens the drawer to see what’s inside.

Lots of folders! And they’re all written in gnomish. They do look pretty important though. It might take a bit of time if we have to translate all of these papers.

If we try to translate right here, I’ll probably lose my very fantastic disguise before we finish, unless you have a translation spell.

If we take them with us and re-lock the cabinet, we can get away and translate them at our convenience, but the gnomes will know that someone was here.

We should probably try to get back to your tower soon also, to make sure nothing has gone awry.

What do you think we should do, Clover?

[mad-mage-offical]

I think we should take the folders, there's too many to translate quickly, all a translate spell will do is write is all down for you, won't take any less time. While time is of the essence, I doubt we have all the time in the world, but there's a bit of wiggle room for sightseeing. Just enough to walk instead of run or stop by a kebab stand.

If the spell starts fading we'll need to pick up the pace of course, having two wanted posters for one person is just silly and a waste of good paper. Of course when that blonde gnome wakes up who's to say they won't snitch. If only there was a way to get someone to not bring up a topic to others or they'll suffer a non-fatal consequence. Ahem, I do have a spell for that

It wouldn't be a bad idea to check on the tower, for all I know it could be on fire, or worse, covered in ladybugs. But we did come all this way to chat with a dragon, oh decisions! Tough decisions. Ones we'll have to make only a bit later I suppose. I can always use that bag of portal materials from your adventure with beetroot, once we get back to the surface of course, I'll just leave out the interdimensional part.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kebabs! Kobold, sorry, Knot-A-Kobold loves kebabs!

Knot heads off towards the food court, letting their nose lead the way.

Wait, folders! Kobold quickly returns and grabs the folders, meticulously closes the drawer so it’s not obvious anything’s been done, checks to see if they’ve left evidence laying around, and then heads off to the food court to look for kebabs.

“On our way out, we should drop the guard gnome off where we found him in the guard shack. If you can enchant him so that he won’t say anything, then no one will know anything about us being here.”

Knot finds a kebab seller, and manages to haggle for two kebabs down from the price of three interesting metamorphic rocks down to two. Knot tried to get them to agree to one, the nicest one even, but was not successful.

They did throw in a bowl of some grain (rice possibly) along with the skewers. Knot offers Clover the choice of which skewer he wants.

“Did you have other sights you want to see in the burrow while we’re here? I think we have time for one more stop before we have to leave. Or we could leave and give our selves enough time not to rush on the way out.”

[mad-mage-offical]

One more stop might be the death of us, but at least we won't have to run out. At a moderate pace, we may look about. Observe the general area. Look at the moss, the mushrooms, the gnomes, the structure, the beauty of the burrows that we will never be allowed to see in these forms again if we dilly-dally too much. Besides, I'm eager to check on my tower, luckily It's covered in eyes, the things in the portal bag will help me see through one of them

[true-neutral-kobold]

Searching the Burrows

Leaving the kitty to enjoy the chaos, Knot-A-Kobold conks the blonde gnome with the masterworks ladle and shoves them into the inventory. “Now they can’t tell anyone we don’t belong.”

Heading down into the burrows, Knot-A-Kobold stops briefly to admire the Gnome Park. They have all manner of mosses and fungi, even some varieties that appear to be imported and maintained by the gnomes. To the side they seem to have installed a small store. At the center of the park there is a fountain, where a statue of a gnome is fishing but the fishing rod spews water. All-in-all a pleasant place.

Hearing Clover next to them, “we should keep moving”, Knot-A-Kobold keeps moving.

“Let’s go to the Library,” Knot says, “they may have a Gnome to English dictionary. That will be helpful.” They head off down the burrows, nearly getting lost in the twisting maze that the gnomes live in.

The library is (unsurprisingly) empty. It appears the gnomes here are not big readers. They do have a dictionary. Knot hands it to Clover.

In the burrow next to the library, you see Kobold stop, surprised at the Gnome Study Hall.

“It looks like they have the wanted poster even in the school!” On the bulletin board, you see the Wanted poster along with what appears to be a map from the burrows to Beyond!

@mad-mage-offical , if they are using the school to train their gnomes for the revolution, do you think there will be a copy of their plan in here too?

[mad-mage-offical]

Well that takes care of that, jeez.

I it would be a good idea to take a look around the classroom. Even if they don't go into detail teaching the students, the teachers would have to know, they might even go so far as to say what the teachers aren't allowed to teach the students (or consequences for doing so).

If I were a gnome leader, I'd send out a letter or a pamphlet to the gnome teachers. And I were a gnome teacher, I'd put said letter pamphlet between two books or in a locked drawer. And If I were a locked drawer, I'd be on a desk or in a cabinet.

Any evidence would likely be in some gnomish, that's what I'd write it in if I were writing a gnome note in a language, it would stop outsiders, who were in too much of a hurry being chased by blonde gnomes to stop by the library, right in their tracks!

[true-neutral-kobold]

Hm, ok! Kobold isn’t great at locks, though.

Knot starts trying to open drawers and look through cabinets. Most of them seem to be filled with homework assignments in gnomish. Some of them are language homework assignments.

“Clover, check out this cabinet!” Knot shows you a cabinet with three locked drawers and some lettering that looks really official. It is, however, in gnomish.

Referencing the translation homework key, Knot realizes the cabinet is labeled ‘Official Teacher Stuff! No Unauthorized Viewing! Keep Away From Kobolds and Mages!’

Reasoning that they are, at the moment, Knot-A-Kobold, Knot starts tugging on the drawers.

[mad-mage-offical]

To be honest I'm not great with locks, but if I can find a blunt object-

"There is a bit of rustling in Clover's bad, and out pops the glass rabbit knickknack creature that was stowing away in Clover's bag from the start of their adventure, uh-"

"that one, which takes its time shimmying down and to the drawers. It sticks it's small, porcelain arms into the keyhole, messing with the lock's tumblers randomly until there's a click. To confirm, the small creature tugs on the drawer's handle and slightly opens it, then turns to stare at Knot-a-Kobold and Clover."

I do not recall packing that. Uh, well is that the correct drawer?

whole picture for context

yep there it is

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such a helpful little glass rabbit! Knot offers it some popcorn, delighted when it jumps inside for a full popcorn feast, and then opens the drawer to see what’s inside.

Lots of folders! And they’re all written in gnomish. They do look pretty important though. It might take a bit of time if we have to translate all of these papers.

If we try to translate right here, I’ll probably lose my very fantastic disguise before we finish, unless you have a translation spell.

If we take them with us and re-lock the cabinet, we can get away and translate them at our convenience, but the gnomes will know that someone was here.

We should probably try to get back to your tower soon also, to make sure nothing has gone awry.

What do you think we should do, Clover?

[mad-mage-offical]

I think we should take the folders, there's too many to translate quickly, all a translate spell will do is write is all down for you, won't take any less time. While time is of the essence, I doubt we have all the time in the world, but there's a bit of wiggle room for sightseeing. Just enough to walk instead of run or stop by a kebab stand.

If the spell starts fading we'll need to pick up the pace of course, having two wanted posters for one person is just silly and a waste of good paper. Of course when that blonde gnome wakes up who's to say they won't snitch. If only there was a way to get someone to not bring up a topic to others or they'll suffer a non-fatal consequence. Ahem, I do have a spell for that

It wouldn't be a bad idea to check on the tower, for all I know it could be on fire, or worse, covered in ladybugs. But we did come all this way to chat with a dragon, oh decisions! Tough decisions. Ones we'll have to make only a bit later I suppose. I can always use that bag of portal materials from your adventure with beetroot, once we get back to the surface of course, I'll just leave out the interdimensional part.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Searching the Burrows

Leaving the kitty to enjoy the chaos, Knot-A-Kobold conks the blonde gnome with the masterworks ladle and shoves them into the inventory. “Now they can’t tell anyone we don’t belong.”

Heading down into the burrows, Knot-A-Kobold stops briefly to admire the Gnome Park. They have all manner of mosses and fungi, even some varieties that appear to be imported and maintained by the gnomes. To the side they seem to have installed a small store. At the center of the park there is a fountain, where a statue of a gnome is fishing but the fishing rod spews water. All-in-all a pleasant place.

Hearing Clover next to them, “we should keep moving”, Knot-A-Kobold keeps moving.

“Let’s go to the Library,” Knot says, “they may have a Gnome to English dictionary. That will be helpful.” They head off down the burrows, nearly getting lost in the twisting maze that the gnomes live in.

The library is (unsurprisingly) empty. It appears the gnomes here are not big readers. They do have a dictionary. Knot hands it to Clover.

In the burrow next to the library, you see Kobold stop, surprised at the Gnome Study Hall.

“It looks like they have the wanted poster even in the school!” On the bulletin board, you see the Wanted poster along with what appears to be a map from the burrows to Beyond!

@mad-mage-offical , if they are using the school to train their gnomes for the revolution, do you think there will be a copy of their plan in here too?

[mad-mage-offical]

Well that takes care of that, jeez.

I it would be a good idea to take a look around the classroom. Even if they don't go into detail teaching the students, the teachers would have to know, they might even go so far as to say what the teachers aren't allowed to teach the students (or consequences for doing so).

If I were a gnome leader, I'd send out a letter or a pamphlet to the gnome teachers. And I were a gnome teacher, I'd put said letter pamphlet between two books or in a locked drawer. And If I were a locked drawer, I'd be on a desk or in a cabinet.

Any evidence would likely be in some gnomish, that's what I'd write it in if I were writing a gnome note in a language, it would stop outsiders, who were in too much of a hurry being chased by blonde gnomes to stop by the library, right in their tracks!

[true-neutral-kobold]

Hm, ok! Kobold isn’t great at locks, though.

Knot starts trying to open drawers and look through cabinets. Most of them seem to be filled with homework assignments in gnomish. Some of them are language homework assignments.

“Clover, check out this cabinet!” Knot shows you a cabinet with three locked drawers and some lettering that looks really official. It is, however, in gnomish.

Referencing the translation homework key, Knot realizes the cabinet is labeled ‘Official Teacher Stuff! No Unauthorized Viewing! Keep Away From Kobolds and Mages!’

Reasoning that they are, at the moment, Knot-A-Kobold, Knot starts tugging on the drawers.

[mad-mage-offical]

To be honest I'm not great with locks, but if I can find a blunt object-

"There is a bit of rustling in Clover's bad, and out pops the glass rabbit knickknack creature that was stowing away in Clover's bag from the start of their adventure, uh-"

"that one, which takes its time shimmying down and to the drawers. It sticks it's small, porcelain arms into the keyhole, messing with the lock's tumblers randomly until there's a click. To confirm, the small creature tugs on the drawer's handle and slightly opens it, then turns to stare at Knot-a-Kobold and Clover."

I do not recall packing that. Uh, well is that the correct drawer?

whole picture for context

yep there it is

[true-neutral-kobold]

Searching the Burrows

Leaving the kitty to enjoy the chaos, Knot-A-Kobold conks the blonde gnome with the masterworks ladle and shoves them into the inventory. “Now they can’t tell anyone we don’t belong.”

Heading down into the burrows, Knot-A-Kobold stops briefly to admire the Gnome Park. They have all manner of mosses and fungi, even some varieties that appear to be imported and maintained by the gnomes. To the side they seem to have installed a small store. At the center of the park there is a fountain, where a statue of a gnome is fishing but the fishing rod spews water. All-in-all a pleasant place.

Hearing Clover next to them, “we should keep moving”, Knot-A-Kobold keeps moving.

“Let’s go to the Library,” Knot says, “they may have a Gnome to English dictionary. That will be helpful.” They head off down the burrows, nearly getting lost in the twisting maze that the gnomes live in.

The library is (unsurprisingly) empty. It appears the gnomes here are not big readers. They do have a dictionary. Knot hands it to Clover.

In the burrow next to the library, you see Kobold stop, surprised at the Gnome Study Hall.

“It looks like they have the wanted poster even in the school!” On the bulletin board, you see the Wanted poster along with what appears to be a map from the burrows to Beyond!

@mad-mage-offical , if they are using the school to train their gnomes for the revolution, do you think there will be a copy of their plan in here too?

[mad-mage-offical]

Well that takes care of that, jeez.

I it would be a good idea to take a look around the classroom. Even if they don't go into detail teaching the students, the teachers would have to know, they might even go so far as to say what the teachers aren't allowed to teach the students (or consequences for doing so).

If I were a gnome leader, I'd send out a letter or a pamphlet to the gnome teachers. And I were a gnome teacher, I'd put said letter pamphlet between two books or in a locked drawer. And If I were a locked drawer, I'd be on a desk or in a cabinet.

Any evidence would likely be in some gnomish, that's what I'd write it in if I were writing a gnome note in a language, it would stop outsiders, who were in too much of a hurry being chased by blonde gnomes to stop by the library, right in their tracks!

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Yeah, they probably don’t like me much at all! If you have a disguise spell that will certainly help.

Maybe we can pretend to be some merchants trying to set up trade? But no, we don’t have any goods to sell.

Maybe we can be researchers studying gnomes to show how impressive they are to the nearby towns? They might be willing to share more details if they think we’re going to be helping them out. It would be a bit deceptive, but may get us access.

And if they discover us, Kobold will turn invisible and try to escape. If we get separated, we can agree to meet back at the last place we made camp.

[mad-mage-offical]

I like the researchers plan, I already have the pen and paper! Now onto that disguise spell, I need you to come up with a clear image of what you want to turn into, then the spell will do the rest of the work! On the other hand, you could not imagine something and end up with something random, and more often than not, weird looking. Either way, you wouldn't look like Kobold, which is the desired result for this mission! It won't wear off unless one of these things happen:

I say a specific word, which I have to chose and incorporate into the spell, so I'd have to make it something I wouldn't say, like elephant.

If you get wet, getting plain splashed would wash it away, but being in a humid room makes it slowly melt off.

Five hours passes. Around the last five minutes, it would just slowly fade until, BLAM! Kobold.

Good thing you can turn invisible though, I sure can't. Goat horns! They'll be gone soon. So I'd just run really fast with my head out in front of me, anyone in my way would get slammed into, battering ram style! Okay, the plan has been planned! SO, random, or do you have something in mind? A species even? Or would you rather be a hodgepodge? I've picked hodgepodge before, it was an enlightening experience.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold imagines a smaller kobold-sized version of Clover Petalridge, goat horns and all.

Kobold pulls out sketchbook. Ready to illustrate. For research!

[mad-mage-offical]

It's really hard to think of rhymes, I just won't say eyes for the next 5 hours or so.

What I am is not what I'll be,

Don't believe all that you see.

To the other creatures "eyes",

May they see my new disguise.

'Clover proceeded to look away, as the process of a disguise spell taking place, while painless, is really weird looking. After the odd sounds stopped, he looked back to see a slightly smaller, dare I say Kobold sized version of Clover himself.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold examines their arms and feet, then skips delightedly, exploring their new form.

“This should be fun!” And grins, showing what look to be not-quite fangs.

Alright, let’s see if we can convince the gnomes to give us a tour.

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover and No-longer-a-Kobold start to trek down the cavern, when they hear a guard shout, "HEY!" Behind them, they see a gnome who looks, plain and simple, miffed. Clover looked over to the side into the other room through a small window, and sure enough, this is the so called "sleeping" guard.'

Psst, Formerly Kobold! This guy looks pretty young, doesn't even have a mustache! I wouldn't mention it to him though, he looks like a bit of a grump

[true-neutral-kobold]

Definitely-Not-A-Kobold swaggers up with all the bravado they can muster, feeling extra intimidating with the goat horns.

“Me and my friend here have just arrived. We’re meant to be doing a study on you gnomes, but no one’s been out to greet us! How will this look when we write it up in the paper, do you think? Gnomes are rude and won’t show anyone around, even if it’s in the gnome’s best interest.”

Definitely-Knot-A-Kobold starts scribbling into the sketchpad, hiding it from the gnome so it doesn’t see that they haven’t actually written any words and literally just scribbled.

“Are you meant to be the one greeting us! I am Knot,” Definitely-Knot-A-Kobold looks very proud for thinking up a quick nickname on the spot. “My friend here is a great academic. We made an appointment. Surely you have it written down!”

Knot-A-Kobold glares at the gnome as hard as they can.

[mad-mage-offical]

"The gnome seems less than pleased, but due to fact that this is his job, he forces a smile, and through gritted teeth, says, 'Of course! REALLY sorry if your appointment wasn't recorded, but we can straighten this out later. Right this way, Knot and annoyingly tall Human. Why'd I take this stupid job. I swear, we're starting a war, what do we need to give tours for...'

They follow the gnome through the tunnels, seeing many interesting things as they walk through, statues, a big open room with a fountain like an underground park with people walking their pets, plants that can survive without sunlight, and while all are noteworthy, the gnome keeps walking at a very fast pace, leaving only a few moments to marvel. But the enchanted pen continues writing everything that they missed.

'To get this clear,' the gnome says. 'While there is a whole lot of gnome culture that you might be interested in, and while I'm sure you have plans to write your gnome study, bother the innocent ignorant people that live here, vandalize everything and start a small fire like the last humans that toured here, I must stop any such plans right this moment. Please be respectful to these beautiful boring burrows, don't steal anything, and don't pester the gnomefolk, got it humans?'"

Psst, Knot! So this guy probably doesn't like being cooped up in the burrows, but on a more positive note, the disguise worked!

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Those other humans weren’t part of our research team. I assure you, only the very best, most sensitive considerations are given, we create no problems at all for you. We are friends of gnomes.” Kobold grins slightly too large, showing a little too much teeth, but the tour guide is caught up with too much drudgery to notice. “Tell us about the fire.”

(Whispers to Clover): maybe there’s a way we can convince him to let us wander unattended so he’s not watching us so closely. The other gnomes would probably assume we’re meant to be here if the guard lets us roam. Maybe there’s badges we can get that say Definitely Authorized or something.

[mad-mage-offical]

"The gnome sighs. 'A little while back, a lot of humans wanted to see inside the gnome burrows, but at the time they were a lot more open to people, we gnomes are proud a species and wanted to show off our ant tunnels. One particularly rowdy group came in, leaving trash everywhere, being loud and obnoxious, one even joked about using us as bowling pins. Someone had the great idea of toasting a marshmallow with a torchlight, which they held dangerously close to the garden plants. Practically every gnome here was called to help put out the fire, including me. Kept us away for hours.'"

(Whispering): I think that a big distraction like that fire could be a way to draw most of the gnomes away, while it wouldn't get us a certified badge, maybe we can swipe one in the chaos. I wouldn't go so far as to start another fire though.

[true-neutral-kobold]

While the guide is busy talking about the fire, Knot-A-Kobold quietly gets out the Cat Seeking Adventure, opens the Very Potent Potion from the goblin potion seller, and pulls out the last remaining pine cone from inventory.

Knot-A-Kobold helps the adventurous cat drink the potion, shows it the map of the gnome burrow, and hands it the pine cone.

Knot-A-Kobold then releases the cat to enjoy its mission of chaos.

[mad-mage-offical]

Godspeed kitty.

I think we should start putting the next part of this plan into action before the cat causes too much alarm to slip out of. I don't know how we'd go about getting passes, but if we stay hidden we shouldn't need any until we hit more checkpoints, then chances are we'd get caught trying to sneak by.

I don't know if the gnomes know the whole plan of the war or if they're even allowed to ask, so we might be able to go without protest if we can get one, barring we don't get caught by that unnamed blonde gnome, the one guard who knows we probably aren't supposed to be down there.

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Yeah, they probably don’t like me much at all! If you have a disguise spell that will certainly help.

Maybe we can pretend to be some merchants trying to set up trade? But no, we don’t have any goods to sell.

Maybe we can be researchers studying gnomes to show how impressive they are to the nearby towns? They might be willing to share more details if they think we’re going to be helping them out. It would be a bit deceptive, but may get us access.

And if they discover us, Kobold will turn invisible and try to escape. If we get separated, we can agree to meet back at the last place we made camp.

[mad-mage-offical]

I like the researchers plan, I already have the pen and paper! Now onto that disguise spell, I need you to come up with a clear image of what you want to turn into, then the spell will do the rest of the work! On the other hand, you could not imagine something and end up with something random, and more often than not, weird looking. Either way, you wouldn't look like Kobold, which is the desired result for this mission! It won't wear off unless one of these things happen:

I say a specific word, which I have to chose and incorporate into the spell, so I'd have to make it something I wouldn't say, like elephant.

If you get wet, getting plain splashed would wash it away, but being in a humid room makes it slowly melt off.

Five hours passes. Around the last five minutes, it would just slowly fade until, BLAM! Kobold.

Good thing you can turn invisible though, I sure can't. Goat horns! They'll be gone soon. So I'd just run really fast with my head out in front of me, anyone in my way would get slammed into, battering ram style! Okay, the plan has been planned! SO, random, or do you have something in mind? A species even? Or would you rather be a hodgepodge? I've picked hodgepodge before, it was an enlightening experience.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold imagines a smaller kobold-sized version of Clover Petalridge, goat horns and all.

Kobold pulls out sketchbook. Ready to illustrate. For research!

[mad-mage-offical]

It's really hard to think of rhymes, I just won't say eyes for the next 5 hours or so.

What I am is not what I'll be,

Don't believe all that you see.

To the other creatures "eyes",

May they see my new disguise.

'Clover proceeded to look away, as the process of a disguise spell taking place, while painless, is really weird looking. After the odd sounds stopped, he looked back to see a slightly smaller, dare I say Kobold sized version of Clover himself.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold examines their arms and feet, then skips delightedly, exploring their new form.

“This should be fun!” And grins, showing what look to be not-quite fangs.

Alright, let’s see if we can convince the gnomes to give us a tour.

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover and No-longer-a-Kobold start to trek down the cavern, when they hear a guard shout, "HEY!" Behind them, they see a gnome who looks, plain and simple, miffed. Clover looked over to the side into the other room through a small window, and sure enough, this is the so called "sleeping" guard.'

Psst, Formerly Kobold! This guy looks pretty young, doesn't even have a mustache! I wouldn't mention it to him though, he looks like a bit of a grump

[true-neutral-kobold]

Definitely-Not-A-Kobold swaggers up with all the bravado they can muster, feeling extra intimidating with the goat horns.

“Me and my friend here have just arrived. We’re meant to be doing a study on you gnomes, but no one’s been out to greet us! How will this look when we write it up in the paper, do you think? Gnomes are rude and won’t show anyone around, even if it’s in the gnome’s best interest.”

Definitely-Knot-A-Kobold starts scribbling into the sketchpad, hiding it from the gnome so it doesn’t see that they haven’t actually written any words and literally just scribbled.

“Are you meant to be the one greeting us! I am Knot,” Definitely-Knot-A-Kobold looks very proud for thinking up a quick nickname on the spot. “My friend here is a great academic. We made an appointment. Surely you have it written down!”

Knot-A-Kobold glares at the gnome as hard as they can.

[mad-mage-offical]

"The gnome seems less than pleased, but due to fact that this is his job, he forces a smile, and through gritted teeth, says, 'Of course! REALLY sorry if your appointment wasn't recorded, but we can straighten this out later. Right this way, Knot and annoyingly tall Human. Why'd I take this stupid job. I swear, we're starting a war, what do we need to give tours for...'

They follow the gnome through the tunnels, seeing many interesting things as they walk through, statues, a big open room with a fountain like an underground park with people walking their pets, plants that can survive without sunlight, and while all are noteworthy, the gnome keeps walking at a very fast pace, leaving only a few moments to marvel. But the enchanted pen continues writing everything that they missed.

'To get this clear,' the gnome says. 'While there is a whole lot of gnome culture that you might be interested in, and while I'm sure you have plans to write your gnome study, bother the innocent ignorant people that live here, vandalize everything and start a small fire like the last humans that toured here, I must stop any such plans right this moment. Please be respectful to these beautiful boring burrows, don't steal anything, and don't pester the gnomefolk, got it humans?'"

Psst, Knot! So this guy probably doesn't like being cooped up in the burrows, but on a more positive note, the disguise worked!

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Those other humans weren’t part of our research team. I assure you, only the very best, most sensitive considerations are given, we create no problems at all for you. We are friends of gnomes.” Kobold grins slightly too large, showing a little too much teeth, but the tour guide is caught up with too much drudgery to notice. “Tell us about the fire.”

(Whispers to Clover): maybe there’s a way we can convince him to let us wander unattended so he’s not watching us so closely. The other gnomes would probably assume we’re meant to be here if the guard lets us roam. Maybe there’s badges we can get that say Definitely Authorized or something.

[mad-mage-offical]

"The gnome sighs. 'A little while back, a lot of humans wanted to see inside the gnome burrows, but at the time they were a lot more open to people, we gnomes are proud a species and wanted to show off our ant tunnels. One particularly rowdy group came in, leaving trash everywhere, being loud and obnoxious, one even joked about using us as bowling pins. Someone had the great idea of toasting a marshmallow with a torchlight, which they held dangerously close to the garden plants. Practically every gnome here was called to help put out the fire, including me. Kept us away for hours.'"

(Whispering): I think that a big distraction like that fire could be a way to draw most of the gnomes away, while it wouldn't get us a certified badge, maybe we can swipe one in the chaos. I wouldn't go so far as to start another fire though.

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Yeah, they probably don’t like me much at all! If you have a disguise spell that will certainly help.

Maybe we can pretend to be some merchants trying to set up trade? But no, we don’t have any goods to sell.

Maybe we can be researchers studying gnomes to show how impressive they are to the nearby towns? They might be willing to share more details if they think we’re going to be helping them out. It would be a bit deceptive, but may get us access.

And if they discover us, Kobold will turn invisible and try to escape. If we get separated, we can agree to meet back at the last place we made camp.

[mad-mage-offical]

I like the researchers plan, I already have the pen and paper! Now onto that disguise spell, I need you to come up with a clear image of what you want to turn into, then the spell will do the rest of the work! On the other hand, you could not imagine something and end up with something random, and more often than not, weird looking. Either way, you wouldn't look like Kobold, which is the desired result for this mission! It won't wear off unless one of these things happen:

I say a specific word, which I have to chose and incorporate into the spell, so I'd have to make it something I wouldn't say, like elephant.

If you get wet, getting plain splashed would wash it away, but being in a humid room makes it slowly melt off.

Five hours passes. Around the last five minutes, it would just slowly fade until, BLAM! Kobold.

Good thing you can turn invisible though, I sure can't. Goat horns! They'll be gone soon. So I'd just run really fast with my head out in front of me, anyone in my way would get slammed into, battering ram style! Okay, the plan has been planned! SO, random, or do you have something in mind? A species even? Or would you rather be a hodgepodge? I've picked hodgepodge before, it was an enlightening experience.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold imagines a smaller kobold-sized version of Clover Petalridge, goat horns and all.

Kobold pulls out sketchbook. Ready to illustrate. For research!

[mad-mage-offical]

It's really hard to think of rhymes, I just won't say eyes for the next 5 hours or so.

What I am is not what I'll be,

Don't believe all that you see.

To the other creatures "eyes",

May they see my new disguise.

'Clover proceeded to look away, as the process of a disguise spell taking place, while painless, is really weird looking. After the odd sounds stopped, he looked back to see a slightly smaller, dare I say Kobold sized version of Clover himself.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold examines their arms and feet, then skips delightedly, exploring their new form.

“This should be fun!” And grins, showing what look to be not-quite fangs.

Alright, let’s see if we can convince the gnomes to give us a tour.

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover and No-longer-a-Kobold start to trek down the cavern, when they hear a guard shout, "HEY!" Behind them, they see a gnome who looks, plain and simple, miffed. Clover looked over to the side into the other room through a small window, and sure enough, this is the so called "sleeping" guard.'

Psst, Formerly Kobold! This guy looks pretty young, doesn't even have a mustache! I wouldn't mention it to him though, he looks like a bit of a grump

[true-neutral-kobold]

Definitely-Not-A-Kobold swaggers up with all the bravado they can muster, feeling extra intimidating with the goat horns.

“Me and my friend here have just arrived. We’re meant to be doing a study on you gnomes, but no one’s been out to greet us! How will this look when we write it up in the paper, do you think? Gnomes are rude and won’t show anyone around, even if it’s in the gnome’s best interest.”

Definitely-Knot-A-Kobold starts scribbling into the sketchpad, hiding it from the gnome so it doesn’t see that they haven’t actually written any words and literally just scribbled.

“Are you meant to be the one greeting us! I am Knot,” Definitely-Knot-A-Kobold looks very proud for thinking up a quick nickname on the spot. “My friend here is a great academic. We made an appointment. Surely you have it written down!”

Knot-A-Kobold glares at the gnome as hard as they can.

[mad-mage-offical]

"The gnome seems less than pleased, but due to fact that this is his job, he forces a smile, and through gritted teeth, says, 'Of course! REALLY sorry if your appointment wasn't recorded, but we can straighten this out later. Right this way, Knot and annoyingly tall Human. Why'd I take this stupid job. I swear, we're starting a war, what do we need to give tours for...'

They follow the gnome through the tunnels, seeing many interesting things as they walk through, statues, a big open room with a fountain like an underground park with people walking their pets, plants that can survive without sunlight, and while all are noteworthy, the gnome keeps walking at a very fast pace, leaving only a few moments to marvel. But the enchanted pen continues writing everything that they missed.

'To get this clear,' the gnome says. 'While there is a whole lot of gnome culture that you might be interested in, and while I'm sure you have plans to write your gnome study, bother the innocent ignorant people that live here, vandalize everything and start a small fire like the last humans that toured here, I must stop any such plans right this moment. Please be respectful to these beautiful boring burrows, don't steal anything, and don't pester the gnomefolk, got it humans?'"

Psst, Knot! So this guy probably doesn't like being cooped up in the burrows, but on a more positive note, the disguise worked!

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Yeah, they probably don’t like me much at all! If you have a disguise spell that will certainly help.

Maybe we can pretend to be some merchants trying to set up trade? But no, we don’t have any goods to sell.

Maybe we can be researchers studying gnomes to show how impressive they are to the nearby towns? They might be willing to share more details if they think we’re going to be helping them out. It would be a bit deceptive, but may get us access.

And if they discover us, Kobold will turn invisible and try to escape. If we get separated, we can agree to meet back at the last place we made camp.

[mad-mage-offical]

I like the researchers plan, I already have the pen and paper! Now onto that disguise spell, I need you to come up with a clear image of what you want to turn into, then the spell will do the rest of the work! On the other hand, you could not imagine something and end up with something random, and more often than not, weird looking. Either way, you wouldn't look like Kobold, which is the desired result for this mission! It won't wear off unless one of these things happen:

I say a specific word, which I have to chose and incorporate into the spell, so I'd have to make it something I wouldn't say, like elephant.

If you get wet, getting plain splashed would wash it away, but being in a humid room makes it slowly melt off.

Five hours passes. Around the last five minutes, it would just slowly fade until, BLAM! Kobold.

Good thing you can turn invisible though, I sure can't. Goat horns! They'll be gone soon. So I'd just run really fast with my head out in front of me, anyone in my way would get slammed into, battering ram style! Okay, the plan has been planned! SO, random, or do you have something in mind? A species even? Or would you rather be a hodgepodge? I've picked hodgepodge before, it was an enlightening experience.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold imagines a smaller kobold-sized version of Clover Petalridge, goat horns and all.

Kobold pulls out sketchbook. Ready to illustrate. For research!

[mad-mage-offical]

It's really hard to think of rhymes, I just won't say eyes for the next 5 hours or so.

What I am is not what I'll be,

Don't believe all that you see.

To the other creatures "eyes",

May they see my new disguise.

'Clover proceeded to look away, as the process of a disguise spell taking place, while painless, is really weird looking. After the odd sounds stopped, he looked back to see a slightly smaller, dare I say Kobold sized version of Clover himself.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold examines their arms and feet, then skips delightedly, exploring their new form.

“This should be fun!” And grins, showing what look to be not-quite fangs.

Alright, let’s see if we can convince the gnomes to give us a tour.

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover and No-longer-a-Kobold start to trek down the cavern, when they hear a guard shout, "HEY!" Behind them, they see a gnome who looks, plain and simple, miffed. Clover looked over to the side into the other room through a small window, and sure enough, this is the so called "sleeping" guard.'

Psst, Formerly Kobold! This guy looks pretty young, doesn't even have a mustache! I wouldn't mention it to him though, he looks like a bit of a grump

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Yeah, they probably don’t like me much at all! If you have a disguise spell that will certainly help.

Maybe we can pretend to be some merchants trying to set up trade? But no, we don’t have any goods to sell.

Maybe we can be researchers studying gnomes to show how impressive they are to the nearby towns? They might be willing to share more details if they think we’re going to be helping them out. It would be a bit deceptive, but may get us access.

And if they discover us, Kobold will turn invisible and try to escape. If we get separated, we can agree to meet back at the last place we made camp.

[mad-mage-offical]

I like the researchers plan, I already have the pen and paper! Now onto that disguise spell, I need you to come up with a clear image of what you want to turn into, then the spell will do the rest of the work! On the other hand, you could not imagine something and end up with something random, and more often than not, weird looking. Either way, you wouldn't look like Kobold, which is the desired result for this mission! It won't wear off unless one of these things happen:

I say a specific word, which I have to chose and incorporate into the spell, so I'd have to make it something I wouldn't say, like elephant.

If you get wet, getting plain splashed would wash it away, but being in a humid room makes it slowly melt off.

Five hours passes. Around the last five minutes, it would just slowly fade until, BLAM! Kobold.

Good thing you can turn invisible though, I sure can't. Goat horns! They'll be gone soon. So I'd just run really fast with my head out in front of me, anyone in my way would get slammed into, battering ram style! Okay, the plan has been planned! SO, random, or do you have something in mind? A species even? Or would you rather be a hodgepodge? I've picked hodgepodge before, it was an enlightening experience.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold imagines a smaller kobold-sized version of Clover Petalridge, goat horns and all.

Kobold pulls out sketchbook. Ready to illustrate. For research!

[mad-mage-offical]

It's really hard to think of rhymes, I just won't say eyes for the next 5 hours or so.

What I am is not what I'll be,

Don't believe all that you see.

To the other creatures "eyes",

May they see my new disguise.

'Clover proceeded to look away, as the process of a disguise spell taking place, while painless, is really weird looking. After the odd sounds stopped, he looked back to see a slightly smaller, dare I say Kobold sized version of Clover himself.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

Yeah, they probably don’t like me much at all! If you have a disguise spell that will certainly help.

Maybe we can pretend to be some merchants trying to set up trade? But no, we don’t have any goods to sell.

Maybe we can be researchers studying gnomes to show how impressive they are to the nearby towns? They might be willing to share more details if they think we’re going to be helping them out. It would be a bit deceptive, but may get us access.

And if they discover us, Kobold will turn invisible and try to escape. If we get separated, we can agree to meet back at the last place we made camp.

[mad-mage-offical]

I like the researchers plan, I already have the pen and paper! Now onto that disguise spell, I need you to come up with a clear image of what you want to turn into, then the spell will do the rest of the work! On the other hand, you could not imagine something and end up with something random, and more often than not, weird looking. Either way, you wouldn't look like Kobold, which is the desired result for this mission! It won't wear off unless one of these things happen:

I say a specific word, which I have to chose and incorporate into the spell, so I'd have to make it something I wouldn't say, like elephant.

If you get wet, getting plain splashed would wash it away, but being in a humid room makes it slowly melt off.

Five hours passes. Around the last five minutes, it would just slowly fade until, BLAM! Kobold.

Good thing you can turn invisible though, I sure can't. Goat horns! They'll be gone soon. So I'd just run really fast with my head out in front of me, anyone in my way would get slammed into, battering ram style! Okay, the plan has been planned! SO, random, or do you have something in mind? A species even? Or would you rather be a hodgepodge? I've picked hodgepodge before, it was an enlightening experience.

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s a great thought! Kobold heads back in to look, very quietly, for a burrows map. Sure enough, @mad-mage-offical was right, there’s a map on the wall near the ‘sleeping’ guard.

Kobold gets out of hearing distance and sketches out the map they saw.

It looks like this map only shows the first three levels in this area. We seem to have found one of the side entrances, which is good because there’s a large room marked security over by the main entrance. It looks to connect up to the government area, a throne room and treasury. Probably that is where Antimony and Bismuth were headed.

The second level seems to have a storeroom, what may be a library and school, as well as a dormitory and a tavern. Kobold takes a moment to ponder what kind of food and drink they could get in a gnome tavern.

Below that it looks like the living areas along with a fungal patch park, and work areas where they can build things.

The map just shows arrows beyond that, so I think there are similar maps in the other security guard stations.

“Well, Clover, where do you think we should check out first? And should we stay sneaky or try to pretend like we are visiting from somewhere?”

[mad-mage-offical]

So if we pretend we're visiting, they wouldn't recognize you- barring you haven't committed any crimes against gnomekind- and if I take off my robe, they shouldn't recognize me either. And it's a good thing too, I stuck my head in to look at the bulletin board by the front and saw this, I took this photo for my flyer, they took this photo for my wanted poster.

How'd they get my last name? Nonetheless, you might remember this photo, I was getting gnomes out of a goblin's petunias I think? You were there, you snagged a few gnomes too, four of them! And you gave a gnome to the stew goblin to put in a- oh. You, might be wanted too. Well a disguise spell can help with that. So sneaking in isn't a bad strategy, but we need a backup plan in case things go south, as well as a good cover story. We can't barge in without a reason, they'd surely throw us out.

[true-neutral-kobold]

The Search for the Dragons

Kobold and Clover walk into the afternoon. Kobold stops at several bushes, pulling out a field guide to check toxicity, and tries to eat the leaves, spitting them out each time. They all taste terrible. They are technically edible, so possibly @mad-mage-offical can transform them into better ingredients. Kobold grabs a few handfuls to try things with later.

No gnomes have been seen. Possibly suspicious.

As the afternoon turns into evening and our shadows get longer, a ridge comes into view ahead. Kobold begins to get excited and hurries onward. The evening sun turns the world into a sea of golden light, and you see ahead the swarm of dragons in the sky. With the sunset light, you can’t tell what color the dragons are, but they’re in the right place and they look the right shape to be the Long-Tailed Wither Drakes. The approximate location of their hidden nesting grounds is ahead!

“Clover, should we find somewhere to hide here for the night, then try to find a lone dragon tomorrow when they are all resting? We might be able to sneak into their nesting grounds and wake or capture one! Then we can ask it what it knows about the gnomes”

[mad-mage-offical]

'Clover takes a moment to admire the view, only more majestic with the presence of dragons, then uses a bit of magic to try and turn the leaves into something more tasty, but he can only manage to turn them into seasonings and herbs.'

Hmm. Well, sometimes you can't make a swan out of a duck, there should be a pond nearby according to my atlas, that is unless I'm holding it upside down, we can at least catch a fish, better yet one with seasonings conjured of non poisoned leaves. Should I try to jump in and grab one? No, bad idea, terrible, I sink like a rock, my skin is too dense.

Well we should stop to rest, it shouldn't be too hard to make a decent shelter, with a minor mirror illusion, we see what's out, but they don't see what's in! If any gnomes walk by, we can hear them talk. You are the more seasoned adventurer, I'm not exactly too great at "roughing it", I trust you'll take the lead in this, although I can try my best to assist! If you need a flint and steel, I brought one for my tea kettle

[true-neutral-kobold]

“Sure thing! I’ll get a small shelter set up and find us some food. If you’re able to work on adding a zone of silence spell and a zone of scentless spell so they can’t hear or smell us, that will help too.”

Kobold heads off to find a convenient area for a small lean-to that is a little way off from the most likely traversable path. That way any gnomes that pass by we will see. There is not a lot of leaf debris here, so Kobold makes use of the nearby brush and fallen branches. It blends in reasonably well to the landscape, but is still quite obvious if you are looking at it.

“We should not make a fire tonight, Clover, because it will show the dragons where we are and they might eat us before we can get a word in. The nighttime temperature should still be pretty pleasant, though, and we have plenty to eat.”

Kobold pulls out a bowl of endless stew to share and adds the seasonings.

“While we wait for gnomes to pass by, tell me a bit about yourself if you are willing to. How did you become a mad mage?”

[mad-mage-offical]

Thank goodness I won't have to fish, the last time I tried I caught an urchin! It wasn't very tasty.

'Clover applies various spells to mask their lean, and takes a small pillow out of his bag to sit on.'

Well, not all magic users, but specifically mages in my country were really against using any spells that weren't in their books because they believed in only using true spells and brewing true potions, ones made by mages from the olden times, and with new spells, you can't be sure of the prices and consequences of the spells, some could result in their own death for all they knew.

So, I, in school to learn to become a mage, I spent my free time studying and making my own recipes in secret. It was fun coming up with things and seeing what they would do, but I'd have to hide the curses they came with. When my floating potion made my ears long like a holland lop bunny, I wore by hood to sleep for "no reason at all". When my favor of the shrimp spell (makes shrimp herd towards me) made me grow gills, I decided it would be a wonderful day to study in a nearby pond (and sink to the bottom).

And one day there was a contest, all they wanted me to do was find a spell that would make a flower grow like a tree. I accidently used one of my own recipes instead of the one that their riddle wanted me to find, so the flower not only got tall and grew leaves, but it's stem hardened into bark, which wasn't a part of the spell in their books. I won the contest, but a teacher got suspicious. NOW, every day at assembly, a few teachers ask the students a few fun questions, and whoever got the question right would get a piece of candy and some extra credit. This teacher slipped a truth serum in my water flask, then at that day's assembly, he went to the pedestal and asked us who wrote the spell that one the contest, knowing that I, the adequately hydrated, would raise my hand against my will and answer, "Me."

So I was expelled and that teacher was fired for basically drugging me, and on my way out, I sorta permanently borrowed from the library, don't tell the demon librarian. In one of the books, I got the location of where the first mage meeting was, and because they adhere to tradition, I figured that's where they go every year. I was right. So every year on the first day of May, I disguise myself or turn myself invisible to hide in the vents, but every year so far I've gotten kicked out. They have a few "Clover prevention measures" to keep me from getting in, but they're pretty bad at it. What about you? How'd you become a Kobold? Wait, no. How'd you become an adventurer?

[true-neutral-kobold]

That’s such an interesting story! Kobold thinks Clover is very clever, even if the mages don’t acknowledge that. Kobold never liked school, and much prefers figuring things out for themselves.

I have always been a kobold, and lived much of my life near where I grew up. Then there was a terrible winter, so cold I thought my bones had frozen through. I left my home for a warmer land, but leaving what you know is very hard, and my ‘anchor’ became unmoored. So now Kobold seeks adventure as a way to make a new place in life. Kobold is very small and very fragile so tends to frighten easily, and is not a great hero. Perhaps one day, Kobold will be brave and stories told about their courage. Perhaps, then, Kobold will feel as though they are part of the world.

Kobold is very good at hiding. Perhaps some of the Clover-prevention measures could be bypassed, if —— wait, a gnome? Two gnomes. Shhhh. We should listen in.

[mad-mage-offical]

Gnomes? Stay quiet, the silence spell will only hide so much. They might not know all the details if they're from the burrows, but if they're from the colonies, they'd be constantly updated. They're speaking, I'll shut up now

[true-neutral-kobold]

Gnome the First, wearing a jaunty purple cap and carrying a sack nearly the size he is, hurries into view, unawares and apparently unafraid that someone could be watching or listening.

He looks back at Gnome the Second, a slightly smaller gnome who is wearing a cozy blue cape and carrying more sacks than seems possible, each the size of a bowling ball, trying to keep up with his quicker companion.

“Bismuth, hurry up! We need to get to camp where we can meet up with the others. They won’t wait for us forever.”

“Sorry, it’s been a long day. Trying to deal with Insidious the Clever has taken a bit of a toll on my energies. Sure, they say, get currency from the dragons to fund the revolution, but are they the ones out here carrying all this back? No, they aren’t.”

“Stop complaining, at least we have a powerful ally. This wouldn’t be possible without the Drake’s help,” he stops for a moment, waiting for his friend to catch up.

“I know, Antimony. It just feels like some of us are carrying more than others on this project. Someone else could make the trip occasionally, yes?”

Bismuth catches up and the two gnomes take a moment to readjust the bags they are carrying.

“We’re almost there anyways, just a bit further.”

They continue onwards out of sight, but the sounds of their complaints continue onwards for a few minutes.

Kobold looks over to @mad-mage-offical. “We may be onto something here, Clover.”

[mad-mage-offical]

Wow, gnomes are strong. Like bees.

Wait, the Drakes' help? The dragons are helping the gnomes? I must know why, what could be in it for them? And if all the entities that some consider "lower creatures" are harboring resentment, if the gnomes are able to convince others to join their side like they did the dragons or even how the dragons might have convinced the gnomes, this could go from a gnome revolution to a full blown civil war.

Of course this is all speculation and pretty worst case scenario. For more solid theories, we'd need more evidence! So do we continue tailing the gnomes and potentially get an exact location of their nests (which I never asked about, do they nest like birds, dig into caves, maybe even burrow?), or do we head to where the nests should be and look around (Quietly. Extremely quietly. Stupid quietly.) Because if we go with dragons we have a little wiggle room on time limit, but if we follow the gnomes, we have to go now, right now. But also, is this quest more about tracking gnomes or tracking dragons?

[true-neutral-kobold]

I think we should follow the gnomes. Now that we know the approximate location of the dragon nest, we can always come back later to find them. The gnomes, well, we would need to follow them right now.

Kobold would still love to see the dragon, but if they’re in league with the gnomes, they may be less willing to share information.

Kobold quickly packs their bags and turns invisible, ready to go with @mad-mage-offical.

[mad-mage-offical]

Heck yeah, gnomes! I have always wanted to see inside gnome burrows! How do they cultivate their ground vegetables? What do they use to make their tunnels not collapse? What all is underground among their homes, restaurants? Libraries? Lecture halls? All things I must document in my journal! Even if gnomes might be the enemy at the moment, I'll never pass an opportunity to learn and document!

Those gnomes specifically will probably be heading to a storeroom of some sort to put their heavy sacks, I wonder what's inside, probably gold! I doubt it's raspberries at least. So gnomes might be talking about their plans near where the leader is, or maybe the strategists in a map room of some sort

'Clover pulls a journal out of his bag and an ink pen feather with endless ink, then tosses them lightly in the air for them to start floating, ready to write any cool gnome facts. He follows quietly behind the sound of Kobold's faint footsteps to catch up to the gnomes, who are walking surprisingly fast, especially with huge heavy bags.'

[true-neutral-kobold]

Kobold speeds up walking as the sound of the gnomes becomes fainter. They really are walking quite fast. The moon coming up in the sky provides enough light to see by as the dusk darkens the sky, while creating plenty of deep shadows. Kobold worries that the shadows will begin moving and whispering to them, but focuses on the gnomes ahead. The shadows stay calm.

At a clearing, the gnomes disappear from sight and their sound goes silent. Kobold stops and begins looking closer at the clearing. There are a couple of areas that could be gnome burrows that have been hidden. They could be traps for unaware travelers.

Kobold inches up to the nearest potential entrance and gently moves aside the coverings. Not a trap. An entrance. Poorly covered as well.

The light inside the burrow is very dim, though it appears there are several entrances at this level allowing for light to filter through. No gnomes in sight. There are some wood beams supporting the roof of the burrow here, which initially look haphazard but are very strategically placed. From what Kobold knows of gnomes, they probably engineered the beams to look bad to discourage people going further.

The burrow branches off in two places before the first turn. Peering into the first branch, it ends in a small room. There is a gnome in the corner, apparently passed out, but he could be faking it. The second turn off looks like it connects other entrances at this level. After the turn, it heads downwards and the light diminishes quickly.

Kobold quietly heads back to where Clover is and tugs on his robe, whispering to explain what they saw in the first level and where the entrance is.

Kobold can see in the dark, will @mad-mage-offical be able to, or does he know spells that will help?

[mad-mage-offical]

I have some enchanted glasses, they'll help me see in the dark!

So the gnomes make the place seem unsafe to discourage people from going further? Interesting! They must be hiding secrets no non gnome has ever seen before, it would be lovely to get invited for an offical tour, but alas this is a stealth mission.

If the first branch ends in a small room with a possibly asleep gnome, it could be a guard faking it as a means of entrapment, like live bait, from what you've told me and what we've seen, gnomes are a lot smarter than people make them out to be.

The other way branches a lot, and only gnomes who've lived and worked in that burrow would know the way around, but for gnomes visiting from other burrows or just forgetful people, someone's job is to help them navigate the tunnels, but we have no means of gnome disguise, unless we follow a gnome being shown around.

On another note, there's no way there isn't at least one map of the burrows layout, they'd have to have one, for the sake of the construction workers, or they might tunnel right through someone's kitchen. So there might be a map in the front room since it's close to the entrance. Thoughts?