Rushing back to the cave to beat the coming sunset the cohort along with the caravan made good time all things considered. When it came to make their way through the trail of traps Gonlin led small groups at a time to mitigate any issues that would come with such a large group. They were also forced to unload their caravan to pack their meager supplies to the cave. Once unloaded the caravan was dragged off into the forest by the cohort to hide the entrance to the trail.
Once everyone was safely inside the cave the cohort asked Tizaak to join them in the command tent. "Welcome to our humble cave. I hope you and your people are settling in alright." Said Naivara's father, welcoming Tizaak.
"Yes, thank you so much for your hospitality." Tizaak replied, "It is also my understanding that you all have had some issues with the kobolds of these caves?"
"Indeed, I studied some amount of draconic back in my days of university, however I have lost much of it over the years. I do not mean to assume, however, if you could help facilitate a meeting with their chief so that we may foster a peace with them, that would be greatly appreciated."
"I can certainly try, but just a fair warning, their dialect may be difficult to understand even by me."
"I am sure you have a better chance than I."
The impromptu council exited the pavilion and stopped one of the various kobolds scurrying around. Tizaak growled what sounded like a couple sentences in a deep guttural language. After a moment of surprise on the kobold's face it chirped back a reply then ran down the main tunnel that led deeper into the cave.
"Well, it had quite the accent, but they should be bringing their leader up soon to talk with us." Said Tizaak, switching back to common.
"That's great! Hopefully they're open to negotiating." Replied Naivara's father. Several minutes passed until the kobold returned with a small group trailing behind it. Among the trailing kobolds was the one that Hal followed earlier, its breastplate still swinging loose upon its torso.
"Shikk kek iko keikii?" The armored kobold seemed to ask as it stepped forward.
"They're asking what we want." Translated Tizaak, turning to the council for guidance.
"Ask them why they continue to take from us and if there is anything we can give to stop them." suggested Naivara's father.
Tizakk translated the message to the kobolds, who then launched into a lengthy reply. Tizaak nodded along then turned back once they were finished. "So the gist of that whole thing was that they are taking your metal as offerings to some kind of goddess. They also said they won't stop, but if you make a sufficient offering they will take us to see the goddess so that we may understand their actions.
"So if we pay them they'll take us further into the tunnels to meet a goddess?" Asked Akash.
"Pretty much, at least I think so." Confirmed Tizaak.
"I'm assuming they want metal for payment, but do we think they care about the value of the metal, or just sheer volume?" Asked Charles. "When they take metal from camp is it mostly high quality, or just anything they can get their hands on?"
"Well they took much of the large metal early on, recently it's just been anything that's not kept under close watch." responded Naivara's father.
"If that's the case, I say we give them a bunch of copper pieces to try and get down there. Better than giving them a bunch of gold if it's all the same to them." suggested Charles.
"That's a good idea Charles," Said Akash as he began rummaging through his coin-purse. "I've got like 14 copper that I can put up for this."
"Tizaak, can you let them know we intend to pay while we get this sorted out?" Requested Gnoll as he too began to rifle through his coin-purse.
"Certainly, one moment."
After a couple minutes of sorting through purses and landing on what was believed to be a fair offer, Charles presented a double handful of 43 copper to the leading kobold. The kobold turned to Tizaak who then relayed to the council. "They say it's enough, and that we are to present it to the goddess ourselves."
The kobold chirped once more then turned and began to descend into the tunnel. The cohort and Tizaak followed the group of kobolds into the mouth of the tunnel and were plunged into darkness. Hal did take the moment to illuminate their path with several small globes of light that followed them, floating a few inches above the heads of the group. A few hundred yards into the tunnel Hal slid over to Tizaak and asked, "Hey man, can you ask the leader if they'll trade their armor for my shield?"
Tizaak looked at Hal and then at the large metal shield wrought of the Gorgon's head. "Uhhh, sure... Come on." He quickened his pace to be level with the leading kobold and translated Hal's offer.
The kobold looked back and forth between Hal holding the shield and their own chest with the breastplate loosely swaying as they walked. After considering the offer it abruptly stopped in its tracks and pulled the breastplate over its head and held it out with one hand while gesturing incessantly with the other at Hal's shield.
"That's a yes." noted Tizaak bluntly to Hal, who started undoing the leather arm straps.
"Yeah, got it." was the quick reply. Hal completed the trade, accepting the breastplate from the kobold before strapping it to his pack to be donned at a later time. While he stored his new armor the kobolds quickly modified the leather straps of the shield to wrap around the chest of their leader. Their new shield now resembling a massive steel turtle shell with an imprinted gorgon's head. Once the traded items were sorted the group continued down the tunnel for a ways before it opened into the same chamber that Hal briefly visited previously. About a dozen kobolds were actively praying to the crushed dragon skull as the party entered the chamber. Akash paused in amazement, how could such a large creature meet a fate such as this so deep underground? It gave him a sobering dose of reality, that even a great master of the sky could meet an end such as this.
The kobold leader pulled the group forward and gestured for them to place their offerings on the dias in reverence to the goddess. After a moment on the dais the kobold priest stepped in to remove the offerings. Spreading their arms the leader spoke a short sentence to Tizaak.
"We are free to explore for now." Tizaak translated for everyone.
"Well, what first?" Asked Akash, "Looks like they have some sort of armory thing over there, and a library over there. I assume I know your vote, Gnoll." He added with a slight chuckle.
"Hey, say what you will, those books may have valuable information about demons in them, I'm starting over there." Came Gnoll's reply, as he raised his hands. "May as well use the resource while we're here."
"Yeah, fair enough. I do want to check out what they have in that armory after we're done reading though." Said Charles and turned to walk to the library.
Walking into the library Akash was amazed at the sheer number of books, some were placed nicely onto shelves, but the majority were piled in towering piles. Up and up to the ceiling they went, several of the piles leaned at precarious angles threatening to topple at the slightest touch. Scanning the spines Akash could make out several titles in Common, and even a few in Celestial, but the majority eluded his grasp of languages.
"Wow…this is quite the collection." Gnoll said under his breath. "Where do we even start?"
"Given the spread of languages maybe start with something in Abyssal?" Mused Hal as he began to run his fingers along the spines of a neatly shelved section. Just as he laid his fingers on the top edge to pull one off the shelf Hal froze.
"Uhhh, Hal are you ok?" Akash asked, waving a hand in front of Hal's face. Hal's glazed eyes remained cold and unmoving. "Guys I would not touch the books."
"Yeah, no kidding. Any ideas?" Naivara asked. "I don't think we should touch him, what if it transfers to us?"
"Good point." Akash pulled his staff off his back and took a step away from Hal. "Ok, I'm just going to try and knock his hand off the book, you guys should be ready to catch him if he falls."
"Sounds good. Gnoll, I've got this side, you grab the other." Said Charles as he took up a position on Hal's right. Gnoll stepped around to Hal's left, arms hovering inches from Hal's shoulder.
"Ok, one…two…three…" Akash swept up with his staff quickly making hard contact with Hal's wrist. A dull thunk sounded as a stinging vibration ran up his staff. "Oww" he exclaimed, dropping his staff.
"Well that worked great." Remarked Charles.
"Hey man, he's rock solid. I doubt you could do any better." Retorted Akash as he bent down to pick-up his dropped staff. As he stood back up Akash's hand brushed Hal's forearm, and he froze, still as stone.