>>5302021Though it is perhaps not the most dignified of starts to your diplomatic entreaty, you deign to meet this Hako Dragonwrought at his chosen location: the basilisk pit.
“…It seems like a trap,” Glowie notes quietly.
“I find I must agree with the worm,” the Novice notes. “Kobolds are notorious for their traps.”
“Maybe,” you say, unworried. “But have you forgotten? I can divine incoming danger. I can breath fire. I can shake the very EARTH.”
“Are you immune to being turned to stone with a sideways glance?” the Novice asks. “No? Then perhaps, Oh Great and Powerful Dragonborn, it is a good idea to utilize some modicum of caution?”
“Worried about me?” you tease.
“About us all!” the Novice laments.
“I am with you,” Glowie says, resting her tail against yours.
“S-sickening,” the Novice laments, buts eh too follows close behind.
Your retinue masses around you, preventing flanking, scanning for surprises. No kobold dares move against your force, recognizing instinctively the superiority of your Master Race… or simply being terrified to move against such a formidable band.
The kobolds’ own numbers seem relatively limited, compared to tales you have heard of their population growth-rate. They are almost akin to reptilian goblins, if the stories are to be believed, but you see no horde here—counting the hatchlings you see hurried into stolen homes, there can be no more than a hundred throughout this entire village.
“They could easily surround and swarm us,” the Bastard notes grimly.
“They have crossbows, slings,” Paeris adds. “They have taken up high positions… They could pepper us with a single volley and slaughter us all.”
You’re shocked at their analysis, so much less optimistic than your own.
“All I see are frightened whelps,” you say, jutting your proud chin forward and striding boldly in a show of confidence.
This seems to put your forces at ease, but as you take more notice of the kobolds’ nervous preparations, you feel your inner peace waning. At least the ‘basilisk pit’ is situated far enough from the bulk of housing that you can no longer be swarmed a, bombarded, or surrounded suddenly with the ease your warriors were dreading.
…But then, there IS the basilisk.
