The entry into the Nashkel mines were pretty uneventful. The entrance was guarded by Amnish soldiers after all. Amnish soldiers were present in the first level as well, so we had little trouble interviewing miners who had seen signs of, well, something.
"What did the demons look like?" I asked.
"They looked like demons, of course!"
Not exactly helpful.
I didn't push the miners too hard. Talking to them was difficult enough already, they looked incredibly unhealthy. Pale, coughing, hair fraying. At least they seemed to be getting fed enough. These miners were hired workers, not slaves or anything like that.
"Thoughts?" I asked the team.
"Everyone keeps saying demons. I say nay," Jaheira offered. "We already figured demons would cause much worse than a few disappearances. The whole town would be overrun."
"What creature looks like demons, then?" I asked.
Jaheira, Khalid and Branwen shook their heads. Imoen and Neera were trying their best not to look at me.
I remembered full well what creatures really were, of course. But I thought I'd better not try to show off my knowledge or anything like that.
As soon as we entered the second level however, things took a turn. A miner came running towards us, screaming, "They're coming! Yipping demons – they're everywhere! Save me!"
"At the ready!" I shouted. Khalid and Jaheira rushed forward and we readied our weapons, facing the darkness from which the miner came from.
An arrow flew out, striking the unfortunate miner down.
At that moment we saw them. Scaly, horned creatures with rat tails wielding bows and shortswords. They were no larger than a halfling, really. Yes, they did yip and yap, like dogs.
I counted four of them. Compared to our six members, no spells necessary. I didn't really need to bark much orders either. Khalid and Jaheira charged while the rest gave ranged support, taking two out before Khalid and Jaheira cut one down each.
After the battle, we lay the miner's body aside in a dignified manner and examined our foes.
Jaheira shook her head. "I get the little horns might confuse the average civilian, but the yapping like dogs really doesn't inspire fear. Definitely not demons, anyway."
"Anyone recognise what we're up against?" I asked, looking to Imoen and Neera in particular. These were the two best at Lore in the team.
The two of them harumphed and looked in another direction.
Seriously? Right now, their silent treatment was manageable as it wasn't critical for them to contribute their thoughts. Surely they weren't going to be like this where it counted?
"Aye, I've heard of these wretches," Branwen of all people spoke up. "These be kobolds. Hardly a challenge for our warband, I would think."
"Individually, no. They're weak creatures, lightly armored. But if they organize and mount a coordinated attack in large numbers, even such diminutive creatures can pose a threat. I should know."
"Narrow passages doesn't do them favors. Can't bring large numbers to bear on us easily," Khalid said.
I nodded in appreciation.
The miners on this level told us what we already knew; kobolds were in the mines. Somehow, kobolds were responsible for the troubles in the mines. Previous groups of adventurers who ventured deeper into the mines were defeated.
"By kobolds?" Branwen frowned. "What poor excuse for warriors fell to small, harmless creatures such as these?"
I coughed.
"No offense to small warriors, of course," Branwen added hastily.
We had our answer as soon as we entered the third level of the mines. A body was at the entrance. A quick check revealed the cause of death; a bolt through the chest. The ring on the finger had a greenstone ring. As I pocketed the ring, Jaheira gave me a look.
"Met this guy's wife in Nashkel, looking for word of him since he disappeared for some time," I replied, "His name is Joseph. Unfortunately, we will need to bring the ring back to her to confirm its his and break the bad news. Here, you can give do it if you like."
I tossed it to her, then continued assessment of the body.
"The kobolds use shortbows, not crossbow bolts," I said, looking around.
My eyes locked onto a snare on the ground, broken by the feet of the miner. Following the string led to a rudimentary crossbow, hidden in the darkness.
"We should be on high alert for traps from now on," I told the rest. "Imoen?"
She turned away, refusing to look at me.
I had guessed she would do so, but her ignoring me even now was grating. "Fine, I can do it myself."
Imoen was better at finding traps, but for the level of traps in this dungeon (15) my own skills would suffice. This was going too far, and yet knowing the two pink irritations, any words I had for them would fall on deaf ears right now. I would have to give them an earful later once they had calmed down.
"Yip-yap-yip-yip!"
Eight kobolds with arrows! That's one too many. "Neera, Sleep!"
At the lack of sound of incantation, I turned to Neera and shouted. "Neera, SLEEP!"
Neera really, actually, ignored me in the middle of combat! She wouldn't even look at me!
"Neera!"
She just frowned fiercely, twirling out bullets uselessly.
"What the hell is wrong with both of you!" I yelled at Neera and Imoen after the battle was done. In spite of arrows zipping around all over the place, thankfully no one got hit with a stray.
The two pink irritations turned away from me, pointedly.
"Will the two of you only be satisfied if one of us is hurt? Or killed?"
Still mute.
I shook my head. "I give up," I said, exasperated. "Jaheira, take over for now."
Jaheira, for her part, nodded without giving me lip. She beckoned the Neera and Imoen over to her, and they obediently complied. She gave each of them a tight slap. "What the hell is wrong with both of you?"
Imoen and Neera looked at Jaheira, holding their cheeks in shock.
"You think we're here for fun and games? People's lives are at stake. Any one of us could be killed!"
Branwen nodded her head in agreement. Khalid had his hands folded, his eyebrows knotted.
Neera stammered out a reply, "But they're just kobolds-"
"I don't want to hear it! When the leader makes a call, you follow or you communicate. Just because you're so familiar doesn't mean you get to act like brats," Jaheira reprimanded them. "Understand?"
Imoen and Neera begrudgingly nodded.
Jaheira stern look softened. "Good. You can all can give him hell when we're clear of danger."
The three women shared a look I did not appreciate.
"That last part was completely unnecessary," I added dryly as Jaheira walked by.
"Yes it was," she said with a sly grin. "You can take back the reins now."
I considered, then shook my head. "I'm distracted by other thoughts. Better have you call shots for now. I could learn some things."
Jaheira didn't hesitate to take charge from there.
As we continued on, my thoughts were churning even as we battled kobolds, evaded arrow-fire and disabled traps.
I think I could see my mistake. I was treating this adventure like the game even though I'm doing this in person. I should have been treating this like a TTRPG session with friends, where managing relationships and group tactics was just as important if not more so.
So, what to do next?
After the next group of kobolds, I told the group I wanted us to take a break. We withdrew to an upper level of the mines where the miners were guarded by soldiers.
"I'm going to take some time to explain our spell preparation and how it affects when I call for spells. I should have done this earlier so I bear some blame for misunderstandings. In turn, please make sure all of you listen carefully."
"That's not the point-" Imoen began to say, then sighed. "Nevermind. Go on."
I explained that most of my current strategy was centered around the Ring of Wizardry. We have double the number of level 1 wizard spells available, so we will be depending on these extra spells to remove threats quickly before much harm can be done to us. Either by disabling large groups, weakening strong opponents, or specific counters.
So Neera's spells were prepared as followed:
Level 1 spells: 'Sleep' is used when we face large groups of enemies. 'Magic missiles' is used to counter the occasional wizards Mirror Images or interrupt casters. 'Blind' to debuff dangerous enemies.
Level 2 spells: 'Strength' helps Khalid land hits on well-armored enemies. 'Web' works on more potent groups which are immune to Sleep. 'Invisibility' is for when cheating is called for.
Imoen and Neera both sniggered at that last bit, in spite of their best efforts to be moody and unresponsive.
If I were playing with mods which make the enemies smarter with targeting (Sword Coast Strategems comes to mind), Neera would need to prepare more defensive spells like Shield and Mirror Image. Fortunately I was not isekai-ed into some sort of insane difficulty challenge run, so positioning took care of most defensive issues for now.
I continued to explain my selection for Jaheira and Branwens spell preparations. Since we had so much disables from Neera, I chose priest spells which were less focused on healing and more on offense and specific counters.
Level 1 spells: 'Bless' helps us against well-armored enemies and take out dangerous groups faster. 'Remove Fear' counters Horror, which is a favorite of any wizard we come across for now. 'Command' is for dangerous targets which are susceptible to it (like ogres). 'Shillelagh' helps Jaheira hit enemies which require magical weapons to harm. 'Cure Light Wounds' for the occasional damage that gets through. 'Doom' is reserved for dangerous targets, reducing both THAC0 and saving throws and so also helps the Blind spell connect.
Level 2 spells: 2 Chant serves the same function as Bless, and stacks with it. Hold Person for a dangerous human opponent. Silence counters groups of casters.
"You missed one," Jaheira noted. "What about Resist Fire and Cold you had me prepare?"
"That's for when we want to kill things with fire."
Jaheira squinted at me suspiciously. "And why did you glance at my husband when you said that?"
Khalid eyes widened in alarm. "Did-did-did he do that? Why did he do that?"
"No-no-no, you're imagining things Jaheira!" I said with a big grin.
"If it seems like we are having an easy time without much injuries, a lot of that comes from judgement calls when to use and not use spells," I finished of my explanation. "Ideally, when we are done in Nashkel, we should return to High Hedge to restock with extra spell scrolls for when we overuse our spell slots and need more firepower."
Unlike action RPGs, CRPGs like DnD require a lot of resource management. In case it wasn't obvious, I normally prefer to play casters like wizard and cleric myself when playing in groups so that I can handle the management of my spell use personally.
"This turned out to be a rather educational exercise," Jaheira mused. "I'm glad you sat through it all with us. A certain other wizard never bothered to explain his reasoning like this."
"Try to observe how I do it from now on. As we get more experienced, you'll be making many of the calls for your own spells yourself because it's faster. To do so, you need to have a handle on our current tactics. At that point I should be giving general orders rather than specific ones."
I looked to Neera. "As our party's mage, your judgement in casting spells and saving them will be especially critical to the party's survival. So at some point, you need to make these judgement calls independently and quickly."
Neera shifted uncomfortably where she was squatting in the dirt floor of the cavern. "No pressure, or anything, huh. What a chore. Can't I play it by ear and not think too much about it?"
We all glared at her.
"…okay, don't answer that."
While we were with the miners, I showed them a vial of liquid we had found with the kobolds.
"What, what is it?" they asked.
"Was hoping you could tell us. Did they steal it?"
The miners shook their heads. The vial of strange green substance wasn't something they were familiar with.
The whole party took turns examining it, until it settled with Imoen. She took a whiff, drew back.
"I think I've seen a bit o this stuff in the carts," she said, "The ones with bad ore."
She bade the miners bring a bit of good ore for us to test it on. We were gathering quite a crowd of curious onlookers, even some of the Amnian soldiers on watch duty came to look.
Imoen dripped a bit of the mystery fluid on the ore. The reaction was extremely quick, the ore discoloring to match that of the bad iron.
The miners and soldiers gasped.
We weren't too shocked ourselves, all things considered. Seeing our suspicions confirmed though opened up more questions.
"Are kobolds really so organized?" Jaheira asked Branwen. "The bandits of humans and hobgoblins alike are working outside the mines to worsen the crisis. Could the kobolds be the masterminds of the crisis?"
Branwen shook her head. "Impossible. Kobolds are known to poison iron. But such intrigue is beyond their wits."
We left the vial with the miners to report to their superiors, as we made for the lower levels again.