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Probably the strangest thing that happened in my time in recovery was the addition to a kobold to our group.
Jreengus, a bowman from a tribe destroyed by the cyclops we had slain as our opening quest in this region.
He was the last of his tribe, and, as it turned out, a companion to Budalus.
He was also an enemy of the Soulsmith, as all kobolds are the blessed creatures of Armok, and Armok, as you would know, is the sworn enemy of the dead Soulsmith.
With Jreengus in tow, we again descended into the depths.
This time we managed to locate the lair's leader, and slew him quite handily. The Pidge helped occupy him while I dealt a killing blow.
Then, however, it all turned sour. A lizardman miner wielding what I would later discover to be a shovel made of celestrial steel (the same material as my twin swords), and slammed it into The Pidge's side, severing his left arm.
I slew the monster in turn but The Pidge was laying on the floor, bleeding heavily and clutching his severed arm in disbelieving horror.
"Pidge!" I whispered urgently. "We need to get out of here. Cut and run, right?"
He didn't reply, just looked at his arm, cradling it like a child.
I picked up his shield, replacing my own, long lost shield.
"I shall bear this for you!" I swore, hoping to get some sort of feedback, but I got nothing.
Frustrated, I looked around the area, leaving Kel and Jreengus to stand guard over our fallen friend. Kel was already bandaging the wound and applying a tourniquet.
As I peered into the darkness, however, I found something horrible.
It was Toranos' corpse. I bent over it to examine the rotting body.
"My friend... I am sorry I..." I tried to apologise for my incompetence leading to his death, but was interrupted by another lizardman miner. This one wielding an Adamantine shovel.
I struck him down handily. But I was curious as to where they were getting these metals. I had also found other Celstrium alloys in other items, and they had no means to forge these themselves.
I wondered, privately, whether maybe they were granted to them by the Soulsmith himself.
After that miner fell to my blade, I noted other lizards sneaking upon my comrades.
Jreengus saw them before they acted, firing upon them, to little effect.
We swept towards them in battle, and, being down a man, not covering our rear flank. It was a decoy for their soldiers behind us, and they slew the Pidge as we downed them.
In a range we spun and cut them down for their actions.
With quiet restored to the corridor, I knelt over my fallen comrade and placed his shield on his chest, saying something to the effect of him no longer needing a shieldbearer in this world.
The guard who slew him, however, had a celestrial shield tower shield. Quite fancy for a lizard.
With that, we left that lair. Our quarry had been slain, and we were not equipped to fully purge the lair with our numbers so diminished. On the way out, mere steps from the exit, Jreengus was slain by a guard wielding a silver spear. I cut his killer down as we made our hasty escape back to the capital of Growlmachines.
It was there that we were met by the town's leader, Specut Joyousobeyed. Somebody had been talking, and she immediately greeted us with a sombre nod.
"You do good work, Ironblood." she said. "But you let one get away."
"You only sent us to kill one specific lizard." I told her.
"No, I think you'll want this one. Dukxong Empiresgleams. Just a recruit."
"Why does he matter?" I asked.
"He's been bragging, I'm told, about killing your friend Toranos. I think you'll find him back in the lair you've just come from."
"Thank you." I replied. "We'll 'investigate' as soon as we regain our strength."
"There's a good chap." she said, with a vicious grin.