A Revolution Worthy of Junta

OOC: In the entire time I've been gaming, I have never seen a party have a run of bad luck like the session we just experienced. The odds of a critical failure on any given die roll are 1 in 20. We got at least five on approximately 30 die rolls. The odds of a critical 'success' are also 1 in 20. We got one. Our opponents had rather different luck. I've never seen that much alcohol be consumed during a gaming session either. We needed it.

[Publisher's note: Receiving the apparent favor of Kurtulmak, evil God of the Kobolds, appears to have been something of a turning point for Gridley. Perceiving that he had failed his own God, Gridley sought his own way to make peace with himself.]

Meepo having convinced us to help overthrow the kobold queen (and install him as king), we took a day to rest and plan. Meepo gave us a great deal of information about the kobold organization. The gnome had equally valuable information: the missing adventurers we sought had been captured by the goblins, and taken to a druid on a lower level of the fortress, a place from which no captive has ever returned. Despite this lead, we chose to deal with the kobolds first. We armed the kobolds and the gnome we had rescued, recovered from our wounds and illness, and readied our spells. Meepo led us to the main kobold hall, passing a magical fountain that produced a small quantity of an unknown substance.

Our entrance to the hall was rather less subtle than we had hoped, Meepo loudly declaring that the queen should listen to us, and then die. Thistle's attempt to awe the kobolds with her magic dancing lights and claim the kobold kingdom as reward for bringing Kaltrax to them also met with a rather poor reception. The queen ordered us killed.

Baast attempted to decide the issue in a single blow. She leapt onto the dais holding the queen and her six bodyguards, and swung her greatsword mightily down. Sadly she apparently lost her balance in the jump and her blow, instead of splitting the queen in two, split the throne in two. A bottle of alchemist's fire was catapulted into the air as the throne disintegrated, landing on and incinerating one of the bodyguards. Keiros began flinging bolts of energy at the queen. Yasir moved in with his rapier, but dropped it. I swung at one of the bodyguards, but missed. Thistle shot at one of the guards, and missed. Marclar fired a magic missile at the queen and attempted to direct Kaltrax to attack her, but Kaltrax failed to follow his command. Meepo cast sanctuary on himself and moved to one side.

The queen's guard moved in on Baast, badly wounding and all but surrounding her. She attempted to attack the queen again, and nearly dropped her sword. I managed to heal some of her wounds, and Marclar managed to get Kaltrax into the fight with his breath weapon taking down two guards, but Thistle's sword spun away as she engaged a guard, and the queen ordered her guards to attack me. I was more fortunate than Baast, but still battered as we cut our way through the rest of the guards.

The queen, with most of her guards now fallen, attempted to run around the party to escape. Thistle scored a kick, aided by Yasir's bardsong, but was clawed in return as she passed. I charged the queen and landed a blow with my mace, but it was Meepo who cut her off and delivered the killing stroke.

And not a moment too soon. The three kobolds we rescued had fled early in the fight, and returned with a wave of kobolds behind them. Seeing Meepo triumphant over the gueen, the kobolds bowed before him.

As the kobolds cheered their new leader, I felt a scaly hand touch my shoulder, and I felt within me the dark evidence of my mistake. Kurtulmak spoke to me, telling me he would grant me a boon at my asking, if I would only acknowledge that it came from him. This dark favor terrified and revolted me, and I realized that in aiding Meepo's evil, I had done evil myself.

I must rekindle the light within me, to guide my way back onto the path of goodness. I take heart in remembering that there can be no shadow without light, and that a single spark can birth a mighty blaze. I shall bring the light of the Shining One with me wherever I go.

This resolution did not come at once; I confess that I drank heavily as the others feasted King Meepo. Thistle and the rescued gnome slipped off rather early; I hope that it was not a case of the wine being in and the wit out.