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We descended into the tunnel and walked a while. No untoward monsters jumped us or anything. We eventually approached a checkpoint, and de-disguised to talk to them. We informed them that we were friends, and sent by Mercy, the gnome, and that we were trying to find a dwarf named Doral. They had to verify with the captian, but eventually allowed us passage. On the way back, the druid proceeded to piss off the captain by implying their presence here was pointless and that they haven't done anything.
The air was tense as we arrived to speak to Doral, who was in the infirmary. He said he didn't really want to leave because these people needed us, so we discussed him at least meeting his brother briefly, so our task would be done, which he agreed to.
We then talked to their leader, an older elf lady named Jade. She explained that they were the remnants of the thieves guild of Phlan. We discussed their situation quite a while, what they were doing, and how we could help. They said they were fighting the kobolds who inhabited these tunnels too, and that they'd stepped up their aggressiveness the last year or so.
Meepo looked uncomfortable through all this, so he obviously had something to say. We pressed him on it until he spilled the beans.
Apparently Meepo was the prince of the kobolds, and because he and his father didn't get along, he had been banished and abused. His father staged a coup on the previous king who was his (the king's) brother. The only reason Meepo had been allowed to live was because it's not kosher in kobold society to kill your first born son.
Meepo seemed ashamed of all of this, but didn't seem too put out to admit it.
We discussed maybe deposing the king and installing Meepo in his place, so that the two groups would be able to coexist. Meepo didn't seem too sure about this idea. Kobolds didn't typically lean toward the semi good alignment that Meepo sported.
Jade explained to us the kobold's latest gambit, a tunnel dug into an area they hadn't accessed before. She said that her gnome engineers had a plan to blow up the tunnel and flood it with the poisonous river water, driving them out. We discussed more about evacuating the civilians from the tunnels to New Phlan and got the ball rolling on this item, sending the bat familiar with a message.
We were woken up in the middle of the night saying the kobolds had engaged, and that we needed to help the engineers execute their plan nowNowNOW, so we headed out into the tunnels.
As we entered the drainage cistern where they planned to blow up the wall, a swarm of kobolds blasted into the area. We headed in to block their way and let the engineers do their thing. We massacred hundreds of them but they still kept coming. Fortunately, the engineers were fast, we backed out quickly, and the wall exploded with the poisonous water spraying into the cistern and washing the kobolds away.
Success! And perhaps we made a good dent in the kobold population down here, and would be able to press the attack after the auction and clear out the tunnels, or at least, kill their king.