On Philosophy, Missing Humans, Framed Kobolds, and the Catacombs of the Undead --

Back on Eire, I found myself both resigned and at peace with the passing age of the old races, and the ascendence of the humans. I'm in little doubt that this can be stopped or reversed, any more than you can stop the eventual death and decay of any living thing. As they say, the wheel of time grinds slowly, but it grinds. As in nature, great forests must die, so too must pass the ages of the old races. And while it's hard to see a forest die to be replaced by a fen of noxious weeds, we can, at least, do our best to protect and revere what is left of the old forests for as long as we can.
 
In that same breath, I don't count every human as toxic. There are beautiful things in them as well, and I find myself in good company with the band of adventurers I am with. But it's a small minority, and those like Decius -- who offered to pay for the left ear of any race other than human -- are the ones who will choke out anything unique and beautiful in the world, in the name of order and peace. I do not envy those who will live to see the age of humans in their ascendency, for it will be brutal and brief.
 
And yet, here I am, nominally supporting the regime of fuckers like this. And maybe I'm even questioning the irony of opposing the Lady of the Rose, who ostensibly, is trying to overthrow the current system. But I fear at best it is a like-for-like scenario, overthrowing one form of greedy human oppression for another. Replacing a system of systematic violence for one of open violence, as it were. So be it. Let the two noxious weeds choke each other out -- I'm getting paid, and, I hope, am getting just a little closer to finding clues to the rise of the undead in the world.
 
Which is long preamble to where we find ourselves today, deep in the Catacombs of the Undead, under the city of Rennes. You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?" Let me explain:
 
Upon our return to Rennes, Barton's current girl (one of many but who's counting?) came sobbing into his arms to tell of the disappearance of her friend, the Blacksmith's daughter, Rosalyn. Digging around a little, we got a story from the Blacksmith, who clearly believed it was the working of the Kobold community, based on the fact that there have been a rash of local kidnappings, at the scene of which was always found, conveniently, an obvious Kobold token -- a Kobold axe, a Kobold cloak, etc. This seemed really obviously a frame-up, but we let him continue his tale. He went on to complain that the guard wasn't going to do anything about it because they weren't part of the ruling class and they don't care about the proletariat (my words, not his, but that's nevertheless an accurate translation (and also, obviously, an accurate assessment of the current class system.))
 
We went to Decius with the information we found, and he agreed with my assessment of the framing of the Kobolds, indirectly reinforced my assessment of the class system, and also reminded us that it isn't just about class, it's also about race, off (see notes on philosophy above for reference.) We then ventured into the Kobold ghetto, quickly finding a decent contact in the Rampant Rat -- the local Kobold eatery and hang-out (we did not try the rat, but I intend to upon our return.) At any rate, Skick, the local fellow, hooked us up with Koto Crag-Claw, who was the leader of the local group, and regal in both dress and demeanor. Upon our return, I would like to spend some time getting to know Koto better -- and getting to know Kobolds in general better.
 
I laid the cards straight on the table, shared that we believed there was an effort to frame the Kobold community, and that if not checked, that effort would fan the embers of hatred and distrust that the humans already share for the Kobolds and would lead to inevitable violence, which, based on numbers alone, would lead to the inevitable slaughter of his people. We proposed that we could be the force that could stop the current threat against the community, and further proposed that we would like to set up the Kobold community as the rescuers of the missing people. Koto agreed with both the assessment and the need to get to the bottom of the current mystery, tho he was hesitant to send a Kobold with us as a show of community and to help create the narrative coming from those we rescue. (He did, however, offer a substantial reward, including a magic item which -- with extreme good faith -- he gave to us in advance, in case it should help with our adventure.) I still intend to lay the victory on the doorstep of the Kobolds, and to make sure the party does what it can to reinforce that notion.
 
Turns out, Koto "has a guy," Kwarrel, who was able to lead us to through the cart-ways and to the area of the catacomb into which they saw the suspect humans furtively dash with their prisoners. (At some point later, over beers, I intend to get into a light argument with him so I can say, "Listen, I have no quarrel with you, good sir." I guess that's a warning for you all.)
 
Inside, we quickly found enemies to kill, most of whom, to my equal disgust and delight, were undead. I don't want to get my hopes up, but this is the first positive connection to the undead I have found here on the continent, and I want to follow up on this lead as closely as I can. (OK, actually it's the second encounter with the undead, but strangely I can't seem to recall the details of the first. Something about an abomination and how to build one? Which you'd think, given my background and purpose for being here in the first place I would violently oppose? I don't know. It's still fuzzy.)
 
As for the battle itself:
A) Spike growth is fucking awesome against the undead. Like, sincerely awesome.
B) In addition to the undead, there were also spiders.
C) In addition to the undead and to the spiders, there were also thousands of baby attack spiders in the undead creatures.
D) In addition to the undead and to the spiders and the thousands of baby attack spiders, there was also a chick that ran off through a secret door and some other dude in scale mail, who carried with him a War Pick of Considerable Damage, and a stench that went beyond the usual stench of humans that I have yet to fully accustom myself.
E) We all had highlights in the battle, including some upgrades on magic spells, but I was most impressed perhaps with Verxatitus, who was absolutely *bashing* today.
F) Speaking of Verx, did I tell you the joke about the Paladin who was covered in a thousand baby attack spiders who tried to kill them with his sword? While they were crawling on his armor trying to find their way in? The punchline is: It worked. But also, it's sort of a visual gag and you would have had to have been there to see him dancing about trying to smack off the horde of spiders. If he ever opens a bar in later life, I recommend he call it the prancing armor.
 
The secret door she ran through leads to a steep set of stairs that runs downward. We must decide if we give hot chase, or if we clear the rest of the current level we are on, to ensure we don't leave anything behind us that could put us into a battle with two fronts. I'm personally torn between the two. We'll see what the party decides soon.