As the stone floor gave out, Cecile quickly fired with her rifle towards the bottom of the pit and with the brief flash of light of her gun it showed her that there was water to break their fall. She instinctively held the rifle horizontally above her head with both of her feet close together as she broke through the surface of the water, her body almost submerged fully but she successfully kept the weapon from getting wet.
However, unlike her, the others didn't have the same finesse and were dunked entirely in the water from the fall.
"Gah! What the hell?! It's cold!"
Charlotte yelped as she grabbed the ledge to climb out only to find the cold sharp point of a knife placed against the side of her throat. Looking up she noticed from the dimly lit light in the vicinity that it was a humanoid, however the low growl that came from it showed her it was actually a kobold.
'Shit!'
She instinctively used her legs to push her away from the ledge and at that moment Phoebe shouted from somewhere behind her.
"We're surrounded!"
Without torches or any other source of light saving the wax candles in the far corners of the underground room, Cecile fired once again this time upwards and the brief flash of light revealed at least ten kobolds in the vicinity of the water pit trap all armed with spears or daggers.
"Charge!"
Gregor shouted as he pulled one of the kobold's spears and managed to dunk one of them in the water while also using the momentum to get himself out of the pit. At the same time Khalid climbed up with both of his scimitars ready with Luka on his side with a shortsword.
"Wait! Wait!"
A strange voice came from the middle of the kobolds which prompted Cecile to turn towards it, even in the darkness she was confident she could land a shot on an enemy.
"Who goes there?!"
Phoebe shouted as she held a kobold in a chokehold with her dagger dangerously close to its right eye.
"We mean you no harm! Please lay down your weapons!"
The voice was masculine, but the way they dragged their words seemed a bit unnatural.
"Show yourself first, then we'll talk about laying down our weapons." She bargained while tightening the hold on her hostage. "Who would in their right mind surrender their weapons in a situation like this?"
A pause happened and the few faint growls amidst the pack of kobolds vanished as the same voice once again rose from somewhere behind them.
"Very well, but I beg of you not to do anything harsh. Too many lives have already been taken for no reason."
Within seconds of the person saying so a flame suddenly ignited near one of the low lit candles and a torch was held high by what seemed to be a frail looking kobold, its gray fur was tattered in places revealing spots of pink skin beneath it.
Cecile tilted her head a little as she climbed on the ledge off the water, she held her rifle while also aiding Krieg to get out of the water since he was still carrying an unconscious and now wet Leona.
"What the…"
"I know. It might be a bit surprising-" The same kobold was being flanked by two other brown furred muscular ones wielding longswords and clad in leather armor. "But we mean you no harm."
His speech was a bit rough but otherwise comprehensible, unlike the rest of his brethren that seemed to communicate only through low growls.
"Really now?" Phoebe said while glancing around the room with the myriad of humanoid wolves holding spears and other assortment of weapons. "Your comrades don't seem to share the same ideal as you."
He glanced around and slowly nodded.
"My apologies, we've been on the edge for a while after what happened to my father." He looked at each of his two guards and nodded. "Sheathe your weapons." The two of them complied but kept their stances as if ready for a possible fight. The leader then proceeded to growl and all kobolds slowly backed away while putting their weapons on the ground. "I trust this should be enough to win your trust?"
Phoebe glanced at Krieg who responded with a short nod.
"I suppose so."
She let go of her hostage. Percival made his way out of the water pit with Khalid's help while the rest of the soldiers held back their weapons, however tension was still tangible in the rather small cavern room. Seeing how they were willing to listen, the leader slowly pushed through the others in order to meet them face to face.
"I'm sorry once again." He bowed gracefully, for a kobold, with the two of his arms close to his thighs as his head hung low, it was possible to see both of his wolf-like ears, the left one was gnawed about halfway. "My name in your language would be Hahzi, I'm the youngest son of the leader of this nest. Pleasure to meet you…?"
Phoebe noticed upon his approach that he lacked the customary bad smell of a kobold, even when he spoke there was no hint of smell coming from his mouth.
"You have names. Now that is surprising."
Charlotte muttered under her breath, her left hand rested on the dagger's handle on the back of her belt.
"Krieg." The knight said. "And this is Phoebe." She nodded and sheathed her daggers. "We were tasked to find out what happened to the people traveling near this nest but we weren't expecting to find someone so… amicable. No offense."
"None taken. I'm just glad we could solve this without violence." He glanced back at the group forming behind him and with a gesture of his hand a path opened to the back of the room which with the now well lit interior was possible to see a wooden double doors. "Now I know this might be too much to ask from someone I've just met but could we talk? Seeing how well armed you are I'm sure there were other reasons as to why you came down to this place."
Charlotte pushed forward from behind the group, standing beside Krieg.
"I would first like to know if you are holding any of my people hostage. Many travelers and merchants alike have gone missing ever since this nest became more active."
He nodded before turning around.
"I'll take you to him right now. Come on, follow me."
There was tension in the air as the group walked in unison through the room, the smaller kobolds eyeing them up in fear as they clutched their weapons tightly to their bodies, the one that was dunked into the water was helped by the taller well armored one as it lifted it by the scruff.
Hahzi opened the doors which led down to another narrow corridor devoid of light, only him and the other well armed kobold led the group as the rest of the pack stayed behind. However, since he was still carrying the torch it was possible to see that it was another tunnel carved by pickaxes from the jagged, uneven edges of the stone.
"I have to say." Luka began to talk while he wringed the excess water from his uniform. "The last thing I was expecting was to talk it out with a kobold."
"I could say the same." Hahzi spoke from the front of the group. "I've only learned how to communicate with your kind recently thanks to a merchant. She taught me how to mostly read and write."
He pulled out a small notepad with a tattered leather cover from beneath his fur.
"A human taught you how to speak our language?"
Charlotte seemed intrigued.
"It took a lot of time and effort but it paid off. At least now I can finally put his tyranny to an end."
The narrow tunnel widened bit by bit until they reached another room where a kobold stood guard with a large halberd.
It noticed the group behind Hahzi and it stepped to the side with a whimper. The kobold leader nodded and tapped it on the shoulder before heading in the room. It was a simple place, a few piles of hay and fur made beddings for multiple residents. On the right corner was a shabby looking low shelf which housed a few books and in the middle of the room was a young man around his late twenties working on what looked to be a firearm with a small oil lantern by his side.
"Hm?" He glanced up. His hazel eyes shone amidst the messy brown bangs that covered half of his sight. "You managed to not get stabbed, I'm impressed Hahzi."
"I try my best not to." The kobold turned and gestured with his open claws to the young man. "This is Hector. He's a traveling merchant on his way to Astera when my brother's pack ambushed his caravan."
"A traveling merchant you say?" Charlotte looked around the room for his belongings but nothing fitted the description. "What exactly do you deal in, merchant?"
"Oh a bit of this and a bit of that."
"I don't see anything that could be described as wares in this place."
"Black powder." Hahzi mentioned once he glanced at her. "The barrels from the room you were in before you fell. I had a mind to bring them down here but I wasn't sure how to do that without raising suspicion."
At that point Leona began to cough water out of her lungs as she was forced awake by her own body. Krieg immediately knelt and supported her back straight as she finished putting out the rest of the water.
"Gah… what happened Krieg?" She was blinking her eyes trying to adjust her vision to the torchlight. "Where are we?"
"We fell in a trap, but thankfully who awaited down here was a rather friendly kobold." He explained. "He led us here to talk with the only survivor that they captured."
She stood up on her own two feet and looked past Phoebe and Charlotte, looking first at Hahzi and then Hector.
"Hahzi!" The young man seemed a bit flustered. "I told you that deal was-"
"A secret I'd say." Percival chuckled. "I think we found an illegal merchant, my lady."
Charlotte sighed.
"You are lucky we are in this predicament, otherwise I would've shot you right here." She turned to Hahzi. "So why did you bring us all the way here?"
The kobold went ahead and sat down beside Hector while putting the torch in front of himself.
"Come sit down, I should first explain the situation to you." Luka, Percival and Phoebe sat down in a semi circle, the rest of them remained standing with their hands loosely around their weapons. "My father used to be the leader of this nest, long before me or my brother were born. He traded with merchants and the people from Astera when it wasn't a big city like today. As the years went by trade began to die out and with the nest growing with more of us he decided to head out in order to find a way to feed all of us, but he never came back."
"Wait… what did your father use to trade with the city?"
"Ores. Rare ones on top of that." He took a pendant he kept under his fur and showed a shiny golden ring tied to it. "Silver, gold, platinum… there is plenty of it below this place." He scratched the side of his snout. "But everything is worth nothing if nobody is willing to trade with us. My brother in his hubris decided to plunder and kill for food that can barely sustain this nest." He then looked at both of his claws, opening and then closing them in tight fists. "We won't last for long, but I can't stay idle while my people suffer."
"Wait… you said trade, how many years ago was that?"
Charlotte asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Nngh… we kobolds hardly keep track of days, let alone months or years, I'm sorry."
She folded her arms lost in thought.
"Ahem." Hector cleared his throat. "Might want to tell them what is going on before you continue on Hahzi."
"Ah yes, of course," He turned to the group with a serious expression on his face. "My brother leads most of the warriors in this nest, he is planning to attack the city as we speak."
"Attack the city?" Gregor chuckled. "Not even death angels can get close to it without being hosed with bullets, what makes you think he'll succeed?"
"Because he's not going through the surface. He plans to dig through underground tunnels and slowly collapse the city's defenses." Leona noticed the color drain from Charlotte's face. "He's using some of the more sturdy humans he managed to capture to dig as we speak."
"How far has he reached?!"
"I can't say, I have been banned from the innermost parts of the nest. My forces alone are just a fraction of the nest's population."
Leona and Krieg shared a worried look between them before she stepped forward.
"We might be able to help."