Pawns of Madness

She found herself on the floor, smothered in folds of fat. Somehow, she managed to swivel her head around to see Belboz putter in, dragging his rocking chair behind him. He pushed the chair up next to her and sat down, chuckling "Now my dear, don't be upset. I know you're probably going to say 'What have you done to me?!' or 'Please change me back!' but I assure you everything is just as it should be."

"No, mostly I'm wishing I could stand up, so I could wring your neck." Elashi said. "You did this on purpose, you old pervert! What now - do you ravish me like a beached whale?"

Belboz blushed. "Perhaps in my younger years, yes. But now I am far too old to do the things of which you speak, and not even magic can cure my condition. "Nowadays, I just want someone like you to lay around and tell me stories while I doze off. Don't despair, it will only be until your friends get back from the ridiculous assignment I sent them on. At that point I will restore you to normal and release all four of you, along with a reward for your hard work. And believe me, you will be fed well - very well - while you are here."

Having said that, Belboz went back to sleep. Elashi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She had to depend on Chuc, Val and Fredric to save her? Belboz may as well have told her she had to stay here forever."

Meanwhile, Chuc, Val and Fredric had encountered kobolds in the cave passage. The hairy creatures bounced up and down and laughed at them.

"Look, there's seven kobolds!" Val said. "Is that enough for a chess set?"

"God you're stupid." Chuc said. "You don't even know how to play chess, and you weren't paying attention when I explained it earlier! As it so happens, seven is not even enough for a full set of pawns, although I guess its a start."

"Humans! Humans!" the lead kobold laughed.

"Look, they're not armed." Fredric said. "Maybe they're just kids out exploring. Do we really want to anger their whole tribe?"

"We have no choice." Val said. "Whoever catches the least kobolds is a rotten egg!"

He lunged forward, and the kobolds scattered everywhere, ducking and dodging.

1. They manage to catch some of the kobolds.
2. Every single kobold escapes.
3. They discover more kobolds than initially estimated, and the hunt reverses sides.
4. Meanwhile, Fredric...

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