You approach the castle, which is surrounded by a stone wall, 16 feet high. Your bags are rechecked. "I'm sure you heard that rumor a king died in the north? I don't know what to think of that, we haven't found evidence for or against the claim other than the king still hasn't been spotted. We're making as many walls as we can now." A guard joins the knight. I'll take over from here. He waits till the knight leaves. "Sh! Listen. I'll let you know that it's still warm here, and inside our castle is heated. We found the oldest prince covered in frost last night, he almost froze to death. Nothing else suffered from the cold." The other guards look at him, wondering what he's saying. "I say some kind of sorcery is going on. That can't just happen. Look, I'm not supposed to know this."

Thrudor once again has his bags checked as he stands there confused. "This is very confusing. You keep checking my bags, for what reason? Adenguard did not check my bag but here you check quite frequently. What is the difference between the two? This is my first time in both places" Thrudor speaks louder this time thinking that no one heard him before

The former marine felt Thrudor's pain. Unfortunately, sometimes measures such as these were the price of civilization.

He sometimes wondered if druids had the better idea.

Quote from KingOrc >>

"Sh! Listen. I'll let you know that it's still warm here, and inside our castle is heated. We found the oldest prince covered in frost last night, he almost froze to death. Nothing else suffered from the cold." The other guards look at him, wondering what he's saying. "I say some kind of sorcery is going on. That can't just happen. Look, I'm not supposed to know this."

Titus's eyes widened as the guard spoke, and he glanced at his companions. "Thank you for the information," he said in a low voice as the man finished. "We're here to help. Don't worry, we won't let the others know you told us."

The fighter then smiled and laughed boisterously as he clapped the guard on the back, looking around at the others as if he'd just heard one of the funniest jokes of his life.

"You guys know how to live, here in Cynthesia!" he said loudly as his laughter died down. "I'll have to tell you one about a mermaid and a priest before we leave!"

Turning back to his party, he said no more, but raised his eyebrows in surprise and curiosity at the news they'd just received.

"To be sure you aren't a robber, or coming here to attack us." He smiles in amusement at Thrudor.

“You can trust us to be discreet with this information,” Jakus says to the guard. He realizes he isn’t in his ‘Jak’ disguise, but it’s too late to change now.

You are now inside the castle. The guard takes you to the throne room. "Why are you here?" Asks the king.

“Your majesty,” Jakus says bowing, “We were sent directly from the king of Adenguard, who tasked with delivering something for your eyes only.” He looks to Thrudor, who took the journal. “We were promised 100GP each for accomplishing this task.”

"Interesting. For my eyes only? What could Adenguard want to give me?" He stands up and walks towards you, wielding a 5-foot-tall copper scepter topped with a copper ball and a small copper eagle standing on the ball. His robes are red and laced with gold string. He takes off his gold mask, revealing his serpentine features; A yuan-ti. "Is it a special gift, too valuable for greedy men to see? Is it a scroll bearing the ancient secrets of my ancestry? What is so valuable that a messenger-" He grows silent when he sees the journal. "Servants, fetch them their gold. Hand me the journal."

Thrudor looks around the room, the king, the clothes, all of the extravagnace and was about to say something but Jak beat him to it Z(for the best) and instead hands over the journal. 

The king looks at the journal. He opens slightly, just enough for him to see and no one else. "Remarkable." He down on his throne, checks that there is no one besides him, and opens slightly. "M. Yes, yes. Of course. Interesting." He slowly turns through the pages, mumbling to himself as servants hand each of you a sack of gold. "Yes. Yes." He looks up at the party, placing his golden mask on his face again.

A kobold walks into the room. He stares at the party for a moment. "You must have been the men from Adenguard. The ones who killed the Ogre for us." He shows no emotion as he stares at you. "And you survived." The king closes the book and looks at the kobold, who is dressed in a flowing red robe. "I see fate is in your favor. Shall I escort you to my treasury, where I will give you your reward? It was gold and equipment, correct?"

Quote from KingOrc >>

A kobold walks into the room. He stares at the party for a moment. "You must have been the men from Adenguard. The ones who killed the Ogre for us." He shows no emotion as he stares at you. "And you survived."

A flicker of irritation, almost imperceptible, just barely crossed Titus's face at that.

Quote from KingOrc >>

"I see fate is in your favor. Shall I escort you to my treasury, where I will give you your reward? It was gold and equipment, correct?"

"Yes, a total value of 55 gold each," came the reply with a tight smile.

"Well done." The kobold guides you toward a nearby room in a torch-lit hallway. "We have your gold safe in here. The windows are barred for security."

Cunning has a very uneasy feeling, Yuan-ti and kobolds together? and they want you to enter a locked and barred room?

His hand comes to rest on his hand axe "I think we may have to take turns entering, the room looks a little small to me. Definitely too small for both Titus and I to be in there at the same time." He avoids looking at Titus, hoping that his instincts are similar and he has registered the true meaning of the words.

Jakus is muttering to himself, discreetly casting Detect Magic. He starts to get a sense of where magic is being used around the group, as well as the kobold and the room he wants the party to go into. He also listens to the kobold, and tries to gauge how genuine he is and if there is some ulterior motive.

Insight: 10

Thrudor not thinking he would be in any danger follows to get his gold "What are we to do next?" He says to the king as he walks towards the treasury

The kobold is acting unusual. You don't detect any magic. You do know he's right in the fact that this has treasure, however. He opens the door to reveal treasure along shelves and sacks of gold on the ground. He laughs as he leaves you in a room full of gold (no, it isn't locked, the entrance has a guard).

Thrudor says to the Kobold as he leaves "I can take the 55gp or equipment? How will I know what is what?"

"Don't take more than you earned." The kobold does not say more as he leaves the room.

Thrudor stands in the room dumbfounded “How will I….The rudeness of this place” he grumbles to himself as he looks around at the equipment in the room. 

Thrudor finds a shield with green scales and grabs it. He turns to the guard and says "May I have this as payment? I am not sure if this is equal barter or not?"