Jen

The next time she enters the tavern, she takes the time to appreciate the cheese kobold. It really is a good mold the cheesemaker is using, or two molds, rather. Now she takes the time to pay attention, she can see each figurine must have two molds: one for the cheese, and one for the cheese to rest in once dipped in wax.

She takes careful note of the subtleties that transform a figure from looking peaceful and serene to looking weak and downtrodden, all while maintaining plausible deniability. The Maw’s clergy might not notice it, but as a changeling, she can recognize subtle differences to influence perception.

It’s definitely deliberate, she has no doubt now, not after getting one of the cheeses from under the counter, instead of from the crate. These are a little less subtle, though still not crossing the line to be easily recognized. Now she has a potential mastermind for undermining the Maw, she needs to discover how deep the plot goes.

Unfortunately for her, the threads are difficult to track. She probably shouldn’t be surprised that people are exceptionally subtle with the Harbinger possibly able to just rip secrets from whatever minds it fancies. Still, difficult is not impossible, and her next several days involve quite a lot of shadowing people, assuming temporary identities, and other quiet ways of gathering information. She even earns a level from her efforts, which already makes this all worth it.

Most of the people she follows don’t seem to have anything subversive in mind, or at least don’t make any moves to indicate they are. No checking on hidden stashes of weapons or potions, no disappearing down secret passages, no clandestine meetings in quiet alleyways or darkened corners of dive bars.

There are a few that catch her attention, for the frequency she encounters them, and what they are doing. It could be coincidence, as they’re all involved in making, selling, and distributing food, but her instincts tell her there’s more to it. Even with so many here occupied with food, she would have expected someone in this secretive web to be in some other industry.

She might have left it alone at that, taken it as some paranoid conspiracy theory, but every single one of them had two separate stores of cheese to give out, always giving most from the obvious spot, but sometimes slipping one from a more private stash when someone sympathetic would come by to purchase.

They’re influencing public opinion, and being careful about it, but why? Why they’re being careful is obvious, but why try to make people feel sorry for the kobolds? What’s the next step in their plan? She doesn’t know, but she suspects the cheesemaker, Serd, will be able to answer her questions.

So, come the morning, she takes her route to deliver milk, hoping to catch the pale elf as he works. Unfortunately, he seems busy, and doesn’t exit his workshop while she makes her first delivery. He’s nowhere to be seen for the second delivery that day, either. The third is more of the same, and she has no more deliveries to him today, but she can’t just leave empty handed!

She sets the last empty canister back in her cart with a hollow bang, trying to figure out how to get his attention. She could try all sorts of subtle things… but her current persona isn’t exactly subtle. She nods to herself and pounds on the door to the house, and gets no reply. She grumbles, not even needing to feign annoyance at this point, and tries the cellar doors, but pounding on those doesn’t summon the cheesemaker either.

She tests the doors and finds them unlocked, so she bangs one open and shouts into the basement. “Hey! Serd! Are you down there, or am I yelling at cheese!”

The silence makes her suspect the latter, but a shouted reply gives her hope. “Ah, Jen! Sorry, I was occupied with my work! Feel free to come down, if you need to talk, or if you just want some more of my work!”

She can’t help but smile at that, and soon shouts her reply. “I need to return the cart and canisters, but can we talk after?”

“That’s fine! I’m cutting the curd right now, so I’ll probably have it packed away by the time you return!”

She grunts at that, not caring if he can’t hear her, and closes the cellar door with more care than she opened it with, before hauling her cart and canisters back where they belong. She resists hurrying, not wanting to draw any attention as she finishes up her work, and collects her pay.

Before long, she returns to the cheesemaker’s home and place of business, and tries knocking on the ordinary door, but it’s as fruitful as the last time she tried it. Opening the cellar door earns her a shout before she can even announce herself.

“Ah, Jen! Perfect timing! I’ll be waxing some cheese, but I can talk and work at the same time.” His cheerful voice echoes up the ramp, and he gives her a friendly wave once she comes into view. She gives a grumpier wave in reply, but her surliness continues to go unnoticed or ignored by the genial elf.

“You need any help?” she asks, looking resigned to some menial task, but also subtly not looking too upset about the idea. Grumpy friendliness is a difficult rope to walk.

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“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble? I need to do much of the work myself, but can you hand me the cheese and mold, and put them back after I’m done? It’ll make it go much quicker.”

She snorts but doesn’t argue, and is even glad to see a rolling ladder attached to the rack of cheese that will be worked on. Getting closer, they seem to have a thin layer of wax on them, but not enough to protect the cheese as it’s moved around with carts and wagons.

His dipping vat is on wheels, so it must be simpler to to move that than to move the racks of cheese. Considering just how much cheese is down here, she’s not surprised. “You make a lot of cheese,” she states as she grabs the bottommost occupied mold, and hands it to him.

He laughs at the understatement and accepts her offering, smoothly freeing the contents as he replies. “I do! I’d even go so far as to say, if I stopped making cheese, the whole of Silvervein would quickly run out, used as they are to my rate of production!”

“What’s your favorite?” she asks as they settle into a rhythm. She’s going to be covered in wax by the end, but aside from that, the process is pretty simple.

“You may as well ask who’s my favorite child! That said… my last batch of pepper cheddar came out especially well.”

That does sound pretty good. She’ll need to ask about it later. For now, though…

“I was expecting you to say the kobold cheese.”

He smiles at that, but Jen can recognize the unease in his movements now, though his voice doesn’t show it. “Ah, they are very popular. A lot more popular than I could have ever imagined, really.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s good cheese, and good craftsmanship on the molds, too.”

“Thank you, Jen. I put a lot of work into them, but it’s still surprising how well they’re doing.”

Jen grunts in reply, letting the conversation lapse as she considers how to proceed. Being too direct might scare him off, but she feels like she doesn’t have the time to beat around the bush. She doesn’t know when Thedeim wants to attack, but it can’t be too far away now.

Direct it is. If he’s on the Maw’s side, she’ll have to just bolt. If he’s not, beating around the bush will only be against character right now.

“What’s your next step for them, then?”

Serd shrugs. “Probably make more, maybe commission another set of molds to keep things fresh, and to keep up with demand.”

“I mean the kobolds, not the cheese.”

He freezes at that, though his eyes flick toward the ramp to the cellar doors. “What do you mean?”

“You’re going through a lot of effort to make them sympathetic, so what are you going to do with the sympathy?” She holds out another mold of cheese for him like she’s not suggesting he’s a traitor to the powers at large.

He slowly takes it, trying to read her face, wondering if he should run or maybe attack. He decides on neither, and instead dips the cheese and hands it back. “I… I don’t know. I want to help them, but I don’t know how. I was hoping to get the people on their side and somehow just… convince the Great Maw to stop eating them.”

“Do you think it’ll work? Do you think it’ll stop eating them?” she presses, still handing and taking cheese like their conversation is nothing out of the ordinary.

“...maybe? It’ll be years before public sentiment will even support asking a question like that.”

“Would you be interested in a faster way?”

He takes the offered cheese and sets it aside, turning his attention fully on Jen. “Like what? Try to free them? We’d get hatted for certain.”

Jen’s lips slowly curl into a smile. “Maybe not. It’ll be a drastic change, but it’s possible.”

“How?” he asks, frustration clear in his voice. “The Great Maw cares too much for his favored delicacy, he won’t let them go without a fight. What, do you think you can fight the Great Maw?”

Jen shakes her head. “Not me, no. But I know someone who can.”

Serd freezes at that, his gaze locked on her. “...who?” he asks in a whisper, afraid to even entertain the idea of someone able to fight the Maw.

“Before I tell you, would you be willing to help? They’re willing to deal with the Maw, but they don’t want to have to fight all of Silvervein, too. Can you do anything to keep the city from trying to stop them?”

Serd leans on his vat for a moment, before the heat causes him to flinch away. “I… don’t know. I’ll try, but a lot of people will ignore me, especially if someone just charges through the tunnels to attack the Great Maw.”

“Convincing anyone will mean fewer people they’ll have to fight.”

He sighs and looks at the racks of cheese kobolds. “Just like with them. I knew not everyone would see the kobolds in a new light, but even just a couple would make it worth it.” He sighs and nods. “Alright, I’ll help, at least as much as I can. So, who do you know?”

Jen smiles and steps back, giving herself a bit of room to slowly change her form as she speaks. “I know a lot of people from the surface, for starters. A whole guild of adventurers who don’t appreciate the Maw making waves for their favorite dungeons.” Her body narrows and grows, her hair vanishing as her skin darkens slightly. Few would call changelings tanned, but compared to a pale dwarf, gray is darker than stark white.

Serd is dumbfounded by the change in the pale dwarf, but the dramatic reveal makes it difficult for him to argue that she’s a fake, ironically enough. It’s a tall tale, but when confronted with something impossible like her changing forms, it becomes easier to swallow.

“And I know a dungeon who has a personal stake in stopping the Maw. He has a resident who escaped from here, and he promised to free her people. He only needs two things before he can strike: a good way to keep the town from resisting too hard, and the location of the enclave.”

She lets Serd slowly come to terms with what she said. It’s a lot to take in, really. Emotions play across Serd’s face as he tries to comprehend the position he’s in, as he tries to weigh the risk and rewards.

“Do… do you think your dungeon can defeat the Great Maw?”

Jen grins. “He already did. He crushed the Maw’s attempt at invading the surface, and now he intends to make sure it won’t get a second chance.”

The pale elf looks surprised to hear that, but Jen’s confidence in her statement is like a gentle breeze on the embers of hope. “Then… yes, I will help. I know where the enclave is.”