Children and Gunpowder...Why the Hell Not?

After what seemed like forever in Stronghold, the paladin finally got everyone to stop dragging their feet so we could move on. Some of the group wanted to go to the Feywild, a place I wanted to be even less than the Underdark but my loyalty lay with Khals and so I followed. A few of the group left early and scouted ahead, obviously with Reinys in the lead, so that left the rest of this ragtag group to fend for ourselves. Instantly Khals became the new leader, like an alpha finding a new pack. Drow mess with very little, an angry barbarian is one they will never mess with.
 
Reinys ran the group like an order of oddball paladins, but Khals ran it like a wolfpack. By some default, that made me the beta when I would have rather sat back and let her lead, but when has that ever worked? After a few days, we made it to Kestel unscathed and met the others. The group that traveled with us had never been so excited to see Reinys, but paladins were the safe friends to have where barbarians and drow were the fun ones.
 
This town was much smaller than Stronghold, and a lot less to my liking. Too many rules and the place reeked of corruption, much like my homeland. It rubbed me the wrong way, enough that I just wanted to tell the town to go to hell and get on our way. But our party had other damned ideas...
 
The rogue, the blue crazy one, has gotten us in more damned trouble than I care to think about. After a few days in Kestel, Reinys came to Khals and I asking for one of us to go with the rest of the party because morally she couldn't go but she needed someone that could hold their own and protect the others if need be. Short straws made me the lucky babysitter of the night. Khals laughed as she sent me out of the tavern, shouting about us chasing some kids. That definitely got under my skin and set the particularly snarky mood that drow are known for.
 
The metallic stench of gunpowder burned my nose as we finally found where these children were hiding. Piles of it lined floors and rafters, but I was bored at this point and mostly stopped paying attention. The kids didn't want to talk to us, and I didn't care to listen anyway. I mostly daydreamed as the tiefling sat and talked, tossing apples to the kids that were like paper skin over a skeleton. Whatever the conversation was about, it didn't go poorly and no one was hurt, so my job was done. Khals would definitely never hear the end of this one.