Session 2, march 28, 2009
After ducking outside to see if they could spot the fleeing kobolds, the group retreated back to the guard room to rest for a while. Andrea supervised the repair of the pit trap, in the hopes that it would catch any one following after them as they continued to explore the kobold caves. Satisfied that her work was at least as good as the kobolds', she and the group headed down the right-hand passageway towards a cacophanous squeaking.
The squeaking was caused by a room full of giant rats. They were swarming over a pile of refuse. The captured kobold, Debo, said they were pets and that they fed them invaders and such. The party debated whether or not to try to destroy the rats, but decided against it for now. They continued deeper into the kobold caves. Ahead, an intersection lay; going right meant having to crawl through a tunnel that was too short for all but the most diminutive member of the party, going left meant everyone could walk upright.
The intrepid heroes decided to walk right. After navigating a winding passageway, they heard the sounds of someone or something rummaging around. Cautiously, they approached the room to find a storage room with a human dressing himself. Hearing them approach, he introduced himself as Eldred, a wizard. He explained he was recently captured by the kobolds while traveling with a merchant, Travok Ebonshield. Escaping his bonds after the kobolds left him alone, he was looking for his possessions when the party happened upon him. As he finished pulling on the rest of his equipment, the rest of the group started rummaging through the supplies, finding mostly foodstuffs. Marcus heard someone approaching from the corridor; more kobolds!
Argen joined Marcus in a defensive position as the kobolds rounded the bend and stopped short. A robed kobold was accompanied by a spear-wielding kobold. The robed one pointed and shouted at Marcus and Argen in Common: Get out of our home! Argen replied, "Time to die!" and Marcus hastily added, "...or tell us where the merchant is!" Just then, Eldred summond a cloud of dagger to envelope the robed kobold and the battle was joined!
Despite having been breathed on by the robed kobold (later identified as a Wyrmpriest Kobold; the priest of this particular kobold tribe), the heroes made short work of the two and demanded to know where the chieftain was from their prisoner. He led them back to the low-ceiling corridor. Andrea scouted ahead and returned to report a room full of kobolds and their families, three dozen at least.
There was much debating about what to do. The heroes were not totally confident they could defeat that many kobolds at once. A suggestion was made to perhaps lure the giant rats into the common area as a diversion, but after some testing with their kobold prisoner (involving throwing him into the rats to see if they'd eat him--which they didn't), they decided it would be too much like herding cats. After more debate, they decide to just risk the confrontation.
The entire group returned to the common area, arriving to find out they weren't as stealthy as they'd hoped. Every able-bodied kobold was ready and waiting for them. Before the standoff became too tense, Marcus shouted "Take me to your leader!"
A kobold stepped forward and asked what their business was. After explaining their purpose, the group was told to wait while the kobold headed down a passage in the back of the room. Shortly, he returned with who only could be described as the kobold chieftain leading his pet drake.
The party parleyed with the kobold chieftain learning the kobolds were a small part of the problem in the valley; and an unwilling part at that. While they did attack the caravan, they were forced to do so by the pig-faces and dog-men (orcs and gnolls, the party assumed). They also learned the kobolds used to inhabit more of the valley, but had been forced from their ancestral caves by the orcs. The kobold chieftain agreed to stop attacking travelers and caravans on the road if the heroes would take care of the orcs. Additionally, the kobolds would hide in the trees and deal with any orcs that tried to escape.
Our heroes agreed to bring the proposal to the Castellan of Bramblevale Keep as well as deal with the orcs. They asked the kobolds if there was a small cave they could set up base in; one that was fairly isolated from the rest. Across the valley, the kobolds explained was a big, stupid giant ugly thing. If the group killed him, they could set up a base camp in his cave. The kobolds also agreed to let the heroes rest in the guard room at the entrance to their caves to prepare to attack the giant.
The next morning, Andrea slipped out of the kobold cave and stealthily made her way across the bottom of the valley. As she approached the giant's cave, she heard the sounds of snoring from with in and got close enough to see there were actually two of the brutish beasts; one of whom was awake. She reported her findings to the rest of the group and they set about creating a trap for the two giants (later identified by Alaric as ogres). Alaric climbed the hill and hid just above the ogres' cave entrance while Andrea strung a trip wire across the entrance to the cave. The rest of the group took flanking positions to the sides of the cave entrance. Unfortunately, the sounds of their prepartions alerted one of the ogres, who charged out after waking his companion. Fortunately, he didn't notice the trip wire and did a face-plant into the dirt at the cave entrance. Alaric immediately dumped several vials of oil onto the ogre, followed by a flaming brand. The ogre struggled to stand while on fire and being stabbed, slashed and blasted from both sides. The party surround him in such a way that the ogre blocked the entrance to his own cave and his companion was unable to push past all of them to aid in the battle.
Marcus experience first-hand the strength of an ogre savage and his angry smash. Despite the brute's strength, he soon fell under their assault. The other ogre cursed and retreated back into the cave. Cautiously, the group followed and engage the savage beast in battle. While it wasn't as easy as the first, that ogre, too fell to their assault, but not before nearly killing Marcus with mighty blows from his spiked tree-trunk-club. After tending to Marcus's wounds and seeing him return to consciousness, they searched the ogres cave, finding a stash of gold and silver coins and a blood-crusted suit of cloth armor, which Eldred was able to identify as Skybound Cloth Armor (+1).
After dragging the ogre corpses to an ante-chamber, the party discussed their next move and realized they never found out exactly in which cave the orcs resided. Instead of immediately assault the orcs, they headed back to the keep, taking the ogres' heads with them.
Once back at the keep, the group was able to speak to a representative of the Castellen, Lt. Hassock, who tasked them with clearing out the valley of all hostile humanoids and offered them access to the Keep's armory to equip themselves. They also saw a bounty posted on orcs from the Etrunian dragonborn government. The local Thieves' Guild contacted Andrea and told her that they didn't mind her petty larceny, but wanted a percentage. Meanwhile, a dragonborn named Khotan Ironscale enlisted Argen to spy on the keep for the Etrunian government (he explained that the Keep was too remote for them to have a permanent presence in the Borderlands, but they wanted to keep an eye on the inferior human Castellen, as the Borderlands would likely be in the way of an invasion of Etrunia by the Witch Queen and her ever-growing army of the undead). Finally, the party encountered Lady Alene Kasody, who was upset that she was unable to find an escort to the Lost Shepard Inn; she was separated from her husband and child when they all fled the capital of Hyrn, Koryn ahead of the armies of the Witch Queen.
After resting for a few days, the party prepared to return to the Valley of Chaos, where they would meet again with the kobolds to find out exactly where the orcs lived....