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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 4319543" data-attributes="member: 69">Session 2 – Chapter 1 That’s a Lot of Kobolds _______________Lathon was retrieved from jail, where he’d spent only one hour, and all of that on his knees praying in silent meditation to Bahamut. The company spent the night at Wrafton’s Inn, turning in immediately to get a good night’s rest for the coming day. They’d only had enough money to buy dinner for the group and one room. None of them fell asleep for at least an hour, each turning over in their head the prospect of finally breaking into adventuring. They’d started off fired and marooned, and now were employed at many times their former rate of pay. This was experience. This could lead to bigger and better things… assuming they lived. In the morning, they shared a quick breakfast and left for the southeast, following the map Lord Padraig had drawn for them. They found a crude footpath and followed it for almost ten minutes. “The kobolds are supposedly only a mile from Winterfell, yes?” Osivan asked. “We should be there before too long.”Just then, a mass of kobolds leapt from the underbrush, hurling javelins and howling for blood. The group fell right into combat stance and began to fight. “This isn’t so many,” Lathon grunted as he chopped a head free. “I’m almost disappointed.” One of the kobolds wore a small dragon skull as a helmet, and skulked at the edge of the combat. He raised his hands and fired a glowing orb of greenish energy that splashed into Greldo. The halfling cried out as the liquid-like energy sizzled against his skin. Greldo somersaulted away from the combatant he was facing and engaged the kobold priest, keeping him from being too great a threat at range.A kobold holding a dragon-scale shield came up behind Greldo, flanking him, and cut him down. Osivan cooked him where he stood as Moltezom, Gloraen and Lathon were mopping up the remaining kobolds handily. One of the dragonshields yelled to another “Go, warn the others!” just before falling to Moltezom’s maul. The last kobold bolted swiftly to the south, disappearing into the foliage.  Gloraen knelt by Greldo and healed him back to consciousness. “One’s running,” Moltezom said. “He’s going to warn the encampment of our approach.”“This wasn’t the encampment?” Osivan asked. “I guess not,” Greldo said, getting to his feet. “Let’s get him.”“Wait,” Gloraen said. “Some of us are badly damaged. Greldo, you could die if you run right into another ambush…” It was too late, the halfling was already loping after the kobold. The others broke into a run.Gloraen and Moltezom, heavily armored though they were, found the best paths through the trees. The cleric could see the kobold running, dead ahead. He stopped, aimed, and fired a lance of light as Moltezom bulled past him. The kobold was struck, cried out, but kept running. The chase came to the top of a steep and sandy cliff. The kobold leaped out over it, landing in a practiced run and scampering down the slope. Moltezom threw a dagger after him as he and Gloraen maintained a good pace. Osivan and Greldo followed, and Lathon hit the sand with unsure footing, sliding down several feet and losing his stride for a moment.The hill ended at the edge of an open field, and the kobold sprinted across it. Gloraen fired another beam of light at it, and Moltezom threw another dagger. Both missed. The others fell further behind. The field’s other side bordered on a wide, shallow stream. A thick tree trunk was laid across the gully. The kobold, as small as he was, ran across the log without slowing. Moltezom ran out across it as well without slowing at all. Dwarves are not built for balancing or careful footing, but the fighter’s momentum carried him in a more or less straight line across the log bridge. Gloraen grimaced and judged that he didn’t want to fall and lose what little lead he had, and he slowed to a brisk walk, joining Osivan and Greldo far behind the chase. Lathon had fallen so far behind that he was now jogging to keep up with the party, having lost any hope of catching the fleet-footed kobold.Moltezom grunted as he kept pace with the wounded creature. He knew that the encampment was near. It could be just over the next rise. He pushed hard and his thick, stout legs pumped against the ground as they ran through thick forest. The dwarf was huffing just behind the kobold, almost within reach. He pulled his maul free and then swung it. The kobold was smashed in the ribs and slid through fifteen feet of forest floor leaves to a stop, stone dead. Moltezom braced himself against his knees as he struggled to catch his breath. The others arrived, equally winded. “You… You got him?” Osivan gasped. “Fine work… my friend. Huh… Huh…” Gloraen went about healing Greldo’s wounds at last, and the others rested for a moment, regaining their strength. Greldo looked about. “The encampment must be really near… look at all the refuse around here.” There were discarded waterskins, droppings, bones, and paper wrappings cast off from rations. “I’m going to scout ahead.”“Be careful,” Gloraen called in a hushed whisper after Greldo as he melted from tree to tree, keeping low and to the shadows. Over the next two rises, he found it. A cliff looked over a valley of trees. Atop this cliff was a wide cave mouth, and within it torch light could be seen, occasionally blotted by a passing figure. At the base of the cave, an underground stream came to the open air and formed a waterfall that fell thirty feet to the valley floor. The stream wound away to the southwest. There, milling about the stream, was a garrison of thirteen kobolds. They cavorted and splashed in the stream, yapping and arguing, seeming to take their guard duty very lightly. Greldo noted that the valley rose up to the cave’s left and right sides in a sloping path. He took everything in and slunk back to the party. “What did you see?” Lathon asked.“Kobolds… lots of them. Possibly dozens. I didn’t get an exact count. They’re based in a cave at the top of a thirty foot tall cliff. I think I found a weak spot, and a way there.” They spoke for a few minutes more, and then moved off toward the camp.They circled wide around the camp and came in from the north side, on the cliff. Greldo motioned for them to stop when they came within view of the stream from above. From here, they could skirt around into the cave from the north entrance… provided they weren’t seen by the kobolds below. Greldo moved off to investigate the interior of the cave. He crept along, clinging to the rock sides on the wide path that linked the hillside and the cave. He paused at the lip of the cave and looked. He couldn’t see the entire cave interior- the irregular formations of the walls blocked his view of much of the cave- but two kobolds were talking here. One seemed to spot him out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to see nothing. He walked around to the outside of the cave, and no one was there. The kobold shrugged and walked back inside.Greldo crept back to the others with the report. “I’ve got a plan. Kind of. I want to penetrate the cave, killing silently and swiftly, leading us inward until we reach Irontooth. The problem is the garrison below, they have full view of the footpath to the cave, and you’re not all as sprightly as I am. They’re not paying too much attention but a group of armored adventurers walking on higher ground will be hard to miss.”Osivan thought and said “I can get rid of the garrison.”“What do you suggest?”“I can cast a spell that makes a sound. I can lead them off into the forest, thinking they’re heading off an approaching party. It’s a perfect distraction.”Moltezom said “I’ve seen you cast that. Don’t you have to be within a certain distance? You’d have to get pretty close to make it sound like there’s a group of adventurers on the other side of them.”“I thought of that. I’d have to creep in, somewhat, but the sound I make can be whatever I please. So the sound I make will be that of a distant adventuring party.”Gloraen smiled and nodded. “Ahh, very nice. Far-off voices, maybe echoed a bit.”“Exactly.”“It’s a good plan,” Greldo said. “Okay, Osivan you sneak down as close as you have to and we’ll prepare to skirt right into the cave mouth as soon as they’re distracted. Once they’re gone, we’ll have a much easier time clearing out the cave. We might even be gone by the time they return.”“Let’s do it already,” Lathon muttered. “I’m tired of planning. I just want to strike some kobolds dead.”Moltezom, Lathon and Gloraen followed Greldo, who took point on the path around to the cave’s side. Osivan crept down the hill, keeping behind trees when possible, looking to get close enough to cast his sound upon the other side of the valley and- snap! Osivan’s blood froze as the sound of a branch breaking beneath his foot carried over the area. It was so loud that it even echoed, a little. Every kobold head in the valley turned and stared at Osivan. A silence fell over the valley. It was the most uncomfortable silence the wizard had ever known. Fortunately, it didn’t last long._______________ Next time One Hell of a Fight </blockquote>

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