Help me plan an evil ambush... (kobolds!)

[Paradoxish]

A little background first:

Two sessions ago, my players were involved in a massive battle at the fallen dwarven citadel of Last Forge. The fortress fell and the party barely escaped with their lives, fleeing across the desert the citadel was built upon. Rather than fleeing directly north and out of the desert they chose to head west, across it. Eventually, they were caught out in a dangerous duststorm. In their frantic attempt to find shelter, they stumbled upon the remains of an encampment - one or two simple huts still stood and there was evidence of a number of others that had fallen. Inside one of the huts they found the lone survivor, a woman huddled against the walls and crying. Apparently, kobolds had raided the encampment (which was just a temporary area built by some refugees fleeing the war) and stolen the children and babies, killing everyone else.

Long story short, the kobolds came back after the dust storm to finish the job and found the PCs waiting for them. The party made short work of the kobolds, killing most of them and capturing two. By questioning these two they learned the kobolds were being forced into slavery by a group of humans that had taken up residence in a temple to the south. The humans were forcing the kobolds to take part in these raids, stealing young children and babies from any travellers passing through the area. The two hostages led the players to the temple, but the party ended up dividing themselves here. The Paladin decided it wasn't worth the risk (bad Paladin!) to save the innocents being held inside and one of the party's sorcerers and the cleric agreed. The three of them left, while the barbarian, the remaining sorcerer, and the druid stayed to try to free the hostages.

The three PCs who decided to stay fought their way past the defenses on the first level of the tower-like fortress and the kobolds made a fighting retreat. The PCs are now clearing out the remainder of the first level, but the kobolds that survived the initial attack have fallen back to the second level. There are around 100 kobolds left in the temple, spread out over the upper six levels. I want the kobolds to plan an ambush of some kind for the PCs as they make their way to the second level of the complex. Here's what the passageway to the second level looks like:

After walking down a straight hallway on the first floor for about 20 feet, it turns 90 degrees to the right. Upon making this turn the hallway continues for another 5 feet before leading to a set of steps that go up about ten feet to the second floor. These steps lead into another hallway that continues for 30 feet before forming a T intersection. There are two doors on the left and two doors on the right of the 30 foot hallway at the top of the stairs, three of them lead into living areas for the kobolds and one leads into a mess hall type area.

Any ideas on what kind of traps the kobolds could have planned at the top of the stairs? I'm basically looking for a way to ambush and surprise the players here without simply overwhelming them with a mass of kobolds. Any ideas? Oh, and the PCs are currently 3rd level.

So whaddya think? (oh, I'm also not opposed to levelled kobolds - as a matter of fact, I already play for a number of them to be leveled)

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

When the party starts up the stairs, have the kobolds, wearing gloves, pour a cauldron of boiling oil down the stairs. It's slippery and scalding, and will slow the party considerably.

If you're feeling less vicious, or can't figure out a way to put the cauldron there, have them dump hundreds of marbles or small grapeshot down the stairs.

For added effect, have archers move to the top of the stairs and start firing after the party has fallen down the stairs, only to withdraw once they're on their feet. Depending on the kobolds' resources, they could also lob tanglefoot bags and/or alchemist's fire, both before and after the party tries the treacherous stairs.

For more archer fun, have the kobolds pile stacks of oiled lumber on either side of the T-intersection. When they hear the party approaching, have them light the lumber and start firing as many arrows as they can into the kill zone between the piles. Give them a penalty for firing blind, since the flames and smoke will obscure their vision as much as the party's-- but a few arrows should find a home by sheer chance.

At all of these encounters, have one or two runners break off from the group of kobolds that are attacking the party to warn the others and get the next set ready for the assault.

Behind the doors, have kobolds readying an action with crossbows (are heavy crossbows Medium or Large? They'll use the largest ones they can) loaded to fire on the party members when they come through. The runners should come through and warn them, and be amoung the archers-- sending off their next runners. After they've fired one crossbow bolt each, they can either charge with daggers or scatter, depending on their escape options. If they charge, have any Rogues amoung them tumble and try for Sneak Attacks.

Kobolds are small. Fit as many as you can into each space that can fire on the door. Remember, you can fire a crossbow from a prone position, and it would be kobold-like for one sniper to lie prone while another fired from a standing position, either behind him or straddling him.

If the kobolds abandon a position in advance of the party arriving, have them leave the door an inch or two open and leave something nasty balanced on the doorframe. It's a classic practical joke when it's water or flour; it's sadistic when it's acid or alchemist's fire (it'd have to be a weakned flask to break, though). Plain lamp oil would be even better, if you make sure that the next snipers use flaming bolts, or have grenadiers lob alchemist's fire at them in a hit-and-run later.

If the kobolds have been in residence for a decent amount of time (say, a couple weeks) they could have tunneled through some of the walls. These tunnels would be kobold-sized, so that players would have to crawl through them-- or they'd be small enough that the kobolds would have to crawl through them. If they're crawling, they'd have to use lighter crossbows, but this would be a perfect way to introduce flaming bolts to oil-soaked PCs.

In the mess-hall area, they could try to stack furniture in front of the doors for a barricade before retreating. If the building's layout would allow them, they could circle around to ambush the party while it tries to break open the door.

They could also sprinkle caltrops for a considerable distance along a hallway as they ran-- and then turn around with missile weapons.

edit: On a tangent, I'd strip the Paladin's status. "Not worth it" to rescue prisoners of an evil cult? To rescue children? And then to leave his comrades behind when they go to do what he should have... At the very least, he needs a serious warning and the loss of some abilities until he atones.

 

[Darklone]

Use trapdoors with a minimum weight... let some kobolds flee over them.

Shot on the run combined with True strike is EVIL for kobold fighter/sorcerers.

Against area of effect spells: Split up and hide. Attack in surprise round, then retreat into full cover and around corners.

 

[Paradoxish]

Thanks, guys. Great advice.

I was definitely planning on making using of caltrops, but I would've never thought to pour burning oil down the stairs...

On a tangent, I'd strip the Paladin's status. "Not worth it" to rescue prisoners of an evil cult? To rescue children? And then to leave his comrades behind when they go to do what he should have... At the very least, he needs a serious warning and the loss of some abilities until he atones.

Oh, trust me, he's in big trouble. How much trouble is contingent on whether the rest of the party survives their foray into the temple, though. When the party first arrived here the Paladin's player essentially justified his action by claiming that he wouldn't risk the lives of the other party members out of his desire to do good. Since three members of the party (one of whom isn't even a Good character) decided to risk their lives to save the prisoners being kept in the temple, however, that excuse doesn't really hold up.

If the rest of the party survives he's going to receive a stern warning from his Order and possibly be forced to atone in one way or another. If the rest of the party dies, however, he'll probably be stripped of his Paladin status alltogether. Especially since one of the characters who went into the temple had previously climbed down a 400 ft. chasm with a raging river at the bottom in order to save the lives of the rest of the party.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Pits with Presents

One of the most effective ways for Kobolds to cause the players problems is to arrange for pit traps which then have something else fall in with / after / on the players.

What I would do is place a pit trap with some spikes at the bottom of the stairs set for a manual trigger (someone has to pull a lever to arm/trigger it). You will need to arrange for the kobolds to hold the party at the bottom of the stairs, so a Porticulis door with a lock on it would work nicely. When they are at the door trying to open it, hit the pit trap.

Decorate the bottom of the pit trap with Tangle foot Bags to keep the victims from getting out easily. Have a Sorcerer cast Grease on the stairs, so those who fall down fall in.

Finally, you want to have a spiked log about as wide as the corridor with large wooden wheels handy. The log will have spikes / swords / whatever on it. This will roll down the stairs causing damage and bull rushing the players back towards the pit.

For an encore, you can cast web on the opening of the pit, pour a bunch of oil down there, fasten a steel grate to the top of it, and set the players on fire.

To do this, all you really need is a level 3 Sorcerer and maybe 10 or so Kobolds.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[mystraschosen]

Just some evil ideas....a pressure plate in the floor about 5 ft away from the top step....that when triggered drops jail cell like walls down around the pcs unlucky enough to be there...a precaution against good guys storming the keep.

It would definitly suck to be caught in a cage even for a few minutes while kobolds fire arrows at you.

Perhaps the pressure plate activates a trap that drops part of the cieling down on them also effectively allowing kobolds to pour the oil down over their heads.

Or the pressure plate could activate a trap that makes the stairs shift so that they all turn into each other forming a flat surface that any pcs unlucky enough to be on the stairs still slide down to the bottom again leaving the unfortunate sod who tripped it to hold off a party of kobolds while his companions try to figure out how to get back up there in time to save him.

Just some thoughts.....