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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Colmarr" data-source="post: 4304076" data-attributes="member: 59182">Tira reappeared, moving into the cavern from the entrance behind Skamos and me. She was limping badly. Even as the tiefling turned his attention to the remaining kobold shield-warriors, I channeled Amaunator’s power again and mended her wounds. By the time I was done tending to the half-elf, Corrin and Skamos had finished off the remaining kobolds. I looked around at my companions. Corrin was breathing heavily and favouring his left arm. A nasty purple bruise was developing on his cheek. Tira seemed much recovered. My magic had closed her wounds and restored much of her vitality, but she was still breathing shallowly. “We need to rest for a moment,” I said. No one disagreed.We gathered into a small alcove, keeping a wary eye on the entrances. I retrieved my healer’s kit and did what I could to patch Corrin and Tira’s wounds, then I looked around the cavern. A crude stone altar had been erected in another alcove across from ours, bearing a rich red worship cloth and a surprisingly well-formed statue of a rearing dragon. Blood-red candles guttered on either side of the shrine. I grimaced at the heathen idol, blew out the candles, and then flipped up the worship cloth to cover the statue. If the kobolds worshipped dragons, was it any wonder that they threatened Oakhurst so?When my companions had had a chance to catch their breath, we pushed deeper into the caves. As it turned out, there was only one further room in that branch of the cave. And it was a throne room. We did not realize that at first. The room’s occupants had obviously heard our battle with the wyrmpriest and his guards, and were hidden in niches and under furs. They only leaped out to attack when Corrin entered the chamber. And as if two kobolds were not enough of an unpleasant surprise, a furred spider the size of a pony dropped from the ceiling, narrowly missing the diminutive paladin.The ensuing combat was by far the greatest display of bravery I have ever seen. Outnumbered three to one, and battling a monstrous spider in close quarters, Corrin merely retreated into the mouth of the cavern and methodically blocked the enemy’s approach. From that position, he used his armour and shield to effectively blunt the kobold’s attacks while repeatedly stabbing out at the spider with his shortsword. The arachnid reared up on its hind legs in rage, but could not find an opening through which to bring its greater size to bear.With the kobolds effectively trapped by Corrin’s stalwart defence, the rest of us flung waves of magic at the creatures. The kobolds had no defence against that onslaught, and the giant arachnid finally fell, Corrin’s shortsword piercing one of its crimson eyes. As the spider collapsed, one of the kobolds darted around behind a pillar of rock. Moments later, it reappeared, dashing out of a small crack in the cave wall and back towards the gong chamber. Another kobold, which must have been hiding in the throne room the whole time, came with it and pushed the injured creature out of the way in its haste to escape.“They’re running!” Tira shouted, and then she and I gave chase, leaving Corrin and Skamos to deal with the remaining kobold.Despite their small size, the fleeing kobolds almost got away. I brought the injured warrior down with a blast of divine energy just before it rounded a bend in the passageway, but the hidden kobold was too fast for me. It disappeared into the gong chamber, and I knew that weighed down by my armour I had no chance of catching it. Fortunately, Tira was faster.Just as the fleeing kobold disappeared out of view, Tira reached out with one hand and a crystal blue beam flew from her fingers. I heard a yelp of pain, and saw Tira slow to a leisurely stop. I rushed past her and into the gong room. The fleeing kobold was in the middle of the cavern, struggling in vain to reach the stream there. Its legs and waist were covered in an inch-thick layer of ice, slowing it to a crawl. Tira laughed mischievously and blasted the kobold with another ray of frost. The beast yelped again, but continued to struggle toward the stream.I rushed across the cavern and dived onto the creature, sending both of us crashing into the stream. The water was icy cold and I surfaced gasping for breath. The kobold thrashed nearby and I jumped on it again, dragging it back under the water and grabbing a hold of one of its arms. When we surfaced again, the beast took me completely by surprise.“I surrender!” it yelled in heavily accented but nevertheless understandable common.</blockquote>

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