Kobolds at the Waterfall (01/17/2010)

After the battle the party drug the bodies off the road and stashed them in a grove of trees off the road. The equipment was bundled and stashed at a separate location, with Eldred taking possession of the Wyrmpriest's necklace with the symbol of Orcus (a skull with ram's horns) on it.

Maive looked for tracks and found that the kobolds had come up the road from the direction of the original ambush. After moving up the road and arriving at the ambush site you collect 12 tokens of the dead kobolds to show Lord Padraig, and add them to the 8 tokens collected from the kobolds you killed earlier this day. As a whole day has passed the party decides to camp for the night in preparation for following the tracks that Maive and Jenneth had at least temporarily followed south several days previous.

The night passed uneventfully and in the morning the party moved south, following the kobold tracks. After about four hours the party heard a waterfall ahead of your location. The party moved up to a grove of trees maybe 50 feet away from the creek. Between that grove of trees and another that abutted the creek the party can see various numbers of kobolds milling about.

The party developed a plan to have Maive and Jenneth sweep back and come back around to the top of the hill where the top of the waterfall is, but before any action can take place a single kobold came out from a position north of the waterfall and walked close to your position. The party decided to keep hidden, and the kobold stumbled right into the middle of your hiding spot. The kobold was quickly vanquished and while it appeared you have not given your position away, Akta popped out ahead to kill a kobold next the grove of trees near the river and from there the battle commenced.

The party had a good portion of ground yet to cover before they could actually attack the kobolds, but instead of attacking the kobolds appeared to rally around a kobold dragonshield standing on a rocky area near the river. Jenneth did an end run and zapped the kobold slinger and then did a fey step to "jump" to the top of the waterfall so she could direct her fire down from above.

The kobolds fought valiantly but soon fell before the onslaught of the party. At the end of the battle the party has earned 115 XP and around them on the ground they found:

13 kobold minions, each with hide armor, a small shield, a spear,and three javelins.

2 kobold dragonshields, each with scale armor, a heavy shield (made of a dragon's scale), and a short sword.

1 kobold skirmisher, with hide armor, a small shield, and a spear.

1 kobold slinger, with leather armor, a sling and 20 sling bullets, a dagger, and a bandoleer that originally contained three glass containers (two of fire, one of glue).

With the concern of "what was behind the waterfall" the party left the dead kobolds alone and took defensive positions around the waterfall. Maive saw a single kobold head peer out from the waterfall, but it disappeared before anyone could do anything. Oester crept up to a corner of the waterfall and stuck his head through the waterfall to see what he might see on the inside, but it's hard to be stealthy through a wall of water and he was greeted with three thrown javelins for his trouble.

DM Notes: Two things I should have handled better:

1) When one of the kobolds was barking orders I should have passed a note to members of the party that speak Draconic that they could understand was the kobold was saying.

2) Similarly I should have passed a note to the first player to step up on the rocky area next to the dragonshield telling them about seeing the runed area where the dragonshield was standing.