After having vanquished a gaggle of kobold's outside the waterfall during the previous week, our intrepid adventurers now looked for a way to investigate what lay behind the waterfall. Maive had seen one kobold head pop out from behind the waterfall, so there was no doubt that there was something in there. Oester had crept up to the southern corner of the waterfall and poked his head in and had gotten nailed with a javelin for his troubles.
With the party arrayed outside the waterfall in a semi-defensive position Oester relayed that there was indeed a large room directly behind the waterfall, although the flickering of several torches hinted that the total space was likely larger than just that one room. He also relayed that he had seen a "handful" of kobold's, but their javelin's had prevented him from getting a better view of the situation.
With one encounter just completed, the party opted to hold their positions for a few minutes. Not seeing any other options, the party bolted through the waterfall and into the kobold lair.
DM Note: The way we played this was to let all the party members move into the lair, given that they all were essentially charging in blind, and then letting the players hold any further actions until the initial wave of kobold's could then be placed on the map.
DM Note: The way we played this was to let all the party members move into the lair, given that they all were essentially charging in blind, and then letting the players hold any further actions until the initial wave of kobold's could then be placed on the map.
And so the fight ensued. What was supposed to be a relatively difficult encounter turned into something much tougher. A combination of two things occurred to cause this to happen:
1) Extremely ineffective rolling by the party.
2) Extremely effective rolling by the DM.
This led to an extended battle that saw most of the party members bloodied, some more than once, and even saw Akta temporarily overrun by kobold's and knocked into unconsciousness.
How effective were the kobold's? The evidence of the number of party members being bloodied was one thing, but one of the first wave of Kobold Minions lasted five rounds before finally being killed. In the second wave of attacks four separate Kobold Minions also lasted at least five rounds, with two of them providing a steady defense for the Kobold Wyrmpriest who was able to cause much mischief, all while different party members flailed about helplessly or saw their magic effects fizzle to no avail.
The kobold's plan of letting the adventurers in and then counter-attacking with a second and then third wave worked well. Once Akta was overrun it looked like a contingent of kobold's might be able to sweep in behind the party, but quick action by Oester sealed the breech. At about this point the party's bad luck began to turn and the kobold bodies began to fall, and even the appearance of a fat goblin with a big axe couldn't hold the adventurers at bay in the finale.
A further inspection of the underground cavern hinted that this might have been a temple at some point, with the rear portion of the cavern sporting a large raised dais. There were no further religious symbols found though, including any of Orcus, In the northeast corner of the cavern the obvious home of the large goblin was found. A locked chest sits in this area.
Among the bodies inside the lair you find:
A further inspection of the underground cavern hinted that this might have been a temple at some point, with the rear portion of the cavern sporting a large raised dais. There were no further religious symbols found though, including any of Orcus, In the northeast corner of the cavern the obvious home of the large goblin was found. A locked chest sits in this area.
Among the bodies inside the lair you find:
15 kobold minions, each with hide armor, a small shield, a spear, and three javelins.
5 kobold skirmishers, each with hide armor, a small shield, and a spear.
3 kobold dragonshields, each with scale armor, a heavy shield (made of a dragon's scale), and a short sword.
1 kobold wyrmpriest, with black hide armor, a spear, and a bone mask (shaped like a dragons head).
Between all of the kobold's outside the lair you come up with 6 gold pieces and 23 silver pieces and each member earns 115 XP. Between the kobold's inside the lair you come up with 15 gold pieces and 54 silver pieces and each member earns 235 XP (575 total XP earned so far).
DM Note: It took the party 1.5 days to get here, one day due east from Winterhaven and then a half day due south from that point. The party then fought two encounters (everybody adds one action point). There is likely still some clean-up work to be done here before you will leave. We will pick up from here next week.The fact that this encounter turned out to be quite difficult forced the players to review their skills and powers, especially those who could affect healing in themselves and others.
You didn't mention how shocked the party was when Jenneth actually got close enough to attack physically. You are unlikely to see that again anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, it should be noted that Jenneth not only did actually swing at a kobold but that the she also struck the kobold and did damage to it. It just goes to reiterate the desperation level that the party had reached during the encounter.
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