Kobold Hall: Session 2

Once they had spent a few minutes bandaging Thorfinn's multiple wounds, they found their way onwards blocked by the portcullis. A short way beyond the portcullis was a prominent lever in the wall. Eilonwy instructed Doomgrad to go and pull the lever, and once more he forced his way through the bars despite his large stature (at 4'5” he was reputed to be the tallest halfling alive, apart from the famed Fungo The Rackstretched).

Long on brawn but short on brains, Doomgrad looked at the lever for a short while while he pondered the situation.

“It may be a trap,” he said eventually, “Kobolds like traps.”

“Just pull the lever,” called the rest of the group, prepared to sacrifice him in an effort to continue on towards the loot. Standing back, he pushed the lever down with his sword, and with a juddering clanking, the portcullis rose into the ceiling.

Jia scouted on ahead a short distance, stealth her watchword, and found herself in the remains of a wine cellar. Ruined bottle racks surrounded the walls of this large room. On each side of the room, in an alcove previously reserved for wine, stood a suit of armour. At the far end stood a crude altar, where four kobolds were busy worshipping. Stealthily making her way forwards, Jia took cover under a large table, and loaded her crossbow pistol. Taking steady aim at the head of one of the kobold, she let fly the bolt, only to curse as the firing mechanism stuck momentarily, sending the bolt wide.

The kobolds, alarmed by the sudden attack, easily spied Jia's companions as they rushed into the room, but missed her as she crouched down in cover. As they ran forwards, a fusilate of bolts fired at them from the visors of the two suits of armour. Gilee was struck, but Doomgrad was able to duck down behind one of the tables, sure that the bolt would not be able to hit him, despite him being the tallest, strongest, widest halfling paladin in 6 counties. Luckily, the bolt missed him as he pushed forwards.

Thorfinn once more found himself in the thick of the fighting, and once more received the brunt of the attacks, but some timely magical assistance from Eilonwy and Kaza gave him the opportunity to crush a kobold skull. Meanwhile, Gilee and Doomgrad were busy occupying the remaining kobolds, giving Jia the opportunity to sneak out and get into a flanking position. With a lunge, she rammed her shortsword through the back of the neck of one of the kobolds, and with a cruel twist severed his carotid, spraying Doomgrad in a shower of blood. Within moments the remaining kobolds were felled.

Examining the altar, they found crude representations of Tiamat, the Dragon God of Chaos, and some coins which they quickly pocketed. Once more they took a few moments to bandage their wounds, and pressed on.

Taking care for more traps, Jia scouted ahead. Down a short staircase she came to a rough chamber, not part of the original cellar, where a strange sight met her eyes. The kobolds had set up some sort of strange game room, where they would swing a rock on a rope at skulls placed on tables. As she watched, one of the kobolds managed to get a hit on a skull, which stuck to the slime covered rock. “Kobold bar billiards, it seems” she thought.

Reporting back to the party, they decided that they needed to do something about the rock, as being hit by a rock the size of your head, being swing at you with force, could cause a nasty contusion.

“Don't worry, my powerful mystical magical mojo shall defeat this vile trap,” Kaza informed them.

“You're just gonna catch it with Mage Hand, aren't you?” asked Gilee.

“Yes,” replied the crestfallen wizard.

They crept clanking down the steps and prepared themselves. Kaza summoned up her powerful mystical magical mojo, and caught the rock mid swing. The kobolds, surprised to see a glowing, floating hand stop their game of Skull-Skull-Stone mid swing, were rightly outraged, and as the party rushed forwards they began to cast sling stones and javelins.

This onslaught of missiles was met in return by an onslaught of a more magical nature from Eilonwy and Kaza, who managed to kill some of the weaker goblins with a scorching burst. Doomgrad used the opportunity to grab one of the tables that the kobolds has used for their game and use it as a ramp up to the alcove they were playing their game from, as Gilee and Thorfinn burst through doors at the far end of the room.

On the far side of the doors they were met by a pair of large lizard creatures the size of a large dogs, which rushed forwards. These guard drakes immediately attacked, and one of them sank his sharp teeth into Thorfinn's leg, biting off a large chunk of flesh and swallowing it whole. Thorfinn's language turned the air blue.