#41 - Battle in the Kobold Lair

After the battle with the Cyclops and Dire Wolfs, the party took a short rest to deal with their wounds.

While resting, they smelled the smoke of a camp fire.  At the end of their rest they investigated.

Near a large hill, they found a boulder with crude fortifications built around it.  The camp fire smoke was coming from behind this boulder. 

Behind the boulder, they found a smoldering fire pit, with a spit for cooking.  There was a nest of leaves and dead vegetation, and wolf hairs in the nest. 

They also found a man.  Alive and tied up in a bag.  They freed this man, and he told them how he got there.  He was part of a party of treasure hunters.  They used to seek out sites where people had reported seeing undead.  They had concluded that undead were usually the result of curses placed on important sites by the ancients before the plague came.  And these sites often contain treasures. 

The treasure hunters had come north from Fort Aralan, looking for a mountain where goblins believed that there were undead.  They found this mountain, and they set out across the forest to get there.  But the forest had been stricken by some kind of blight, and aggressive plants attacked them.  They decided to turn back.

Weakened by their battles in the forest, they were no match for the Cyclops and his wolves.  All but two were killed outright.  The last two were taken prisoner.  And the Cyclops ate one of the prisoners for breakfast just this morning. 

The party healed the freed prisoner.  They equipped him with old armor and weapons found in the Cyclops lair.  The prisoner took a pouch from his dead companions equipment and gave it to the party.  To his surprise, this pouch contained a "Portable Hole".  And within the hole was a hoard of treasure. [ 600CP,9000SP,1900GP,60PP,6 250GP
art objects ( Large Gold Bracelet, Brass Mug with Jade Inlay, Gold Bird Cage with Electrum filigree, Bronze Crown, 2 large Tapestries)

Portable Hole]

 

They sent the prisoner on his way, giving him the bronze crown from the hoard.

 

The party continued on to the ridge, where the Bugbear had told them they could find Kobolds. 

 

Samm was still giant from the potion he drank before fighting the Cyclops.  They found the cave entrances, but decided to wait until Samm was normal sized before entering.

 

And while they waiting the Kobolds set an ambush.  Upon entering the cave, the party was blasted by a fireball.  Waiting inside the cave were 4 ordinary kobolds, 4 winged kobolds, and 3 kobold wyrmpriests.  The party won this battle, but took serious damage from the Wyrmpriest's magic.  The last surviving wyrmpriest used Firewall and Stinking Cloud spells to make his escape, through a cave passage on the opposite side from the entrances. 

 

They found a small treasure hoard in the Kobold lair, including many coins, 3 healing potions, 1 "greater healing" potion, and a ranger scroll with "Speak With Animals".    This Kobold lair had obviously once been a goblin lair.  The Kobolds had forced the goblinoids out. 

 

Later the party followed the cave tunnel that the wyrmpriest had used to make his escape.  Far back, and much deeper within the cave, they came to a place where it seemed that the tunnel had been newly excavated.  They speculated on this.  Maybe the Goblins had dug too deep into their cave, and set loose kobolds who were waiting below.  Or maybe the Kobolds had dug their way up to the surface from before.