With Skita, the Kobold sub-shaman in their control, their assault against the birthing caves and the K'Morat warriors there is hopefully going to go easier.
Write up follows:
We decided that we were going to go down to the K’Morat Warren just after evening and enter through the Temple off to the side as per the vision. This gave the group many hours to restudy spells, scribe a few, make some fire arrows, refill sling stone pouches, and be prepared. The day moved on and after eating and drinking our fill it was 6:30 when we left the crack of the cave after the last of the winged scouts had returned and made our way down the slope of Whitetop Mountain and keeping to the tree line as long as we possibly could.
Once we were safely on the plains floor we stayed to the tall grasses, the sheer slope of the mountain to our right as we picked our way closer and closer to the temple. As before, it was shaped like an enlarged “+” with a vaulted middle section where the main Nave might be. Two 25’ tall representations of Odin and Frigga stood outside the temple, fronted by 3 more warrior statues 10’ tall with spears pointed out. All of them had an orcish cast to their features.
The ground around the temple was covered in white and off-white stones, raked smooth. And herb garden was to the east of the temple along with a mound of mulch and a battered looking wheelbarrow. We picked our way through the path, skirting the statues until we arrived at the temple’s front door. The main doors had been breached long ago and the kobolds have replaced the top portion with planks of timber and the lower 5’ with a curtain of leather and furs. We could faintly hear voices from within through the broken windows but no one was in the next chamber. The smell of burnt cinnamon and onions were strong, indicative the kobolds were nearby.
We scouted enough to be sure the place was empty and then entered, taking great care to avoid making any real noise. We were in the Narthax, a bit shabby with wooden rails and a four count of pews shoved about. Einar commented he smelled cat but no one had seen any yet. The Narthax was 40’ square and there was an opening on the south wall along with a set of stairs that went down. The passage was blocked by another curtain of leather.
Negan and Hjalgrim took point, verifying there were over a dozen kobolds in the next chamber and none of them were together in a single place. There was a rope hanging from the belfry above and the group was adamant – no one gets near the rope or pulls that bell or we’re all dead. So everyone readied weapons and with a slash at the curtain, we charged into the room.
Negan barreled forward, overran a pregnant kobold female, and using his greatsword hacked the closest armor wearing kobold in twain before stepping one foot on the trailing rope chain and preparing to fight the next bunch that were there. Hjalgrim followed suit, charging along with Negan but slipped at the last moment in front of a kobold, lost his spear, and got stabbed for his efforts! Fumble!
The rest of the group had a look at the room and we drew in the measure of what we were facing. At least half a dozen of the kobolds in here were wearing brigandine armor, were thicker, stronger, and better fed and equipped than most of the other kobolds we had seen. The rest were decidedly female and were either about to give birth based upon the distending bellies they had or very pregnant.
As we were fighting, some of the kobolds were thinking about running but others were kicking the sleeping ones in an effort to wake them up. And the door on the eastern side of the room flew open and three kobolds and ANOTHER lynx came out! Darius killed one with a well slung stone and the group readied themselves to face the adding throng. One of the kobolds on the west side turned and ran upstairs, yelling and screaming as she did so. Avulstein sent Salarahadra up to the belfry with directions for the mephit to burn the rope/chain off the housing in case Negan was unable to hold his ground. She flew up there and fired her flame blast at 3’ from the thick chain, pouring on the fire as much as her small body was able to.
One of the kobolds that came out was wearing a battered purple tabard and when she was bending down as if casting a spell, Shim’s magic missiles arced around the chamber and caught her in mid casting, spoiling her efforts.
Einar took down another kobold and Bruce helped drop one as Sybil fired rocks at the wounded kobold, finishing her off. We had a nice wave going as the kobolds were trying to gather enough forces to stand against the group who had split into three or four knots of combat. Negan took another few stabs and wiped out another warrior kobold with a wave of his 5’ long sword. The kobold warriors were splintering shields left and right and a few of them actually knocked the odd crossbow out of the way.
Hjalgrim and Percy ran to Einar’s side as the Half-orc had attracted the attention of the tabard wearing kobold who proved herself to be a very skilled fighter, laying the druid open at one point and easily getting past his defenses. Shog took an almost mortal wound and Bruce dropped out of the sky to attack the lynx, allowing the sheep to withdraw as the group advanced closer to the enemy.
More kobolds boiled down the stairs and entered the fight, spears flying as Avulstein tore one of the kobolds apart with claw and teeth. Another sleep spell was fired by Thalin and the new knot of approaching kobolds fell over asleep – including the lynx! Sybil went to go finish off the sleeping ones while Negan killed off another kobold, leaving just one to face him.
And then the door on the south wall opened up and three more kobolds charged in, hitting the half-ogre again – dropping him to the teens in hit points with over 50% of his health whittling away.
Hjalgrim was supporting Einar who was facing a lynx and the head K’Morat, Percy stabbing in conjunction with the dwarven knight’s attacks, the two of them doing incredible damage. Salarahadra was above screaming as she roasted the chain – the area smoking and sparking, the metal turning dull red under her assault. Negan took a nasty shot in the leg and then it happened – Einar was given a mortal blow and dropped to -6 hit points!
Shog, with a single hit point remaining, screamed his head off and ran back into the fight, ripping into an armored kobold near Einar and biting its arm wide open. Hjalgrim, Percy, and Shim were facing against the lead kobold and Negan was now below 10 hit points. We were killing the sleeping ones as fast as we could while Darius sent sling bullets flying every chance he got to drop another kobold. Negan hacked another kobold in half and the mephit above shouted in glee as the links she had been burning finally separated and fell down to the ground below, buffeting the half-ogre and the nearest kobold with the flailing metal.
The tide of the battle was about done now and with only a few kobolds still standing, the leader looked around sadly, lowered her spear and held up her hands in a sign of surrender.
Negan was at 6 out of 38 hit points, Einar was stabilized at -6, Hjalgrim was hurt bad, Shog was dead, Bruce was wounded – everyone that stood toe to toe with the kobolds was pretty hurt or dying. Healing was dispensed, wounds wrapped, the two shields that hadn’t been splintered were brought over to be shared and Negan went to work on Einar, getting the Druid back to positive hit points and then the druid healed himself more between potions and draughts.
There was a dead lynx and a live one – so Einar charmed the live one while the other was crafted into a zombie. The tabard wearing kobold was spoken to but communication was hard since she did not speak Common but we could understand kobold.
It was about 7:30 and we were going to finish bandaging up, look around, and carry on eventually to the caves beyond.
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