Coins in the Dark IC

[manwithaplan]

A hole in the wall, and nothing more.

Your keen eyes marked it the previous evening, right in the place where it was supposed to be found, and you made your camping place not a mile away. Among the trees and the brush, and all of the stones and the stalwart rock, a perfect hole has been carved into one particular wall in the stretching, choking forests. At the first yawn of dawn you awoke, and descended bravely into the infested tunnels. Now, after what seems like a hundred feet of twisted rock, you emerge in the first chamber.

Sunlight, just a precious little drop of it, has followed your footsteps, allowing you to see in the otherwise blank and black dungeon of the Kobolds. As you look across this room you see wooden scaffolding that has been hastily erected, and elevated on those ramparts is the object of your pursuit. The little men, three feet tall and covered with scales. A knife on one side of their belt and a leather band, with a pouch of rocks, on the other. Hunched over and with their reptilian snouts peaking out at you, cheap clothes covering everything except their faces and their beady black eyes, they have been straining to hear your footsteps for some time and now they get to stare at you too. One of them eyes a brass bell roped to the ceiling behind him - some sort of improvised alarm technology.

"What is your namesss?" Sizzles one of the monsters. In all honesty, he sounds more like a coward than a guard. "What do you wanttt here?"

Map (https://i.imgur.com/IxZtIxo.png?1)

This chamber is in Dim Light.

The scaffoldings are 15 feet tall. Targets atop them are behind wooden rails, and receive Half Cover.

The crossed-out section in the centre is a pile of Kobold Clutter, old bits of useless junk and rubbish. This area is Difficult Terrain.

I've taken some liberties with your positioning but feel free to adjust that as you please.

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker wordlessly advances towards the scaffolding, once he arrives at the close right side of scaffolding he takes his hreataxe and smashes it into the wood, hoping the rickety contraption will collapse fairly quickly.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Slingsby]

Merrily snaps to attention at the kobolds' challenge. She'd been a little distracted during their descent, trying to dredge up memories of all the old stories she'd been told about kobold dens. In hindsight, she figured she should probably have been a bit more stealthy - So much for the element of surprise, she thinks to herself.

"Hiya up there!" she calls out to the kobold who spoke to her. "The name's Merrily. Merrily Nettlebed to be precise, from the village of Riverstoke."

"What's with all the scaffolding?" she asks with genuine curiosity, quickly skipping past the kobold's second question. Just as she finishes speaking, she watches Nekbraker bring down his greataxe on the rickety wooden supports.

"Oh! Ah well, 'm sure it wasn't important." She draws her longbow ready to strike at any kobold attempting to ring the bell or attack her companions.

[manwithaplan]

"Get away from meee!"

Klunk. The conversation is over.

Nekbraker's mighty axe scored against the wooden scaffolding, taking out one of the posts holding the structure up. It creaked, and it shook! The Kobold on top skidded about and almost lost his footing, wasting so much time catching himself that he was unable to strike back against the wildman.

"Get away from therrre!" The cry came from across the room, from the mouth of the Kobold on the opposite platform. No doubt fearing for his own footing, he reached quick-fast for the sling on his belt and loaded a stone, pelting it across the chamber and toward Nekbraker's back. Then he conceded a few paces.

On the central platform, the confused monsters turn back briefly at their alarm bell. Unsure of how many hostiles they are about to throw down with, they shake their heads at each other, and one of them also reaches for his weapon. With the slap of whip-cracked leather, a second hard stone is flung across the room towards the deadly half-orc.

Map (https://i.imgur.com/ChNM9xs.png?1)
(I don't have access to Photoshop right now, so let's all use our imagination for the damaged platform!)

The scaffolding on the left is damaged. The Kobold on top passed his Dexterity saving throw to keep from falling over, but as his rampart crumbles just a little, he no longer has cover.

The Kobold on the right, and the one directly in front of the alarm, whip out their slings and throw stones at Nekbraker.

Attack [roll0] for 1d4+2 bludgeoning damage.
Attack [roll1] for 1d4+2 bludgeoning damage.

Merrily and Heian are up.

[bc56]

Heian draws his longbow and sights down the arrow at the Kobold closest to the alarm bell. He looses the arrow, watching it fly toward the monster. As soon as he's fired, he takes a step to the right, allowing the people behind him a clear line of sight.


[roll0] to hit.
[roll1] damage.

[Slingsby]

"Hey, nice shot!", Merrily calls out as Heian's arrow hits its target. "S'pose I 'ad better try and take out the other one..."

Merrily draws her longbow and fires an arrow at the second kobold on the centre platform.

Attack roll: [roll0], for [roll1] piercing damage.

If there space to take cover underneath the scaffolding on the left, Merrily moves to do so - otherwise she stays put.

[manwithaplan]

With a quick whistle of arrow through air and then a splat, one of the Kobolds on the central platform was shot through the chest. There was a clear shudder in the room as the tempo changed. The wildman had charged, the guards had responded, and within seconds one of them had been shot through.

The intruders carried a different air to the curious townsmen, with their torches and their staves and their banners.

The thing fell, and its friend had no time to whimper. Having failed to yet draw a weapon, the still-breathing Kobold seemed to have little time for any sort of valor at all. He turned and moved away from the skirmish, and his cowardice was immediately rewarded! The second arrow, this one from Merrily, was as dead-on as the first. But focused as he was on saving himself, the monster slipped from where he had been and leapt onto the alarm bell, gripping on to it as if for dear life.

"Attaaaack! ATTTAAAACK!" He directed what might have been his final breaths into the booming declaration, ringing the bell with all the strength he could muster. Then, knowing his defensive position was in jeopardy, but also all too aware of the axe-wielding madman directly below him, he dove down behind his dying comrade to take cover from the hail of arrows.

Merrily's withdrawal took her under the left-hand scaffolding, upon which there was another of the wily Kobolds. He was the very last to respond to the danger, but he had not yet lost confidence in his prowess. The archers were the immediate threats, he presumed, but one of them was hiding beneath his platform! The other, exposed. The calculus was not elaborate, and without hesitation this monster slings his rock toward the Elf, Heian.

Map (https://i.imgur.com/qExmHH3.png?1)

The alarm is activated. Alertness has increased.

Moving underneath the scaffolding counts as difficult terrain, but Merrily has three-quarters cover in there.

Central Kobold 2 is Dead, thanks to Heian.
Central Kobold 1 was shot, but missed, by Merrily. He has rung the alarm bell and gone prone, but because Nekbraker has damaged his scaffolding, he has no cover.
Right Kobold is fine, but it is not his turn.
Left Kobold is attacking Heian at [roll0]. On a hit, his sling deals [roll1] bludgeoning damage.

It is now Nekbraker and Thwithrup's turn.
I will wait another 24 hours to see if Twithrup's player is alright (he hasn't been on the forums since well before the applications were completed). If he does not respond, I will sub in sandmote.

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker let’s out a primal scream of pain as one stone smashes into the side of his head, nearly taking his eye out, with a viscous scream he flies into a rage,then backs off a few paces before hurling a crude handaxe at the kobold which lacked any cover.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Lt-Murgen]

Everything was moving very quickly for the jungle tortle. He barely had time to register some odd creatures atop some rickety strutctures before the half-orc, in his usual brusque manner, began smashing things. He could barely see in the enclosure...

"Well, this is going splendidly" He muttered. He raised his warhammer. A weapon of war, it was also the holy symbol of his order, and seldom out of his hand.. Me moved over to stand beside Merrily. The half elf seemed the most squishy, even more so than the rest of the soft-skins. As he tottered over there, he whispered sacred words to his hammer. The hammer began to glow a soft red, as if molten. He continued on, and the red light spread, lighting the area as if it was a burning torch.

Finally, he spun his shield around sliding it over his free hand.


-Move next to Merrily.
- Cast Light on warhammer
- invoke Blessing of the Forge on Warhammer (+1 to hit, +1 damage)
- arm shield (AC 19 now)

[manwithaplan]

Nekbraker's smaller axe flew harmlessly past the desperate Kobold, and it had an immediate effect on the monsters' strategy.

If even the wildman will not come to us, they collectively schemed, then we will use it to our advantage!

To those beasts, everything was exploitable. Now if only the pesky one bringing them down from their ramparts could be slain! The Kobold on the right-hand side lunged forward again, getting a clear line of sight to the half-orc terrorising his ally. He had taken the wind out of this monster's sails once, and with a quick whip of his sling he attempted to do it again. Then, like his brother, the creature slid onto his back and went prone behind the cover of the scaffolding.

Map (https://i.imgur.com/kzA7VY6.png?1)

The Right Kobold attacks Nekbraker at [roll0], dealing [roll1] bludgeoning damage on a hit. Then he slides into prone.

Initiative:
30 - Nekbraker.
22 - Centre Kobold 2 Dead.
21 - Right Kobold. Prone.
16 - Heian.
16 - Merrily.
12 - Left Kobold.
3 - Centre Kobold 1. Prone.
3 - Thwithrup.

Heian and Merrily are up.

[bc56]

Heian raises his bow again, targeting the Kobold still standing. He looses a second arrow toward its head


[roll0] to hit
[roll1] damage

[Slingsby]

Aw shoot, Merrily thought to herself - the little lizard folk were hard enough to hit already, even before they started dropping prone! We need to do something about their cover...

"Hey Thrithwip, come rescue me if they start hitting me with those slings, okay? she calls out to her companion, before dashing out of cover and moving to the left of the damaged central scaffolding. Yeesh, Nekbraker's properly taking a beating. Thrithwip can do healing magic right? Yeah, definitely - if he can make his hammer all glowy he must be able to do that as well...

Merrily moves straight upwards to the square next to the centre scaffolding, and then does one of the following:-
- if Left Kobold is still standing, she attacks with her longbow for [roll0], dealing [roll1] piercing damage on a hit;
- else if she can quickly stow her longbow and wield her quarterstaff on the same turn, she attacks the damaged scaffolding with her quarterstaff (2-handed) for [roll2], dealing [roll3] bludgeoning damage on a hit;
- if she can't do the above then she leans out from behind the scaffolding to try to shoot Right Kobold, using her initial attack/damage rolls above, with an additional disadvantage roll of [roll4].

[manwithaplan]

Merrily didn't have to try. As she darted from cover, the Kobold above her gleefully peered over the border to spot the torchbearer she had foolishly left behind-

Oh. That was no torch. What was that?!

"Magician!" The words come out with a panicked screech, and his brethren heard it loud and clear, turning to gaze upon the turtle-man with the blazing weapon.

"Ma-" his second cry was cut short by an arrow through the throat, the monster caught off-guard in the midst of his awe. The moment of pause was cut off as quickly as his declaration was, and as the second beaten Kobold fell to the floor, his friends went back into their panicked self-defence.

One of the invading men was a commander of eldritch forces - this information could not be kept from the commanders. In a moment of wily speed, the Kobold who had rung the bell hopped to his feet and leapt from the side of the scaffolding, sliding down the ladder on its rear side and barrelling into the tunnels beyond. His friend, still staring at the Tortle's empowered hammer, did not possess the presence of mind to run along with him.

Map (https://i.imgur.com/IxVkOsf.png?1)

Merrily's shot annihilates Left Kobold.

Centre Kobold 1 is up, and he takes the Dash action, gets up from prone, climbs down the scaffolding ladder, and sprints north - he is 25 feet beyond the reach of the map. That does not mean you can't run after him, but you will get the XP for defeating him either way.

The only one left on the map is Right Kobold, who is Prone and has Half Cover.

Thwithrup and Nekbraker are up.

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker sees the Kobold start to run and sprints after the fleeing shadow, moving north to stay right on his tail. As he runs he draws one of his javelins and hurls it towards the fleeing kobold trying to pin in to the floor with force.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Lt-Murgen]

"Oh, for shell's sake!" Twith mutters. Barbarians are the worst, and half-orc ones are the paradigm for bad decisions. "Nek! WAIT! They are clearly leading you into a trap!" The turtle-man totters after the barbarian, trying to close the distance and heal him. "Stand still, you horsefly! You squishier than you think!"


Twith will try to move 30 feet to reach Nekbraker. If he reaches him, he will cast cure wounds.
If not, he double moves to keep up with Nekbraker, and will cast it next round
[roll0] Cure spell

[manwithaplan]

Nekbraker darted from the chamber with a madman's wild rage, but he faltered in the crucible. His spear-thrust, though powerful, went wide of the dashing Kobold. Thwithrup arrived with his beacon of a weapon, but the monster had not just sprinted too far to be seen under the light, but he was now so far away that even the half-orc's ability to see in the dark wasn't enough to keep up with him. The Kobold laughed, his mad cackles echoing off the walls, and Nekbraker's anger faded.

The two of you are alone in a needlessly large corridor - at least twenty feet wide, and your magical light does not shine nearly to the end.

Jbe, you didn't quite make it to the Kobold, and so he Dashes away from you, making it just outside of your Darkvision. Unfortunately, because you have not taken damage this round and the fleeing Kobold no longer counts as hostile, your Rage comes to an end!

If either of you want to chase down the Kobold, a DC 15 Athletics check will be enough to reach him and tackle him down, stopping his progress.

Murgen, since it would have taken you a Dash action to make it to Nekbraker, your healing won't come into effect just yet. Fortunately, the two of you don't seem to be in immediate danger...
--

The last Kobold watched his friend go, half of the enemy team following after him. Of course, the two that were left behind were the elite archers.

A lot had happened in about ten seconds, and all of it had been inspired by either adrenaline or fear. But now, as the outcome was clear...the monster dropped its knife and its sling, quickly untying the pouch of stones on his belt so that it fell to his feet. Then he raised his hands up, and the little spat was over.

"Surrender." The word was followed by a...wicked grin?

You were good with people. Well...maybe this thing didn't count as 'people', but that was neither here nor there. You recognised certain cues, no matter where they came from.

The Kobold's surrender is definitely genuine. He doesn't think you'll be very rough with him, and if you aren't, then he's quite happy to throw the fight and be taken prisoner or thrown outside. You don't know why exactly he is acting like this.

Okay, initiative isn't needed now. Nekbraker may or may not prevent the scout from getting information home, and the party have many options for dealing with the surrendered fellow, but the actual challenge has been overcome. Everybody receives 25 XP!

[Slingsby]

Merrily can't quite put her finger on it, but she finds herself believing the little creature.

"Oh! Erm right... okay... yeah, we accept your surrender. Climb down here slowly where we can get a better look at you"

"What's your name?" she continues. "And where's your friend runnin' off to?"

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker stops after throwing the javelin and pauses breathing heavily, then very slowly he turns around and paces back to the main chamber, retrieving his handaxe and sitting down.

[Lt-Murgen]

Twith manages to catch up with Nek and calls out to his gods to restore the half-orcs vitality. (see post above for HP).

"Can you, just for a moment, think before you act? Please?"

[JbeJ275]

Twith manages to catch up with Nek and calls out to his gods to restore the half-orcs vitality. (see post above for HP).

"Can you, just for a moment, think before you act? Please?"

Bah, they’re fleeing surrendered or dead are they not? Besides it’s not like you got hurt.

[manwithaplan]

The creature climbed carefully down from his scaffolding, hopping from beam to beam until he was safely on the floor. He was without his weapons, and he returned his hands to his head, but before he could speak he was caught off-guard by the second unleashing of the Tortle's magic. The madman had been marked with well-earned blows across the face and back, but at the word of this being, the flesh reknit itself. The wounds turned to nothing. Had they used even a fraction of their incredible power in this skirmish? He was lucky to be alive.

"My nammme...is Plintug." The Kobold was clearly trying to keep his calm. He approached Merrily to give her a good look at himself, but it seemed his only other possessions were a cheap set of clothes and a belt.

"Noraduk is...going to prepare what comes next." There was that strange grin again. "Things would be better for you if you went hommme, little girl."

[Lt-Murgen]

Bah, they’re fleeing surrendered or dead are they not? Besides it’s not like you got hurt.

Twith poked the barbarian gently in his exposed skin. "Squishy, squishy, squishy." He chided. Then he reached over and rapped his shell hard with his claws. "Hefty, hefty, hefty." He gave one of his unsettling tortle grins.

Re-shouldering his shield, he waddled back to where Merrily had the kobold... captured? "Got yourself a new pet, Merrily?"

[Slingsby]

"Haha, you're a little small to be calling other folk little, aren't you?"

"Oh hey Twith, this little guy here is Plintug," she says to her returning companion. "Apparently the other one has run away to prepare something - like a trap for us, I guess?"

Merrily frowns slightly at this thought - what sort of traps could they be preparing?

Intelligence check with advantage to recall any knowledge Merrily might have about common kobold traps: [roll0]/[roll1]

[bc56]

"I don't trust him," Heian raises his weapon aggressively. "Now that we've captured him, we can't let him go, otherwise he'll just come back to stab us from behind."

[Lt-Murgen]

"I wouldn't worry about that. We can take him with us. Make him useful."

Twith looked around. "If we pull a 10 foot section of wood out of this structure, we can tie him to one end. Push him down the corridors ahead of us. Good for setting off traps."

[manwithaplan]

Kobolds can be pretty clever. Although they're not exactly mechanical experts, and they aren't well-stocked in resources or equipment, they have a knack for putting together surprisingly effective improvised traps. The trouble with this is that there are no standard devices implemented by the whole species - they all just invent their own gear based on whatever parts they can find. The upside is that, once you know what one of the traps in the warren is like, you probably know a thing or two about all the traps that are ahead. These folks have no choice but to re-use the few parts and possibilities that they have access to.
Plintug thoughtfully eyes the scaffolding behind him with a simple nod. He makes you think of a most enthusiastic chess player, considering the move of his opponent. This move has surprised him, and impressed him.

But it hasn't worried him.

In fact, from that little gleam in his beady eyes, you get the feeling that he would be quite happy for you to tie him up and use him as trap bait.
"Do what you have to doo, shell-man."

Okay, so travelling from one chamber to the next works like this.

If you want to march, it takes approximately ten minutes to get to another room. When time passes like that, you will gain the attention of monsters. More time passing means more monsters watching you. When marching, your passive perception is used to detect anything hidden in the corridor.

If you want to hustle, you go straight from one room to another without having to spend the ten minutes. If you have the attention of monsters, they may take your hustling as an opportunity to strike. When hustling, your passive perception does not apply - you blindly barrel into any traps that are in your way.

If you are marching, you may also search a corridor, but this takes an extra ten minutes. When you search, you may actively roll your perception skills to find hidden objects.

If you want to construct a wooden shaft and suspend Plintug on one end of it, that will take an additional ten minutes, but no check is needed as it's a fairly simple process.

[Lt-Murgen]

With no objections, Twith starts trussing the kobold to the end of a pole as he described. As he does, he talks to the creature.

"Plintug, you need to understand your role here. It will go better for you if you warn us of traps rather than setting them off. I know you might think you can avoid them. Chances are you have trip wires strung at a height us big-folk would set off, but you little folk could slide under." Twith lashed another pole vertically along the kobold's spine, sticking up 5 feet off the ground. "Not gonna happen."

He muttered an entreaty to the Builder, and the pole began to glow as if it was a torch, but the light was a gently swirling green, like sunlight viewed from under-water. "And there goes your seeing in the dark as well."

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker stands up having spen the last few minutes calming down, holding his sill bruised head and then vengefully breaking the rest of the scaffolding apart.

Can we hustle now before they get the chance to arm anymore traps?

[manwithaplan]

[Ten minutes go by. As they do, you hear a shuffle...and then a scamper. It's coming from above. You look up, and you see holes and cracks throughout the ceiling. There's some in the walls, too. They're so small that even a Kobold couldn't fit through most of them, but they can watch. And something is watching you. Scheming.]

There is now one token in the Ambush Pool.

---

"This is an impressive constru-" Plintug was cut short as the light of the hammer dimmed, and the pole he was suspended on became illuminated in a light that could not possibly be natural.

"Wwwhat is that? Wh-wh-wh-what is that?!" The monster strained to see what was happening behind him.

[Lt-Murgen]

[Ten minutes go by. As they do, you hear a shuffle...and then a scamper. It's coming from above. You look up, and you see holes and cracks throughout the ceiling. There's some in the walls, too. They're so small that even a Kobold couldn't fit through most of them, but they can watch. And something is watching you. Scheming.]

There is now one token in the Ambush Pool.

---

"This is an impressive constru-" Plintug was cut short as the light of the hammer dimmed, and the pole he was suspended on became illuminated in a light that could not possibly be natural.

"Wwwhat is that? Wh-wh-wh-what is that?!" The monster strained to see what was happening behind him.

"The Maker, the Smith of the Divine Forge, grants powers to those who are pledged to her." Twith explains, "It is a portion of her divine power channeled into light. As for the color, well, I like the cool look of dappled sunshine upon the waters."

OK, Lets get moving. I think we should march forward."

[bc56]

Heian laughs at the kobold's fear. "That should work quite nicely. Nekbraker is right, we should hurry though."

[manwithaplan]

Thwithrup, I should mention that carrying Plintug in that way is probably equivalent to like 40, 50 pounds. So you are encumbered, and your speed is reduced by 10 feet. I'm not going to mark this in the tracker, because I mean, obviously if you get into another fight you can simply drop him and draw a weapon. It doesn't affect exploration, either. But I thought I should bring it up!
In the end, the group agrees to travel with caution. You trek carefully into the next corridor, and move along the way slowly. Not only was the path very long, but it was unusually wide for such small creatures! 20 feet across, the corridor could have accommodated all four of you moving shoulder to shoulder. By Thwithrup's illuminated pole, with confident Plintug hanging off the front, you can easily see more of the holes and slits in the walls. There are a million places to watch you through, and you can still hear that one Kobold in the ceiling, scampering about. But you can't see him.

Thanks to the shining light of the Maker, and because you stopped to move carefully, the four of you come to an abrupt halt when you spot something in front of you - a trap!

On the floor, there is a pressure plate. No - pressure plates. Many of them. So many small, odd-shaped, almost-hidden areas of elevated stone are clumped together in the floor ahead of you that it would be more apt to call it a pressure area. Good luck walking through it without stepping on at least five of the things. The pressure area is 20 feet wide, running from one side of the floor to the other, and 10 feet long. On the right-hand wall, you catch a metallic glint. There are three holes that have been chiselled there, and sticking out from each hole is the point and shaft of a rusty needle. There are two needles aimed over the pressure area, and one aimed at the area before it begins.

If the four of you had hustled, there is no doubt you would have gone straight over the trap! Not only that, but dear old Plintug, suspended on a 10 feet long pole, would have been beyond even the furthest needle when it happened. In saying that, when you stop to notice the trapcraft, he does breathe a small sigh of just-in-case relief.

And in saying that...well, now that you've spotted them, there doesn't seem to be anything stopping you from simply walking up to the needles and pulling them out of their holes.

If you bypass this trap by getting over the 10 feet long pressure area, you will receive 10 XP each.

If you disarm this trap, either by rendering it untriggerable, or intentionally triggering it without any chance of being harmed, you will instead receive 25 XP each.

For the record, literally all of you had a high enough passive perception to spot the trap! The handiwork doesn't hide very well when observed in bright light.

[Slingsby]

"Oh cool! That's a pretty neat design - in the dark you'd never see the traps. I wonder if pressure-plate traps are a speciality for these little guys?"

Merrily crouches down beside the trap, just out of shot of the first needle, seemingly fascinated by the design. "Do you reckon we should try and set it off at a distance? Just pulling out the needles seems a little too easy, if you get my drift."

[bc56]

Heian checks the needles. "Actually, I think there's an easier way." He gets down on his hands and knees, well below the needles, and, pressing up against the wall that the needles would shoot out of, crawls along the passage.

[manwithaplan]

Click!

The pressure plate is activated by Heian's movement. The spring-loaded needles roar from their holes, darting across the corridor and into the stone wall on the other side. Not sharp enough to stick, they roll harmlessly to the floor. A metal spring and some other little bits of improvised ingenuity flail out of the holes as well, tumbling to the ground. Not only was this particular mechanism trivial to deal with, but it looks like it was only good for a single use.

This trap is so simple that knowingly crawling onto the pressure area below the needles does, indeed, count as a disarm. Everybody earns 25 XP.
Plintug raises an...well, he raises a part of his scaly, ridged brow.

"Bravvve. We like brave."

And with that, you set off, continuing your march down the corridor. After a couple more minutes, the march comes to an end, and you find yourselves emerging in a chamber. It is cold and damp in here - you must be pretty far underground already. Even so, for a kobold, this seems to be what you'd call home. There are small, ragged little bedrolls strewn across the floor. They are in a neat pattern, but that doesn't change the fact that they are torn, the sheets are wrinkled, and they're all a little bit dirty. Furthermore, they're all unmade. Merrily, you remember the scent of a room full of smelly, sleeping Kobolds - just as it was described to you. By all rights, the chamber must have been chock-full of the monsters just minutes ago. Perhaps the alarm, or the kobold that got away from you, roused them and got them to retreat?

Against one wall is an untied sack.

Across from you on the far side is a chest. It doesn't seem to be locked.

Furthermore, it looks like there are a whole four corridors exiting from the northern and eastern faces of this room. Compared to the one you just came out of, these are even more claustrophobic - barely enough for even one of you to squeeze through! They are all too long for you to see where they lead.

[10 minutes have passed due to a March. There are now two tokens in the Ambush Pool.]

Map (https://i.imgur.com/x5bfeHa.png?1)
Don't worry about the little changes in background style and such. I'm just modifying my drawing style a little as we go!

[Slingsby]

"Oh hey, would you look at that! I guess this must be their sleeping den or something?", Merrily says aloud as she wanders among the bedrolls. "I guess they must have left in a hurry... I wonder if they forgot to take anything with them?"

Spotting the sack, Merrily heads over to the left-hand wall. Just as she is about to reach into it, she hesitates for a moment - and then, nodding briefly, she instead decides to tip it upside down, spilling its contents (if any) out onto the floor.

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker wanders over to the corridors and takes a knee. Looking closely at the ground and checking for any signs that could show how many kobolds evacuated by which path.

[manwithaplan]

Merrily, you're not sure they had time to take anything with them at all. 17 copper pieces and two rather nice-looking apples (well, they're a little bruised now, whoops) tumble out of the sack and onto the rocky floor. Yours for the taking!

Nekbraker, although not serving with your unit, you are more than accustomed to stalking after fleeing enemies. Disturbances in the dust suggest that they probably took the far right path, a thin corridor that heads more to the east than the north. The cracks and holes in the walls look mostly too small for them to fit through - they must be accessed from another way.

[bc56]

Heian moves over to the chest, grabbing at it and attempting to turn it around, so the opening faces the wall.

[manwithaplan]

The chest isn't too heavy - rotating it is easy! When you do so, you hear what sounds like a lot of small metallic objects rattling around on the inside.

[bc56]

Heian carefully opens the chest from behind, bending over it to open the latch before pulling up to open it, with the opening facing the wall.

[manwithaplan]

Heian, you very carefully open the rotated chest, and as its lid reaches the extent of rotation allowed by its hinges...nothing happens.

From the back, Plintug smirks at you. You hear him snigger a little.

Inside the chest, you find 14 gold coins, 58 silver coins, and 3 copper coins.

[Lt-Murgen]

Twith pulls the pole back and pats the kobold on the head. "Good puppy." He says. Then he renews the light spell. "Shall we move along? Nek seems to know where they went?"

[bc56]

Heian scoops the coins out of the chest and into his pack, then stands up to follow Nekbraker and Twith. "An excellent idea."

[Slingsby]

"Sure, let's go!" Merrily replies, as she scoops the coppers and the apples into her pack - No sense wasting good food, after all - before falling back into marching order.

[JbeJ275]

Very well, let us set off once more.

[manwithaplan]

This corridor is a more reasonable size for small folk like the kobolds. Unfortunately, that means it's quite tight for you big guys! Although the way is 30 feet tall, it's only 5 feet across, and your single-file formation has ceased to be voluntary and is now your only option. In this tighter space, with Thwithrup's lights, you can easily see the view-holes and arrow-slits that have been carved out of the walls and ceiling. And once again, you can hear something following you on the other side. Somethings? It sounds like there's more than one now.

[Ten minutes go by. There are now three tokens in the Ambush Pool.]

You enter into another chamber, and this chamber is also another sleeping room. Another empty sleeping room. Another just-evacuated sleeping room. The kobolds remained a single, dreadful, gleeful step ahead of you.

This room isn't fully carved out - towards the middle, they've ignored a rather large spot, leaving a mighty stone pillar concealing one corner of the chamber. Behind the pillar there is a wooden chest, a very thick and double-locked iron door, and a small bell not unlike the one you saw in the first chamber.

To your left is another pile of old kobold junk, and also a frame on the wall with some notes on it written in Draconic.

For their imperfect Common, the monsters seem to write quite fluently in their first language.

In the procedure of evacuation, do not forget!

1. Hit the bell as soon as possible. The door will not be opened immediately.
2. Make sure the chests and crates are filled with enticing things. DO NOT GIVE THEM FIREBOMBS AND SWORDS!
3. Unless there is serious danger, carry all of the bait-men with you.

-Gindo
To your right, past the ruffled bedrolls, there is smoke and light coming from a spot on the floor. You can't see through the smoke well enough to tell what it is, but it seems the monsters have some sort of fireplace underneath the stone floor, with holes to let the heat come through.

Directly in front of you, there is another iron door. This one doesn't seem as thick or as unforgiving as the other one.

Map (https://i.imgur.com/9ukq36M.png?1).

The firepit in the bottom right is billowing out heavy smoke. The grey squares around it are heavily obscured. Squares adjacent to the smoke squares are in dim light rather than darkness.

[bc56]

Is anyone able to get those doors open?" Heian is certainly not confident in his ability to pick a lock or to break down a door.

[Slingsby]

Spotting the framed notes on the wall, Merrily hurries over and quickly translates it for the rest of the party. Her Draconic isn't especially good, but she manages to convey the gist of it:-


In the procedure of... erm... evacuation, do not forget!

1. Hit the bell as soon as possible. The door will be opened... no, wait, hang on... the door will NOT be opened immediately.
2. Make sure the chests and crates are filled with exciting(?) things. DO NOT GIVE THEM... oh man, I've no idea what that word means... AND SWORDS! Yeah, that's right, something and swords
3. Unless there is serious danger, carry all of the... erm... worms? maggots? bait? men with you.

Oh, and it's signed by someone called Gidon... I think?

"Huh, I guess that means there should be something interesting in that chest at least. But they're definitely trying to slow us down... we shouldn't stay too long here..."

"Hey, do you think they'd open that door if we rang the bell? They might think there's more kobolds stuck out here."

[bc56]

"Maybe, but I would use it as a last resort. If we can open the doors without the kobolds, we would keep the element of surprise."

[manwithaplan]

Around came Plintug's pointy face, the kobold craning his neck to look at Thwithrup before turning back to stare at Heian.

"They thhhink they have the ellement of surprise." His thought was directed less to the adventurers, and more to the ceiling above. Back from the ceiling, through one of the little holes, you heard that same trademark kobold snigger that Plintug himself had been making just a few minutes ago. Then somebody else in the ceilings tries to silence them - "Shhhhh!"

Plintug is delighted by the responses. "Don't be ssstupid, they can already hear you in there!"

But he quickly turned back to look at Merrily.

"Iii...think they'll know that you're not my kind."

I should note, to be clear! The door to the north, the thinner door, isn't locked. It's a damn sturdy door, but like, nothing's stopping you from going through. The big thick door is definitely locked, and in fact it has two keyholes.

[Lt-Murgen]

"Maybe, but I would use it as a last resort. If we can open the doors without the kobolds, we would keep the element of surprise."


But he quickly turned back to look at Merrily.

"Iii...think they'll know that you're not my kind."

"Yes. it isn't a matter of IF they know we are here, but WHEN they choose to ambush. The little puppies weak, fragile, and generally uncoordinated. If it wasn't for a over-abundance of cunning, they probably wouldn't even exist anymore." The tortle looked at Plintug and then over at the fire-pit. "I wonder what they taste like roasted?..... Nevermind that for now."

"With their spies in the ceiling, we are playing their game. We should throw all their refuse onto the firepit. Perhaps the smoke rising up into the holes above will help even the odds."

[Slingsby]

Merrily pulls a face at the kobold as he points out her cunning plan is unlikely to work, and then goes to take a look at the chest.

Perception (Wisdom) check to see if there's any visible signs of the chest being trapped - [roll0]

If there's no sign of any traps, she'll try to open it.

"Hey Plintug, what was that notice talking about when it mentioned maggot-men?" she calls out to the kobold as she inspects the chest "You know, bait-men" she adds in Draconic, doing a reasonable job at the pronunciation.

[manwithaplan]

Plintug makes no eye contact when you talk about roasting him, Thwithrup, but it's not like he wasn't frightened already. You can ask a god to do things and she'll do them for you!

Kobolds can't blush, but Plintug has been quite charmed by Merrily's knowledge of the ancient Draconic tongue, and he acknowledges her stumbling over the words.

"Baitmen. Sssick kobold. Wwweak kobold. Dying kobold. Good for bait. For trrraps. Your kind has bait word, yes? Know what that is?"

[JbeJ275]

I’ve never fought people so loudly cheery before. Notes Nekbraker hurling some stones at the ceiling where the voices came from. It’s kind of irritating.

As the others plot and plan he spends a moment checking what sone they’re in, if kobolds can mine hold tunnels he might be able to break the rock around the door hinges.

[Lt-Murgen]

"It will take too long to try to smoke them out, and if we stop and look at every trinket, we will never catch them. Let's march forward" Twith suggested, swinging his kobold-pole towards the unlocked door.

[Slingsby]

Kobolds can't blush, but Plintug has been quite charmed by Merrily's knowledge of the ancient Draconic tongue, and he acknowledges her stumbling over the words.

"Baitmen. Sssick kobold. Wwweak kobold. Dying kobold. Good for bait. For trrraps. Your kind has bait word, yes? Know what that is?"

"Oooh right, so that does mean 'bait' after all! Huh... well, I mean... I guess that does kinda makes sense as a strategy..." Merrily knew she should probably be more appalled by the kobolds using their weaklings as bait, but she had to admit it did sort of make sense from their perspective. And at least it meant that they were taking the old and sick with them to wherever it was they were all running off to.


"It will take too long to try to smoke them out, and if we stop and look at every trinket, we will never catch them. Let's march forward" Twith suggested, swinging his kobold-pole towards the unlocked door.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, okay! Just gimme me a sec..."

Throwing caution to the winds, Merrily attempts to open the chest.

[Lt-Murgen]

Throwing caution to the winds, Merrily attempts to open the chest.

"Great Maker, temper these fools." He muttered, mostly to himself. To merrily he half-hissed, half-grumbled, "Hurry up. We can loot at our leisure once we have dealt with these creatures."

[manwithaplan]

Nekbraker, it wouldn't be impossible to carve the stone - nothing is impossible. But it would be a long and boring affair, taking hours of busywork - and those would be hours under the eye of kobold spectators. If you were willing to endure several improvised assaults one after the other, and run the risk of finding the next room cleared out anyway, you could bypass the lock. It's an unusual strategy, but not a worthless one for dealing with doors.

Merrily, the chest opens without incident. Inside, you find a solid twenty-one piles of stacked copper coins. At a quick glance, there are at least 500 of them, meaning 50 pounds minimum. Are you sure you want to collect them all? More importantly, there is something special here - a Wire Sling!

This small metal device shoots a wire from its tip, with a hooked protrusion at the end. It can be used as a simple ranged weapon with a range of 5/20, dealing 1 Piercing damage.

As an action, you can shoot the hook into a solid surface within 20 feet of you, and at the same time attach the launcher to another surface that is within 5 feet of you. This creates a tripwire between the two points. A creature requires a passive perception of 12 to detect the tripwire, and if he moves over it unknowingly, he must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone and lose the rest of his movement for the round.

It weighs 1 pound.
The path going onward is another long, winding one. With their position known, the creatures in the walls have relaxed a little about hiding themselves, but ironically, that just makes them harder to detect. You hear the occasional foot-fall or grinding of metal on metal as they follow, and they work, with calm in their ferocious hearts.

[There are now four tokens in the Ambush Pool.]

You come to the end of the path and find yourselves in a room that is utterly disgusting. You seemed to have walked into some sort of kobold cess-pit, a pile of garbage and refuse that has coagulated together so tightly that you could walk on it. You could smell it, too. Suspended over the filth-pool is a stone bridge, but all of you are perceptive enough to spot something painted on the ceiling above - green, sticky slime clings to rocks, looming over you. With your knack for surviving in the wilderness, all four of you recognise dangerous green slime, a substance that will drop down on you if you walk under it, and eat through your flesh in moments.

If you don't want to go over the bridge and get hit by the slime, you'll have to cross the pit. The pit probably isn't going to kill you, but it's populated by a couple of giant rats. The rats are happy to eat their little nibbles at the moment, but they may be very territorial.

Finally, on the other side of the bridge, a kobold is hiding behind the stone stairs. He ducks his head down after seeing you, hiding from sight, but you can hear him giggling from his defensive position.

Map (https://i.imgur.com/f6k3sKd.png?1).

Everybody make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, you are poisoned while in this chamber.
Plintug Constitution [roll0].

The Kobold at the back has total cover while he is behind the stairs. Merrily, Thwithrup, before he ducked you saw that he was holding his weapons.

The diagonal lines here are difficult terrain, but they are filthy refuse, not clutter.

[bc56]

Heian looks at the slime, then again at the Kobold's hiding place. He draws his sword. "I can make it across. Be ready." He suddenly vanishes in a burst of summer sunlight, reappearing next to the Kobold. "What's so funny, little fool?" He attempts to grab the Kobold and lift him out from behind cover.


I am using my 1/short rest fey step as a bonus action, then grappling the Kobold.

Athletics check
[roll0]

[Lt-Murgen]

Twith decides that getting slime in shell is an annoyance not worth effort, and begins making his way across the refuse-strewn floor. He shakes his kobold-on-a-stick back and forth across his path, like a blind man using a cane.

[Slingsby]

"Great Maker, temper these fools." He muttered, mostly to himself. To merrily he half-hissed, half-grumbled, "Hurry up. We can loot at our leisure once we have dealt with these creatures."

"Oh shush, will you keep yer shell on for one moment? This'll only take a second".

Throwing the chest open, Merrily is a little disappointed to see the small sea of copper coins - far too much to carry. Her eyes light up however at the sight of the strange wire device!

"Oooh I wonder what it doe- Okay yes fine, I'm coming!!" Merrily shoves the device into her bag and then hurries on after the rest of the party.

Arriving in the next chamber, Merrily physically recoils from the stench. "Oh gods in the heavens, what IS that smell?" Feeling nauseous and with her head spinning, she moves forward a little - although stopping well short of the booby-trapped bridge - and takes a closer look at the giant rats. Figuring that they might be distracted by food, she throws one of the apples from her bag down into the pit, on the opposite side of the bridge from where Twith is attempting to cross. "Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll fight over it" she mumbles to herself, while trying her best not to be sick.

[manwithaplan]

Yeah, screw it, this is kind of working fine without needing initiative. Let's keep going!
For all the filth of disgusting refuse in this room, the Kobold ratmaster has never seen anybody do what Heian just did. Even so, as the elf appear from the mists, the shock cannot prevent him from acting - he slides to his knees, swinging just barely underneath the warrior's grip, and then returns to his feet with a most surprising degree of finesse. Then, panicked, he tightens his grip on his jagged little blade and goes for an underhanded stab!

"Hey, hey, what are you-" Plintug's demands turn to panicked screams as Thwithrup bravely strolls him through the muck. The rat on that side of the cave does not discriminate between man and kobold, and immediately goes to feast on the first thing in its sight.

On the other side of the room, the other rat stirs, and then its eyes fall on the fruity apple that has landed next to it. It gleefully goes to munch down on the new snack.

Map. (https://i.imgur.com/okyUPGj.png?1)

Heian, you are attacked with a dagger at [roll0]. If this attack hits you, you take [roll1] piercing damage.

Thwithrup, the rat on the right side of the room attacks Plintug for you. Similar to his masters, he attacks at [roll2] for [roll3] piercing damage.

Merrily, the left-side rat will make a Wisdom saving throw, DC 10. If it succeeds, it is aware that something unusual is happening, and quickly nibbles at the fruit this round before going to join its pal. On a failure, it obsessively eats the apple for the next few rounds. Wisdom Save [roll4].

All PCs can act.

[JbeJ275]

Surprised by the smell but not particularly fazed by it Nekbraker plunges into the Muck and strides towards the rat attacking their kobold. With a single swift movement he tries to grab the rat by the scruff of it’s neck and throw it into the green slime.

[roll0] Athletics

[Slingsby]

Merrily cries out in surprise as the rat lands on the bridge in front of her - and the subsequent sight of it writhing in acidic slime doesn't do much to improve the situation. Still, she reckons, at least it can't get to her without more slime dropping on it.

She pulls out her bow to shoot the second rat while it's distracted by the apple, but with the stench of the pit still choking her nostrils, it's hard to concentrate...

Merrily attacks the rat eating the apple with her longbow, at disadvantage due to poison:- ([roll0]/[roll1], dealing [roll2] piercing damage on a hit.

If the attack misses or fails to kill the rat, she will then move down the stairs to the left, ending her turn next to Thwith. Otherwise, she will remain where she is.

[Lt-Murgen]

"Bad bitey! Leave my puppy alone" Twith scolds. He clangs his shield against his shell in a rapid pattern. The holy symbol inscribed upon it began to glow with a shimmering reddish light, and the air around the attacking rat throbs and pulses.


The rat needs to make a DC13 Constitution Save or take [roll0] damage

[bc56]

Heian steps out of the way of the kobold's attack. "Nice try," he snorts at the Kobold before attempting to stab it with his blade.


[roll0] to hit
[roll1] damage

[manwithaplan]

With one hand, Nekbraker grabs the giant rat and flings it onto the stone bridge, where it is instantly assailed by the green slime above, which drops down to consume it without a moment's hesitation. The rat shrieks as its skin is burrowed through, and its cries are only brought to an end when Thwithrup's spell forces it into a spasm of twitching and shaking that ends with it dead on the bridge, still in the middle of being corroded.

Heian, the Kobold fighting you stops to watch this display of power over life and death, and shudders...for a moment. Then he grimaces, looks back at you, and lunges...but it is too late. Your blade plants itself in his side, and the life escapes from him. He is beaten.

Distracted, Merrily looses an arrow too wide, and the rat finishes chewing on the apple she gave it. Barreling across the pit, it does as it was trained - it goes to snack on the closest intruder.

Map. (https://i.imgur.com/6FGiFMK.png?1)

The rat on the right is dead, the Kobold is dead.

The rat on the left lunges for Nekbraker, attacking at [roll0]. On a hit, it deals [roll1] piercing damage.

All PCs are up.

[bc56]

Heian charges toward the remaining rat, lashing out with his sword.


Moving to adjacent the rat

[roll0] to hit
[roll1] piercing damage

[Lt-Murgen]

With the immediate threat gone, Twithruup pulls the injured kobold towards him. "Let's take a look, shall we? How bad did bitey get you?" He checks the Kobold over. "Not too bad. Will you hold still while I clean those wounds?"

Note- twith doesn't intend to heal, just a simple medicine check to clean an bandage them so they wont get infected.

[manwithaplan]

Squelch! The final beast is beaten, and it falls into the muck from whence it came. The heroes are victorious.

Thwithrup, Plintug is bleeding when you turn him around. Worse than that, he is shaking, clearly uncomfortable with what he's experienced.

"Am Iiii...Am I gonna get sickkk?" He grimaces, looking at you for safety.

Plintug is okay, and you can totally bandage his wounds in a minute. He has 1 hit point left and a good whack will finish him off, possibly killing him.

For your victory, you receive 20 XP each!

The room is quiet now. To the south there is the way you came, and to the north there is a new pathway. There doesn't seem to be any fork or choice of options here - it just heads straight to the next room.

[Lt-Murgen]

"Am Iiii...Am I gonna get sickkk?" He grimaces, looking at you for safety.

"Hopefully, not. I'll patch you up so bad buggies can't get into your bites." Twith moves himself and Plintug to the far side of the room, out of the refuse, then began treating the bites. "But all of this could be avoided if you would have told us what to expect. We really are your only chance of living to the next sunrise." He spoke matter-of-factly, as if saying that the sky is blue. "We will continue to move forward, and you are going to take the worst of the defenses your people have set up. Unless we know about them first."

[Slingsby]

With the fight over, Merrily hurries across the refuse pit to the exit on the other side of the room, determined to get as far away from this disgusting place as quickly as possible. Whatever the kobold had to say could wait, surely?

[JbeJ275]

Nekbraker steps forward out of the muck, wipes his hands. And continues onward towards the next tunnel.