When last we left our intrepid heroes, they had agreed to help Lord Padraig of Winterhaven to free his counselor Valthrun, who had been captured by kobolds. The group had vanquished the kobolds in front of their lair, and the kobolds inside the lair behind a waterfall hadn't noticed. Thus after a short rest to recover their encounter powers, the players decided to enter the kobold's lair.
With some good stealth and perception rolls the rogue managed to determine that there were 13 kobolds in the front part of the lair, of which 10 were simple minions. The only question was how to tackle them, as the lair had three entrances: One through the waterfall, and one each left and right of it. In spite of "never split the party" now being an official D&D motto, the group decided to split up and enter through the left and right entrance at the same time.
In the end that worked out rather well. The fighter, rogue, and Lord Padraig (a level 3 paladin) entered on the left side, and the rest of the group (warlord, priest, mage, and ranger) on the right side. After 1 round fighting kobold skirmishers and minions, the rest of the kobolds came from the back of the cave: 2 dragonshields and 1 wyrmpriest joined the fight on the right side, and the kobold leader Irontooth on the left. After an intense battle, the party prevailed without anyone being dead, but having used all their available healing. The paladin NPC Lord Padraig helped a lot there with healing the fighter and rogue, because otherwise the group would have been in trouble. I played the kobolds as using their tactical abilities to the maximum, ganging up on players and searching for the weakest spots, and that made the combat quite exciting.
After the kobolds were beaten, the group found Valthrun in the back of the cave. He had freed himself and killed his single kobold minion guard with a spell. Happy reunion with his friend Lord Padraig, during which the players were able to pick up Valthrun whispering in the Lord's ear: "I got the card!". Being curious the rogue asked them directly about that, using his skills of persuasion. And somewhat reluctant Valthrun showed him a tarot card made out of ivory, saying that Lord Padraig was collecting those for the defense of Winterhaven. The group was unable to get them to say more about the card, although Lord Padraig and Valthrun offered them to pay well for any cards they might stumble upon in Nentir Vale.
On returning to Winterhaven, bad news awaited: Three villagers had disappeared in the two days where the Lord and the group were away chasing kobolds. Although one of them was rumored to just have left his wife after finding out that she had an affair with the smith, three villagers disappearing while being outside the village and close to the woods was definitively worrying. Thus the group decided to stay a while and continue their investigation into the strange events. While they suspect that the core of the problem has to do with the disappearance of two of the standing stones outside the village, they decided to leave investigation of the stones for after a night's rest, and only talked to people in the village this evening.
The village of course was buzzing with rumors, the peasants fearing evil spirits and a curse on the village. In two days there will be the festival of the Blessing of the Seeds, and the villagers fear that if evil spirits prevent them from holding that festival, their harvest this year will fail. Visiting the local church the priest and warlord saw the chalice on display there holding the holy water with which the Blessing of the Seeds. Meanwhile the mage found a book on petrification magic in the library of the dead mage, but it appeared to only contain very general information on the subject. Thus the group decided to go to bed (both in game and in real life) and tackle the standing stones the next "day".
With some good stealth and perception rolls the rogue managed to determine that there were 13 kobolds in the front part of the lair, of which 10 were simple minions. The only question was how to tackle them, as the lair had three entrances: One through the waterfall, and one each left and right of it. In spite of "never split the party" now being an official D&D motto, the group decided to split up and enter through the left and right entrance at the same time.
In the end that worked out rather well. The fighter, rogue, and Lord Padraig (a level 3 paladin) entered on the left side, and the rest of the group (warlord, priest, mage, and ranger) on the right side. After 1 round fighting kobold skirmishers and minions, the rest of the kobolds came from the back of the cave: 2 dragonshields and 1 wyrmpriest joined the fight on the right side, and the kobold leader Irontooth on the left. After an intense battle, the party prevailed without anyone being dead, but having used all their available healing. The paladin NPC Lord Padraig helped a lot there with healing the fighter and rogue, because otherwise the group would have been in trouble. I played the kobolds as using their tactical abilities to the maximum, ganging up on players and searching for the weakest spots, and that made the combat quite exciting.
After the kobolds were beaten, the group found Valthrun in the back of the cave. He had freed himself and killed his single kobold minion guard with a spell. Happy reunion with his friend Lord Padraig, during which the players were able to pick up Valthrun whispering in the Lord's ear: "I got the card!". Being curious the rogue asked them directly about that, using his skills of persuasion. And somewhat reluctant Valthrun showed him a tarot card made out of ivory, saying that Lord Padraig was collecting those for the defense of Winterhaven. The group was unable to get them to say more about the card, although Lord Padraig and Valthrun offered them to pay well for any cards they might stumble upon in Nentir Vale.
On returning to Winterhaven, bad news awaited: Three villagers had disappeared in the two days where the Lord and the group were away chasing kobolds. Although one of them was rumored to just have left his wife after finding out that she had an affair with the smith, three villagers disappearing while being outside the village and close to the woods was definitively worrying. Thus the group decided to stay a while and continue their investigation into the strange events. While they suspect that the core of the problem has to do with the disappearance of two of the standing stones outside the village, they decided to leave investigation of the stones for after a night's rest, and only talked to people in the village this evening.
The village of course was buzzing with rumors, the peasants fearing evil spirits and a curse on the village. In two days there will be the festival of the Blessing of the Seeds, and the villagers fear that if evil spirits prevent them from holding that festival, their harvest this year will fail. Visiting the local church the priest and warlord saw the chalice on display there holding the holy water with which the Blessing of the Seeds. Meanwhile the mage found a book on petrification magic in the library of the dead mage, but it appeared to only contain very general information on the subject. Thus the group decided to go to bed (both in game and in real life) and tackle the standing stones the next "day".
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