Kobold Extermination

General Summary

After 12 days of travel southwest along what remains of the old Balmoran roads, the caravan finally enters the true wilderness outside even the border regions of Ghal Pelor. However, progress on that trek was halted due to the disappearance of two of the caravan's cattle. The bloody remnants of one were found scattered in the field, the other was gone completely.

Rehele sought out Aelfric and the rest of his scout group to look into it. They gathered near the ruined remains of the one cow to investigate the scene while Old Bear and Rehele explained that they were also putting a second scout group on the task. Nathan Hale's team. Hale decided to make the mundane task a bit more interesting by making a wager out of it. First one to find out what happened to the missing cows gets 20 gold. Everyone agreed.

Aelfric began examining the cow remains and found that the cuts were not the work of a hungry animal but calculated butchery. Whatever attacked the cow did so in order to chop it up into smaller pieces and carry it away. Caellana found that some kind of drug was in the cow's blood, something to make it passive and in a stupor. They also found some tracks leading to a nearby glad. Hale, having listened in closely to their investigation, set out to follow the tracks with his own four man team.

The team traveled through the cold, muddy fields of the plains, following the trail into the glad. There, they discovered an underground cavern complex and the trees home to dozens of beehives. Aelfric, having experience with Apiaries from back home could tell something was wrong with these insects. They were more docile as if drugged. And, they were clearly getting food from somewhere within the caverns because there was no source of nectar for them to feed on anywhere in sight. Caellana took the opportunity to enjoy the drugged bees and threw handfuls of them at Cordelia. It wasn't particularly well received.

Hale and his team showed up shortly thereafter and they decided to search the area. Together, they managed to discovered a concealed, old, mine entrance as well as a very narrow little tunnel. Most of scouts decided to take the larger mine entrance while Caellana, Cordelia, George and a particularly weedy scout of Hale's named Ekers.

Cordelia and her group managed to squeeze through the small tunnel and get inside the cavern. What they found were narrow tunnels lined with small crevasses big enough only for animals the size of small dogs. Caellana sent her pet down one of the tunnels to explore for her while they searched the tunnels. Her cat was soon attacked by something in the small tunnels and Caellana desperately tried to follow the sound of the commotion. In her frantic search, she also triggered a trap that sent larger boulders down into the passage almost crushing them and cutting them off completely from Ekers and George and their path out.

She did not have to search long though as a dozen or so little creatures soon emerged from the small tunnels. Kobolds. And, one of them had Caellana's pet strapped to its back. They managed to scatter or kill off the screeching little beasts but soon realized they're lost and alone with only one path open to them. Deeper into the cavern.

Meanwhile, the rest of Aelfric and Hale's teams proceeded into the larger entrance and found the interior decorated with old glyphs and runes long since faded. They also encountered numerous traps built by the cave's new owners, the Kobolds. Several of the Frostmerites received gruesome injuries and had to be taken out of the cave, dwindling their numbers one by one. Berenger ran off into the dark at this time as well, chasing down scampering Kobolds.

Hale and Aelfric led their teams deeper into this section of the caves and it's here they started to see what the bees were feeding on. The buzzing noise grew louder and louder. Small cracks and holes in the cave ceiling allowed bees to flitter in and out with ease. Their nectar was the blood, sweat and filth of a cave troll. A troll holding Ekers and slowly peeling him apart and snacking on the man.

Aelfric and his remaining Frostmerites along with Hale's men launched into the beast, hacking and slashing at it while it screeched, squealed and try to gouge them apart in his bare hands. Finally, after a long struggle they finally managed to down the creature. It's at this time that George showed up to warn them about Caellana and Cordelia.

On the other side of the cave Caellana and Cordelia were fighting for their lives. They stumbled deeper into teh Kobold's lair and discovered dozens of the creatures nesting here along with even more of their eggs. They were led by winged Kobold priest and warrior chieftain all of which were dead set on killing them. They used their tiny tunnels to attack and retreat, to come out of nowhere and to scamper around where the heroes could not easily reach. Though Cordelia's stealth and Caellana's beast shape gave them edge enough to reach a ceiling exit. Cordelia managed to crawl up and out but Caellana couldn't follow. She told her to run and get to safety but Cordelia couldn't bring herself to do it. She jumped back down into the hole and kept fighting.

Aelfric's team managed to clear the rubble and gain access to the Kobold warren. This second front took pressure off Caellana and Cordelia, allowing the scout team to quickly gain the advantage and slay the remaining creatures. George took it upon himself to smash all of the Kobold eggs while Cordelia was strangely spotted waving around a large Tengu skull for some reason.

Meanwhile, Hale and his team delved into the caverns behind the troll's den and found more Kobolds making jerky out of the cows and barreling the bees' honey. It was a rather extensive operation but Hale killed or scattered all the workers there.

The heroes returned to the caravan having eliminated the Kobold threat in the entire region. They brought with them the Kobold's honey, jerky and remaining cow meat as well.