Interlude - Scene 10 (of 11)

As the doors open, each opens to a section of the large forge room containing a couple of duergar smiths and their orc guards.

Goldar immediately charges in, cutting into the first smith, a duergar scout.  Vector follows up the attack with a magic missile, while Berend misses with his lance of faith.

Madresh moves in and charges the more experienced master smith, cutting into him with his sword.

Brandis charges by one of the orcs to get at the smith, but misses.  Saxton charges into the orc itself, hitting it.

Just then, another duergar scout emerges from a back room and moves in to attack Brandis.  As he smashes his hammer into the paladin, the other duergar misses with an attack on Goldar.  Goldar responds with a mighty avalanche strike, cutting the scout into a dozen pieces.

Vector blasts away at one of the orcs with his magic missile, but fails to find his mark.  Berend, however, is able to hit with his daunting light.

The master smith then steps back and calls down a giant blast of flames over Saxton, Goldar, and Madresh.  Saxton and Goldar are burned by the blast while Madresh avoids injury.

In response, Madresh pushes his advance on the smith, hitting him with a viper's strike attack.

Back down at the other section of the room, Brandis hits an orc with his valiant strike.  The orcs respond by attacking Saxton and Brandis, but hitting only the dwarf.  Saxton counters with a crushing blow.

The duergar scout moves over and smashes Brandis and Goldar cuts into an orc with his blade sweep strike.  Vector then finishes the orc off with his magic missile.

Berend calls on another healing prayer for Saxton, just in time for Saxton, Goldar, and Madresh to get hit with a blasting storm of irons from the master smith.  Madresh continues to push his advance on the smith.

Saxton, meanwhile, stays focused on his orc opponent.  The two trade attacks, both failing to penetrate the others' defenses.  The same thing happens with the duergar scout and Goldar.

Vector has better luck, hitting the scout with a magic missile.  Berend then calls down an exacting utterance on the orc.

The duergar smith uses his magic powers again, calling down another rain of iron.  This time, he hits Berend, Saxton, and Madresh.  Madresh continues to advance, trying to corner the creature.

In the other part of the room, Brandis maneuvers himself around the scout and hits him with a challenging strike.  The scout tries to counter, but misses.

The orc continues his assault on Saxton, this time failing to hit.  Saxton counters with another brash strike, getting a solid hit.

Goldar then brings down his mighty sword, chopping the scout length-wise.  Yelling out, he presses the attack by charging the nearby orc.  Vector is then able to finish the orc off with a magic missile as Berend hits the smith with a fire blast.

With no allies left, the smith opts to retreat, running out a nearby side door to the bridge over the chasm.  Vector immediately has everyone quickly barricade the door and check around the side rooms.  They appear to be living quarters for the two scouts and another room for the smith.  

Vector spots a strange staff with a skull carved into it over the bed of the smith.  Recognizing it as a drow artifact, though not magical, he takes it.

Interlude - Scene 11 (of 11)

Not wanting to wait for reinforcements to arrive, the group decides to press on into the second section of the fortress, hoping the forces from the third section will focus on the first section.

The doors into the second section open into another large hallway with lots of doors.  Not wanting to waste time, Vector decides the best thing to do is rush straight into the closest set of doors.

The doors open into a large dining hall.  A duergar champion sits towards the back, eating a meal.  A duergar guard and scout are also in this room, as is a human slave.

Thinking quickly, Berend tries to yell out for the duergar to surrender.  The duergar champion simply shoves his dinner aside, stands up, and readies his weapon.

Brandis immediately charges the duergar guard.  Goldar follows after him, jumping up on the guard's table to attack.  Goldar's attack, however, misses.

Saxton, however, heads straight for the duergar champion, cutting into him with his axe.  Vector assists by blasting the champion with a magic missile.  The champion responds with two attacks from his warhammer, hitting Saxton once.  Berend then blasts the duergar with a daunting light.

In the rear, Madresh decides to watch the back rather than charge in with everyone else; there's no telling what might be behind those other doors.  It isn't too long before his prediction is proven right, a he spots a pair of duergar – one scout, one guard – heading down the hallways towards them.

Back in the room, the duergar scout moves over to attack Goldar, but misses, while the guards hits Brandis.  Brandis responds by striking the guard back, while Goldar scores a hit on the scout.

Madresh retreats back a little into the room, closing the doors behind him.  He wants to delay the other guard and scout from getting in as long as possible.

Saxton continues his assault on the duergar champion, missing him with a brash strike.  The champion responds by smashing his warhammer into Saxton twice.

Vector comes up with a cunning plan to attack the scout, the guard, and the champion at the same time with his shock sphere.  Sadly, all three manage to avoid his spell.

The duergar guard then scores a hit on Brandis, while the scout fails to hit Goldar.  Back at the front, the duergar throw open the doors and attack at Madresh, hitting him once.

Berend uses a healing word spell to revitalize Saxton as Brandis strikes the guard.  Goldar then attacks the scout with his sweeping blade.

At the front, Madresh unleashes a tour de force, striking into the guard then blasting both the guard and the scout with his fire breath.

In the back, Saxton attempts a brute strike on the champion, but misses.  The champion responds by tagging Saxton with another couple of hits. Berend calls on another healing word prayer to keep Saxton going.

Vector uses a scorching burst to blast the guard and scout on Goldar and Brandis.  The duergar continue to stay focused on their targets, hitting Goldar and missing Brandis.  Brandis calls forth his divine strength and strikes out at the guard with a valiant strike, but misses.  Goldar's attack also fails to find its mark.

Back over at the door, the guard hits Madresh while the scout misses him.  Madresh hits the guard back with his viper's strike.

Saxton then scores a cutting blow into the champion when, suddenly, the champion begins to grow to four times his normal size.  More determined than ever, Saxton presses on and hits the champion with another crushing blow.

Sensing it may be time to unleash a more powerful spell, Vector lets loose blasts of rolling thunder at the champion and the nearby scout.  He does not score a direct hit, but does manage to knock the scout back a few feet.

The scout responds by rushing and attacking Vector, but the wizard's guardian blades cut down the scout as he scores a hit.

The guard on Brandis attempts to score another hit as well, but misses.  The two on Madresh have no luck, either.

The massive champion unleashes two more powerful blows to the barely conscious Saxton.  Berend immediately rushes up and lays on hands to cure his wounds.

Brandis tries to take out the guard, but misses.  Goldar decides to focus on the champion instead, hit by the duergar guard as he turns his back.  Summoning forth his thunder hooves rage, Goldar strikes into the champion then follows it up with a second attack that runs through the champion's chest, killing him.  Filled with the rage of battle, Goldar immediately charges back over to the duergar guard and cuts him down as well.  Despite the impressive display, Saxton remains unimpressed.

Back at the door, Madresh hits the guard again with his viper's strike.  Saxton rushes over to help, charging into the scout.   Vector then blasts the scout with his magic missile.  The duergar attack back, missing Madresh but hitting Saxton.

Berend then blasts the scout with his flame strike, killing it, as Brandis and Goldar begin moving up.  Madresh then scores a final, killing blow on the guard, killing him as well.

With their immediate threats neutralized, the group quickly moves to barricade up the doors.  They need rest, but know there could still be yet another large force of defenders headed their way.

Interlude - Session Notes

This was another of the sessions for the alternate group I run from time to time.  As always, it was a lot of fun (though the 3 bottles of crown royal we went through during it probably helped, lol).  It was the longest session I've possibly ever ran - 12 hours.

As mentioned previously, I'm running them through the Thunderspire Labyrinth module from WotC.  This time, I didn't deviate all that far from the module, except for the big battle with Krand's group (which was basically held over from last time when we had to stop early).

Which brings me to one problem I always have with the new edition - which showed up at the end of this session as well - you pretty much have to end each session with the group getting sleep because there's just too much stuff to try and keep track of between sessions if you don't want to start fresh; particularly if it takes two weeks or more between sessions.

In any event, that's where the session started.  The Brandis and Ragdar players were actually gone for the session, but another temporary player took over for Brandis.  And Berend did not begin the session because he was still at work at the time.

The Krand battle was cool because we got thiiiiis close to a TPK, and not because the fight was outmatched, but because of some really bad decisions  (particularly Brandis).  When the Berend player arrived home from work, the Goldar player (his kid), literally went over to grab him so his character could show up and save them.

Other parts I enjoyed was Saxon's efforts to mete out his sense of justice while avoiding arguing with Brandis (it was also funny that the new Brandis player argued almost exactly the same as the regular Brandis player).

The only thing I didn't like as much was that this time it was almost all action.  There just wasn't as much of a chance for any interaction as the other sessions.  One of the reasons I threw in the random encounter with the dwarf Thain.

Not sure when we'll get a chance to finish out the Horned Hold part of the module.

Session 24 - Cast of Characters

Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Larrak - Dwarf Fighter
Durmindin - Wilden Shaman
Challa Kri - Kalashtar Paladin
Scrag Graveborn - Half-Orc Warden
Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord

Session 24 - Scene 1 (of 5)

As the sun rises over Fallcrest, the group meets back up at their usual breakfast table at Lucky Larry's diner.  Tobolar has elected to go find his own way as an adventurer for a while, feeling the group's current quests are a bit over his ability to survive.

It doesn't take long after Scrag and Larrak arrive for them to figure out they missed an outing with the group.  Leigh and Challa try to explain what happened on their way to Kobold Hall.  Scrag takes the news in stride, while Larrak is agitated by the news of Krolec's death after just a single fight with kobolds.

Larrak is particularly hard on Challa, wanting to know what their tactics were, what caused them to fail, and how they can avoid such a disaster again.  Challa tries to explain that it was largely a freak accident with a trap that caused Krolec's death, but also admits that not rushing the archers sooner was a mistake.  By the time Tiberius arrives to breakfast, a few minutes later, the discussion is mostly over and Larrak is somewhat mollified.  

The dwarf then looks to Leigh, who he considers the leader of the group, and asks what she plans to do next.  Leigh simply responds that they will need to wait for Krolec to be fully raised, then head back out to Kobold Hall.

Session 24 - Scene 2 (of 5)

A few hours later, Krolec finds himself waking up on a table in the temple of Erathis.  The high priestess, Dirina Moonbrow, stands over him and welcomes him back to the land of the living.  By the time Krolec changes out of his death shroud and back into his regular clothes and armor (which Leigh was thoughtful enough to have mended), the others arrive.

Larrak is curious if Krolec had any death visions.  The elf describes being in a peaceful forest with another female elf and having a pleasant conversation, with her saying she is waiting for him on the other side.  While Tiberius and a couple others share crude jokes about Krolec and the female elf, Krolec pays them no mind.

Krolec then gets a quick update on what happened after he blacked out and the plan to head back out to the forest.  Leigh then asks if anyone needs anything before they head out.  Tiberius begins discussing a plan involving the purchase of oil flasks and using them to create fires.  The others aren't so sure the ideas would work, and fear burning down the forest, but do allow him to purchase a couple of flasks just to keep him happy.

The group then heads back out to Cloak Woods.  Because it is already the afternoon, they know they will arrive in early evening, just before it starts to get dark.  Larrak mentions wanting to stay about an hour away from the keep, but realizes the surrounding area is mostly flat fields so decides its better they came just inside the forest.

Session 24 - Scene 3 (of 5)

As the group arrives in Cloak Woods, they begin making camp.  Mindful of kobold patrols, Larrak sets up a watch schedule.  Krolec mentions that it may be to their benefit to encounter another patrol, as it will weaken the main forces at the keep.

Later that night, Krolec and Scrag are on watch.  Scrag stands out in the open while Krolec hides himself under a nearby tree.

A little bit into their shift, and both men can tell something is out there, but hidden back in the trees.  Four crossbow bolts then fire out towards Scrag, one hitting him in the leg.  Looking in the direction of fire, Scrag spots a group of kobold skirmishers.  

Krolec sees them as well, but is more worried about the many sets of small, red eyes he sees coming in from the flank.  The kobolds have brought their pet drakes with them.

Scrag immediately yells out for everyone to wake up.  The noise rouses Challa, Durmindin, and Leigh, but Larrak and Tiberius are sleeping a bit deeper.

The half-orc then charges ahead towards the kobalds, slamming into one with his thunder ram assault and knocking it back.  Scrag immediately realizes he should have picked the next kobold over for full effect, as his secondary blast is wasted with no targets to hit.

Durmindin picks himself up then decides to charge the nearest kobold and engage him in melee.  His plan fails as the kobold easily defends against his attack.

On the other side of the field, a couple of the drakes start to move in.  Krolec can tell they guard drakes.  The creatures don't appear to spot the hidden elf, instead heading in the direction of the sleeping Larrak and prone Leigh.  One of them reaches Larrak and bites into him, interrupting his slumber.

Krolec immediately draws his swords and moves out of hiding to attack the drake biting Larrak.  He strikes at it with both his swords, hitting it once.

Across the battlefield, the kobold skirmishes draw their spears and move into position.  They attack at Durmindin and Scrag, hitting the former once and the latter twice.

Leigh stands herself up.  Seeing the drakes heading in her direction, she elects to blast two of the rear ones with a scorching burst.  She quickly realizes they are partially resistant to fire.

Challa stands up as well.  Since she is nearest to the kobolds, she elects to charge into them, hitting one.

The rear drakes begin to move in.  As they emerge, they can be seen to be bloodrager drakes.  One moves over and bites into Durmindin.  Two attack Krolec, biting him once.  The last one attempts to sink its teeth into Leigh, but she fights him off.

Scrag decides Leigh is in trouble and immediately changes tactics.  He shifts into panther form, and moves over to attack the guard drake nearest her.  After tearing into it with a mighty attack causing blood to fly everywhere, he follows it up with an earthgrasp strike, killing it.

Over where Scrag used to be, Durmindin decides his melee attack skills are limited, and moves behind Challa for protection.  He then summons forth his spirit companion and has it strike a kobold with a protecting strike.  The kobolds respond by attacking Challa, hitting her once.

Back in the middle of the fight, the remaining guard drake continues biting into Larrak.  Krolec decides to shift his focus to the two bloodrager drakes headed his way.  He moves over and cuts into the closest of them twice with his adaptive assault.

On the other side of the field, Leigh is attempting to fend off the bloodrager drake in front of her.  She blasts it with a magic missile.  The nearby, recently-awakened Tiberius then picks himself up and charges the drake on Leigh, missing with his charge attack.  He does, however, hit with a follow-up guarding attack that gives Leigh some protection.

Surrounded by kobolds, Challa decides to try and take out the kobolds as fast as possible.  She summons forth a hallowed circle, blasting them all then follows it up with her on pain of death strike on one of them.

The nearby drake decides to attack Durmindin's spirit companion, causing it to disappear; Durmindin grimaces from the pain of the pychic feedback.  Across the field, the other drakes attack at Krolec, Tiberius, and Scrag – missing Krolec and Tiberius but biting hard into Scrag.

At this point, Larrak manages to get himself up and strikes into the guard drake biting on him with a cleaving blow.  Everyone is now up off the ground and in position to defend against the kobold patrol's assault.

Session 24 - Scene 4 (of 5)

Scrag turns his attention to the drake attacking him.  With a mighty earthshield strike, he chops the drake's head off.

Over on the other side of the camp, Durmindin decides to re-summon his spirit companion and has it attack a kobold again with another protecting strike.

The guard drake bites back at Larrack and Krolec switches to his bow and attacks a nearby bloodrager drake with his bear assault.  Sadly, his arrows miss their mark.

The kobolds surrounding Challa begin to try and shift towards Durmindin.  The shaman responds by immediately retreating.  The kobolds then attack Challa again, hitting her with another spear tip.  Challa responds by striking one of the kobolds with her righteous smite.

In the opposite direction, Leigh fires off another magic missile at the drake near her.  Tiberius attempts to follow up with his bastion of defense, but fails.  He does, however, use his knight's move to get her safely out of danger.

Two of the bloodrager drakes move at Scrag, missing him twice.  The other drake goes for Tiberius, missing him as well.

Larrak takes out the remaining guard drake with a crushing blow, caving in its skull.  Scrag then goes into a berserker fury, moving over to the drake on Tiberius - striking it down with thunder ram assault.

Across the battle, Durmindin has his spirit companion lash out at a kobold again with another protecting strike, this time killing it.  The kobolds respond by going after Challa, but all miss.

In the center of the battle, Krolec stays focused on the remaining drakes, hitting one with his shadow wasp strike.  Leigh blasts the other two with a shock sphere.

Tiberius then moves over to the drake near Larrak and chops into it using his stand the fallen maneuver.  The drake's dead body falls to the ground.

On the other side, Challa makes an ardent vow, then strikes down another of the kobolds with her valorous smite.

The last drake is closest to Durmindin.  It moves in and bites at him, but fails to penetrate his armor.

Larrak moves over to assist, yelling at Tiberius that he didn't need his help.  He then cuts into the lizard with his reaping strike.  Scrag follows him over.  He hopes to finish the drake off with his earthshield strike, but misses.

Durmind steps back out of danger, then lets loose a blast of his thunder bear's warning.  The drake's body is shattered, killing it.

With all of the drakes dead, Krolec turns to the kobolds and fires an arrow at each of them, hitting them both.  The kobolds immediately start to run away, Challa missing them as they turn.

Leigh, however, is determined not to let them get away and blasts them into ashes with her fireball spell.  Tiberius notes to himself that the fireball is burning more forest than his oil plan ever would have.

Session 24 - Scene 5 (of 5)

Larrak turns to Scrag and immediately yells at him for running all over the battlefield trying to rack up kills instead of doing his job and protecting the weaker fighters like Durmindin.  Scrag tries to argue his point, but Larrak cuts him off short, telling him to never do it again.

The others pay the argument no mind as they try to put out the flames as best they can.  Larrak then gets anxious about leaving the area as fast as possible before another patrol gets to them.

Krolec, with his low light vision and ranger skills, takes the point as he leads them away from the battle area.  While trying to move them a little ways away from Kobold Hall, he begins to lose his bearings after awhile and can't quite tell where they end up at.

Everyone then resumes resting for the night.  After the night passes uneventfully, Krolec tries to figure out where they are in the morning.  He eventually deduces they are a bit deeper in the forest than he intended, but didn't get too far off track.

A discussion begins on the best way to assault the keep.  A combination of Krolec discussing stealth tactics combined with a sense of restlessness lead Scrag and Tiberius to conclude they should move ahead of the group and try to stealth into the area.

As they move away, Krolec advises them both against the idea, but they pay his warnings no heed.  Larrak thinks they should be able to catch up to them if anything happens, but decides if they don't, then it is Scrag and Tiberius' faults anyhow.

Session 24 - Session Notes

One of the reasons for the week's delay in putting up these notes is that I found this session very annoying.

Unfortunately, one of our group's bad allergies to poinsettias means every year we are stuck gaming at her house instead of our regular spot from around December to March.  And trying to cram in 8 people or more into her small kitchen area can be difficult.

The reduced playing area leads to several problems.  One is that I have a lot less space to organize things, which means everything takes longer.

The other problem is that people tend to get a lot chattier.  And basically half the session was wasted because of all the out of character chatter.

So, all we managed to do is get one little battle done.  Hopefully, next session we'll actually reach Kobold Hall, because I want to get this section of the campaign over with so we can move on to other things.

Session 25 - Cast of Characters

Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord
Challa Kri - Kalashtar Paladin
Larrak - Dwarf Fighter

Session 25 - Scene 1 (of 7)

Tiberius and Scrag travel ahead of the others in the woods, attempting to scout.  However, they are not nearly as knowledgeable as Krolec, and quickly begin to lose their way.  At one point, Tiberius turns to notice that Scrag is no longer near him.

Tiberius slows his pace a little, hoping the others will catch up as he did not intend to be out on his own.  Just then, he notices something strange up ahead – a giant gossamer web spread between two trees.

Nervous, Tiberius begins scanning the immediate area.  His eyes catch sight of two sets of red eyes staring out from the trees.  The spiders begin slowly creeping out from behind the leaves as Tiberius begins to run away.

Unfortunately, these are deathjump spiders, and they quickly pounce on him.  On of them slams him to the ground then bites into his leg with its fans.  The warlord begins to feel the poison flowing into his body as he tries to fight back.

The second spider moves over and bites into his shoulder.  Trying to rally himself, he attempts to use his stand the fallen maneuver.  But his attempt fails, and the last thing he sees is the two spiders biting into him.

Session 25 - Scene 2 (of 7)

Nearly a quarter mile away, Krolec leads Larrak, Challa, and Leigh onward as Durmindin opts to stay behind and meditate for a little bit.  He is concerned about a disturbance he senses in the "spiritual force" of the area.

Krolec's pointed ears perk up as he hears something in the distance, explaining to the others that he heard a faint scream from up ahead – a "manly scream".  Based on the pitch of the voice, Krolec believes it to be Tiberius rather than Scrag.  Everyone draws their weapons and begins moving quickly ahead.

The group doesn't get very far, however, before they have to stop when they come upon a large wall of ice, reaching twenty feet high.  Krolec begins scanning the area to make sure there isn't another ambush while Leigh examines the wall.

Leigh determines the wall has been created as magic, which comes as no shock to the others.  She explains it could last up to an hour.

Everyone then feels the cold of the wall penetrate them, chilling their bones.  They won't be able to stand in front of it for very long without becoming frostbitten.

Krolec wonders about climbing a tree over it, but Leigh feels it would be quicker to blast their way through.  She begins by blasting into the wall with a scorching burst, which begins to melt part of the wall, but not enough to penetrate it.

As everyone continues to freeze, she blasts it again, melting a large hole.  After Krolec makes sure there is no one obviously waiting on the other side, he quickly leads everyone through.  Once they get a safe distance away, the group stops for a minute to warm up and recover.

A couple of theories are proposed by the group.  One is that the wall was part of a magic trap set off by Tiberius and/or Scrag.  The other is that it was a magic spell cast by whatever dark force Nimozarran warned about as being behind the kobold attacks, which means it is aware of their presence and was using the wall to split them up.   The second possibility is much more frightening than the first.

Session 25 - Scene 3 (of 7)

Krolec spots the tracks of Tiberius and Scrag, and the group begins to follow.  It isn't long before they notice the tracks diverge.  Since it was likely Tiberius who screamed, they elect to follow his tracks.

After another short distance of travel, they come up the set of tracks where Tiberius is attempting to run back.  Krolec identifies the other indentations on the ground as giant spider tracks.  They appear to have dragged the body back towards the trees.

The most heavily armored of the group, Challa takes the lead over to the trees – being very careful to look for any giant spiders.  Larrak scans the webbed area, looking for any cocoon-like sacs that might be holding Tiberius.

Challa gets up to the trees, but finds no one there.  She does, however, spot some new tracks in that area.  She can't identify them.

Larrak and Krolec notice Challa bending over, examining something.  While Larrak enjoys the view, Krolec goes over to help.  He immediately identifies the tracks as belonging to a patrol of kobolds.

Larrak proposes they follow quickly and try to take out the kobolds.  As they rush forward, it isn't long before they see Kobold Hall, with the tracks heading straight inside.

Larrak looks around for a way in other than the front door, but other than some windows on the second floor, spots nothing.  He wants to wait around for a while and ambush another patrol or possibly a supply wagon.  Challa and Krolec remind him that kobolds are unlikely to have supplies brought in, and probably have enough supplies to wait them out, but Krolec and Leigh do agree to wait an hour, then heading in.

Session 25 - Scene 4 (of 7)

As everyone else suspected, nothing extraordinary happens in the next hour.  Rather than head in through the front door, Krolec carefully scouts the area around the keep for any hidden way in.  Towards the south side of the keep, he spots an overgrown drainage gate.  Ominously, it leaks a small amount of water and blood.

Krolec examines the grate carefully, making sure it isn't trapped.  Since it is also unlocked, he carefully opens it.  Behind is a large drainage tunnel, though it will require a tight squeeze for them to move through.  At the end of it appears to be a light coming from above.

The elf heads back over to the others and explains the situation.  Larrak begins using natural materials to quiet his armor as much as possible while Krolec muds up Challa.  They want to try and sneak into the grate area without alerting any of the kobold guards that are likely in the vicinity.

In a rare bit of luck, everyone moves quietly enough to get into the grate without alerting anything.  Challa takes the lead, followed by Larrak.  As they reach the end of the tunnel, it widens slightly with a metal grate above.  Below the grate is a large amount of blood pooled in the mud.

Challa can hear someone moaning in pain somewhere from above.  After making sure the grate isn't trapped, she tries to push it open, only to discover it is locked.  Using her nimble hands, she manages to pick the lock and get the grate open.

Poking her head up, the paladin carefully looks around the room.  It appears to be an abattoir.  The walls are solid stone, with a door on two of the walls.  And lying next to one of the walls, tied up in his underclothes, is a beaten and bloodied Tiberius.

Everyone climbs up into the room.  Larrak goes over and cuts the warlord free while Challa pours a healing potion down his throat.

When Tiberius regains consciousness, they try to see if he has anything to tell them that could help.  But Tiberius remembers nothing after the battle with the spiders.

Krolec listens at the door to the north, hearing nothing behind it.  He tries to open it quietly, but it has a squeaky old hinge.  Peering in, he finds an empty old pantry room.  Everyone quickly moves inside while Tiberius lies back down.

After a minute, it becomes obvious that no one heard them.  The group makes sure there is nothing in the pantry of interest then Challa goes to listen at the other door.  There is a lot of noise behind it – it sounds to her like the sounds of a kitchen.

They then form a plan – they will try to lure a kobold or two inside and kill them.  Krolec snuffs out one of the torches on the wall to create some shadows to hide in.  Challa stands so she will be right behind the door.  Larrak and Leigh head back into the pantry.  Tiberius lies back down on the ground, and begins making more noise.

Moments later, the door begins to open.  A kobold cook begins heading inside, carrying a large chef's knife.

He stops just after setting foot inside as he tries to figure out why the door won't open all the way.  Challa then shuts the door and before the creature can react, Krolec puts an arrow through his throat.