DM Disclaimer: The fact that, so far, every significant event has occurred on a Starday is coincidence... fickle dice!
In the early evening of the 18th day, three whole weeks after departing from Harkenwold (according to the cycles of the moon, Nenorith) the exausted group of young friends crested a narrow rise and came within sight of the tiny walled village of Winterhaven. Situated at the top of a tall hill, the party could clearly see their end goal, though it was still many miles away. Likewise, even in the failing light of dusk, they could see the town gates swinging shut, and hear the dull "boom" of the heavy doors slamming to, as the guards secured the community for the night to come.
Four pairs of glaring eyes turned towards Paget. Nonplussed, the halfling offered up some so-called good news. "Just a few hundred yards back, I saw a nice, little, rocky roadside clearing that would make a perfect camp site! It looked comfortable, pleasant, and safe." Silently, the grumpy band turned around and followed Paget to the clearing. When it came into view, Raxil--who had been dabbling in the arcane arts for years--prepared to cast a scorching burst, to start a quick and easy campfire. While he was distracted, small creatures that were hiding behind the rocks sprang into view, and began moving towards the friends.
Paget cried out in warning, "Kobolds! We're under attack!" Drawing his twin daggers, the halfling rogue rushed out into the middle of the road, and in a fluid twirling motion he let loose with one of his blades, which took one of the reptilian creatures square in the chest, quickly dispatching it. The next several minutes were a flurry of chaos.
Phoebe called upon her divine powers as an apprentice cleric of Bahamut, and vaporized a second minion with a blast of searing, golden radiance. Bakbuk grunted, drew his fighter's axe, and trotted into the heat of battle, ready to take on whichever foe was within his reach. Suddenly, three more kobolds came into view. On the south side of the road, two heavily armored, and shield-carrying draconian thugs emerged from behind a rock. Across from them, a wildly cackling young kobold lept up on top of a boulder and began spinning a pot of flaming oil around in a sling, its eyes focused on Raxil. In its insane bloodlust, the creature misjudged the height of the boulder, and burst the flaming pot on the side of the rock, dousing its leg with hot oil. Raxil, despite himself, burst into a fit of giggles as he watched his diminutive foe leap around in circles, cursing, and trying to extinguish itself.
The friends easily picked off the minions, one by one, but not before Paget suffered two painful jabs from thrown javelins, one to each shoulder. The armored dragonshields and the slinger proved more difficult. Phoebe flung divine radiance left and right, but seemed to have a hard time hitting her targets. Finally, she settled into a rhythm of keeping the reckless wizard, Raxil, from getting himself killed, which was almost more than she could handle... especially when the slinger's second flaming pot nailed the young wizard solidly in the chest. The evil creature giggled with glee, considering this turn of events to be fitting retribution for the human scum's earlier mirth, at its expense. Poor Raxil started to panic as the front of his robe burst into flame.
After jumping on top of a boulder, Paget was able to land a blow on one of the dragonshields and drive it away from his friends. Now extinguished (but still smoldering) Raxil seized the opportunity to cast a sleep spell on the creature, but neglected to pay attention to the proximity of his friends... and himself. In all, the dragonshield, Paget, Phoebe, and Raxil himself fell under the thrall of the sleep spell. Fortunately, all three companions were able to shake off its effects. Unfortunately, so did the armored kobold! Meanwhile, the tiefling warlord, Gildras, had suffered a string of near-useless attacks, and grew weary of failure. He backed up, and with a vicious charge and a battle cry, he effectively obliterated one of the dragonshields.
Paget jumped off of the rock, and used his momentum to bury his dagger into the back of the other dragonshield, ending its life. Alone, frightened, and desperate, the kobold slinger threw down his sling, drew his dagger, and leaped into the fray. The little creature managed to take a good sized chunk out of the dwarf, Bakbuk. But, the silent warrior would have none of it. Summoning all of his might, Bakbuk swung his axe in a blinding arc that didn't so much kill the slinger, as it did erase the unfortunate creature from existence.
The fight was over, and the tired and wounded friends focused their angry gazes back on Paget. The ever-cheerful halfling pranced across the road and sat in the grass in the middle of the clearing. Looking around with a pleased expression, as he wiped the blood off of his daggers, he smiled to his friends and said, "See! Comfortable, pleasant, and safe!"
4E Meta: The ability of a Fighter to mark his target was very effective in this battle. One of the dragonshields had several opportunities to lash out at weaker enemies, but the mark kept his attention focused on Bakbuk. I thought it fair to play it that way, instead of allowing the kobold to make the other attacks with penalties, because dragonshields are also experienced fighters. They wouldn't turn their backs on a dangerous melee combatant, like Bakbuk. And dangerous he was! That last kill was a Brute Strike, a fighter's level 1 Daily. He smashed that poor little booger for almost 30 damage!
X's Sleep spell hit everyone in its range. In 4E rules, that means that everyone was instantly slowed, limiting movement to 2 squares per round. A slowed character makes a save on its first turn after being struck by Sleep. A successful save negates the effect. Failure, and he falls asleep. All four of X's victims... three of whom were his allies... managed to make their saves!
End Notes: The only loot that the party managed to gain was 35 measly silver. Paget noted that the even distribution of coins among the kobolds indicated that someone probably paid them to set up that ambush. The party cleaned up, made camp, and plans to continue on to Winterhaven in the morning.
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