Linian Check-In

It's been a while since I've posted about the online game.  My group has made some sort of circular progress.

We've headed out of the city to go hunting for Kobolds.  The little blighters have been raiding farmsteads on the edge of the frontier for some time now and there is a bounty on their heads for anyone brave or foolish enough to go after them.


Out first encounter with the Kobolds comes when we reach a farmstead that is under attack.  We manage to kill or route the Kobolds and save the farmers.  These people are pretty much pacifists who prefer to flee rather than stand up for themselves.  We stay for a couple of days and try to teach those willing and able some rudimentary skills so they could at least defend themselves should they choose to.  They'll still flee when attacked, but at least they are willing to keep the Kobolds from pursuing them as they do so.  The Fighter types work hard with the men in the family and Linian spends as much time with the women and children.  He's much more comfortable indoors and the kids remind him of his own siblings.

The group continues on, circling the other farmsteads until we come to the last one, which is basically the very edge of the frontier.  The farmer is a cantankerous old man who has his place fenced up and tries to keep everyone at bay.  We make our presence known and end up camping barely in sight of his property.  The next day we head on into the wooded hills.

Our Ranger scouts up ahead and discovers what appears to be an area of Kobold activity.  Most of the party charges in and succumbs to a combination of pit traps, guard weasels, and Kobold crossbow bolts.  The Kobold have fortified guard posts that are basically dug into rocky outcroppings.  I managed to get in close to one and they have 3 or 4 in there with crossbows and the tunnel leading in seems to have more Kobolds reloading and handing off crossbows so they can fire at a much faster rate.

You know things are getting bad when I take part in the battle.  I do my best to cover the retreat of the badly wounded fighters.

We leave the area of the Kobold warren and find a small defensible cave to hole up in.  The cave is an old bear den that I correctly identify as a winter den.  After cleaning it out and making some defensive foxholes around the edge we have a place we think we can rest up for a while.  On the way to the cave we came across an Kobold patrol that we were easily able to overcome.  Personally I think we should just ambush patrols out in the open where we have the advantage instead of attacking their den where they have an overwhelming advantage.  What do I know?

Awesome Paint Job!

Our first night in the cave we come are attacked by another Kobold patrol.  We overtake them with some difficulty since they were spread out so much, but we manage to take them all out before they can make it to the safety of the den.  We had some outside help from a wandering Fighter/Mage who was hunting after the Kobolds himself.  Evidently they (possibly this very patrol) had just killed some of his family and he was out for revenge.  The Fighter/Mage was more than willing to join up with us.

In the morning we set out to find some more Kobolds to slaughter.  Our Ranger thought he knew where one of the patrols was encamped away from the warren.  We headed back to what looked like familiar territory to me.  Some Kobolds were spotted and everyone took off to engage them.  Soon another small group of Kobolds were seen and the fight was on in earnest.  The Fighter/Mage took a nasty blow and was knocked down while the ranger went out by himself to engage the new group of Kobolds.  The fight was going badly as I slowly entered the fray.

As I tried to cautiously move closer should the group need my help I was assaulted by more crossbow bolts from an unseen location.  We were back at the Kobold warren!  We had just approached it from the far side this time.  I rushed in to try and drag the Fighter/Mage out of the battle.  The Cleric took over for me, saying he could revive him to fighting spirit.  Further in the Ranger had been knocked down, possibly killed.

Throwing caution to the wind I rushed in to cover his body with my own.  Under the cover of my shield I was able to determine he was alive, but barely.  As I stared to drag him out of combat I saw the Fighter/Mage rush past me to assault the Kobolds still engaged in combat.  In a moment he too was down.  The Cleric took the Ranger from me and I moved forward to get the Fighter/Mage.  The attacks were relentless there and I didn't wait to see if he was alive or dead.  I dragged the body back as fast as I could while maintaining cover from my shield.

(OOC: We ended the session there.  We all will have to wait to see what happens...)