Into the Darkness (day 5)

When the kobolds opened the door for the heroes, six stone platforms with well worn knee rests carved into them were spread through this large chamber. The kobolds here were charged with scouting the upper halls and reporting obvious threats to Merlokrep and his elite bloodscales below. Kerrdremak is a hunched-back kobold with dark blue scales. One of his ears is immensely oversized (a birth defect) and droops under the weight of several human finger-bone earrings. These grim trophies jangled obscenely whenever he nodded his head. When Kerrdremak was convinced to aid the PCs in any way he nodded frantically (accidentally calling attention to the dangling fingerbones), claiming "Kerrdremak always likey pink-skins, me never hurt huu-mans!"

The heroes smashed the door to the next chamber, where a ten-foot diameter pit occupied its center. Directly over the pit a long chain fed through complex pulley system before disappearing into the depths. When the kobolds were pushed into he warrens below this area, and forced to make constant trips to the surface to gather food and fresh water, they grew tired of constantly scampering up the walls of the pit. The kobolds used a large cauldron, several lengths of chain, and pulleys stored on the sub-basement to construct a rudimentary pulley-operated elevator for ease of travel between the two levels. Six kobold sentries commanded by an elite dark talon hunter were posted here to guard the elevator. When the Dark Talon detected the heroes' entrance he staged an ambush, ordering two of the kobolds to hide in the cauldron elevator while he slinked into the shadowed alcove by the entrance. He ordered the other four kobolds to hold their positions, luring the heroes into their trap. Kerrdremak cast spells and shied away from melee. The Dark Talon fought to the death. The other kobolds leapt out of the cauldron to attack. When more than three of their number were slain, the kobolds fled. The kobolds purposefully rigged this elevator to malfunction if too much weight was placed inside. The elevator operates safely with less than 600 pounds in it, easily allowing the transport of a few kobolds and a prisoner, but an armed and armored party of adventurers is likely to cause the elevator to plummet to the bottom 30 feet below, dealing damage to anyone inside. The heroes used the elevator in smaller groups.