Crown of the Kobold King (day 6-8)

After the fight was over, Jeva ran off into the darkness, while the heroes' choker friend left them after eating one of the kobold corpses.

The heroes decided to rest before looking for Jeva. While looking for her, they entered a narrow tunnel that opened out into a long cave, with openings in the north, south, and east walls. Unfortunately they found no sign of her.

From this cave they could hear plaintive mewling cries emanating from a warm, damp chamber. A low wall of stone divided this cave into two partitions. One half of the cave contained several rows of large eggs half-buried in the sand. The other half contained a dozen infant kobolds, scrapping and playing with each other in the darkness. A rotund little female kobold stood between the heroes and the eggs. She wore no armor and was unarmed but steadfast. She attempted to parley with the heroes (though she only spoke Draconic) an appealed to their sense of decency. She begged them to leave the eggs unmolested. When they did so, she thanked them profusely and gladly offered them information about Merlokrep (she never liked the stupid king anyways) and Jekkajak (the old shaman brought nothing but trouble to the tribe).

Next the heroes took a crazy zigzagging pathway that seemed to be the main thoroughfare of the kobolds. This narrow corridor was home to a pair of shrieker fungi whose keening wail warned Merlokrep and his warriors in the throne room.

Next, the heroes entered the Throne of Merlokrep. The Kobold King's throne was crafted from the corpse of a monstrous centipede. The massive vermin was propped up against the wall on a dais of stone blocks, its legs curling in around any who sat upon it like leveled arm rests. Merlokrep, Dragon King of the Truescale Tribe sat there honing the edge of his bloody axe. He was flanked by two of his fearsome warriors, that were themselves clad in gilded armor, clutching their shortspears at attention. Merlokrep was a physical paragon of kobolds, and his imposing powerhouse frame bellied the usual assumptions about his pathetic reptilian race. The king's one good eye peered from his skull with a fierce aspect, smoldering with rage at the heroes' intrusion. Merlokrep wielded his axe in an impressive display. His regal snout was pierced with a gold nose-ring and his well-groomed ears were also adorned with gold studs. He wore a jeweled skull over his left eye. When the heroes made it this far, Merlokrep hailed them as he rose from his throne and offered them an honored place as Great Sacrifices to the Crown, offering to feast them before ripping them open and pulling out their hearts. He was genuinely shocked when the heroes turned him down, but his incredulousness gave way to towering rage in an instant as he ordered his warriors to attack. Merlokrep cast sleep as his warriors tied up the heroes. He cast burning hands when he could catch multiple heroes in it. He wielded his axe two-handed in melee. He targeted Hrol and Seoni and nearly killed them. Merlokrep fought to the death. The warriors hurled their shortspears, then attempted to take up flanking positions with their king. They fought to the death. With Merlokrep dead, his crown with a strong magic aura was the heroes' to claim.

The heroes needed to rest again before they entered an unadorned chamber with a gruesome bloodstained altar sitting at its center. Jekkajak, shaman of the Truescales, was here along with Tyran Moonsilver, the half-elf friend of Edgrin, tied to the altar. Hollin cowered in the northwest corner, slumped against the wall in shock. Jekkajak was a walking corpse of a kobold, whose withered old white scales were stretched tight over bone. His puny skeletal snout contained a lone tooth and constantly dribbled drool. His milky eyes focused intermittently on his surroundings. The heroes entered just as Jekkajak tore poor Tyran Moonsilver's heart from his chest with a dagger. He held the heart aloft as it burst into flames and cackled madly before ordering his warriors to attack. Jekkajak cast summon swarm to thicken the ranks and concentrated on it throughout the battle. He fought to the death. The warriors placed themselves between Jekkajak and the heroes, and they tried to keep the heroes off him as long as possible. They fought to the death.

Crown of the Kobold King (day 6)

The next roomy cavern was filled with dirty straw nests, scraps of weapons, armor, other junk, and the discarded remains of the kobold tribe's meals.

Most of the kobolds lived here, sleeping among the rocky boulders and fighting over the comfortable niches against the walls.

Twelve kobolds awaited the heroes here, along with two bloodscale commanders. The horde of reptilian monsters charged the heroes when they entered.

The bloodscales rallied the kobold warriors and yelled for help.

The kobolds put up a stiff fight. Nevertheless, some of them fled.

Help arrived from other areas fast. The heroes' kobold allies only fought as long as they thought they were on the winning side. They switched side when it appeared they might be losing.

Five kobold reinforcements snuck up on Kibbo and Jarrdreg and the children, three of them using flying talons to make trip and disarm attacks, along with a slurk-mounted kobold hopping wall to wall down the corridors and careening to anyone standing. These kobolds killed Kibbo and Jarrdreg while the heroes were engaged with another foe, but Jeva transformed into a hybrid werewolf form and attacked the kobolds.

The kobold reinforcements almost killed Hrol, but the choker showed up to return the favor, suddenly appearing and lashing out from above at a kobold about to strike Hrol.

The kobold reinforcements fought to the death but Kerrdremak in the end surrendered to the heroes.

Crown of the Kobold King (days 5-6)

The heroes faced a horde of yapping kobolds and other foul denizens in the cramped warrens and mining shafts below.

On level two, masonry gave way to rough-carved tunnels with low ceilings and gaping caves full of jutting stalagmites below and looming stalactites above. The passageways between most areas, while comfortable for kobolds, were tight quarters for medium creatures, and several accessways require medium heroes to squeeze.

The shaft dropped down into a large, mostly square chamber. A doorway opened in one wall, while two other walls had been broken through from the outside. Cramped, narrow tunnels beckoned from beyond the breached walls. Two bloodscales awaited the heroes, mounted on the backs of disgusting toadlike monstrosities called slurks. As soon as anyone descended the shaft they attacked, but the heroes had no trouble dispatching them.

The next dour stone chamber was filled with empty crates and splintered barrels. Stone rafters criss-crossed the ceiling above. This area was once home to a family of chokers lurking among the old crates and boxes stowed in this dark chamber. When the kobolds rose up from the warrens below, war broke out between these two groups of monsters. After a week fraught with casualties on both sides, the kobolds won out, slaying all of the chokers but one, who fled to the shadowy rafters above. Now the poor creature lay between some boxes, barely alive, a kobold's barbed spear still stuck in his back. The choker gurgled pathetically when approached, unable to defend himself. When Hrol took pity on the choker and removed the barbed spear, the thing looked on him with confused, grateful eyes, and dragged itself into the corner to rest.

The cramped passageways ahead opened to a large cavern filled with rocky overhangs and jutting boulders. The boulders offered a lot of cover for anyone who wanted to take advantage of them. Merlokrep's cruel mining foreman, Lekmek, worked a gaggle of slaves to death in search of "shiny good-good" for Vreggma. Sadly, gold is not on the menu in these glum mines, whose walls are riddled instead with veins of iron ore. Lekmek was short for a kobold, with spindly little chicken legs that contrasted bizarrely with his tremendously muscled upper body. His broad shoulders and thick python arms were perched precariously on his wobbly stick-legs. His face was squat and mean. His snout was stunted as if pushed in by a shovel. Heroes familiar with Boss Teedum back in town were disturbed by Lekmek's striking resemblance to the ugly human. When the heroes ventured here the foreman ordered his slaves to attack with their picks as he waded into melee with his. Lekmek wielded his pick two-handed. He was too ornerly to flee. The slaves fought like devils against the heroes. After this fight, the heroes decided to rest before they moved further into the warrens.

The walls and floor of the chamber they entered after resting was covered with a semi-transparent slippery gray slime that resembled mucous. Two narrow tunnels led south out of this cave, while a flight of steps led up to the north. The walls of this cavern were covered in the foul-smelling crusty slime secreted by slurks, and the floor was slick with their nasty belly grease. The floor was slippery, with anyone moving through here risking falling prone. Kapmek, the Honored Slurk-Wrangler of the Truescale tribe, spent most of his time here with his goo-slick charges. Kapmek, a green-scaled kobold with an overly long snout and swathed in black leather armor, was mounted on slurk-back. Another slurk also roved about the slimy cave. It had the corpse of a bloodscale kobold stuck to its back. Kapmek and his slurks leapt to attack the heroes when they enter this chamber. Kapmek kept his distance on slurkback and pelted foes with shots from his crossbow, managing to kill one of the heroes' kobold allies before he was defeated.

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.

Into the Darkness (days 4-5)

After a harrowing encounter, the heroes manage to destroy the cube without any casualties. The suit of mithral plate needed a good wash to rinse off the acidic residue of the cube but was otherwise functional. The +1 battleaxe shed light and bore the inscription "Glintaxe". Jeva has heard the ballad of the Glintaxe at least a few times:

Glintaxe, mighty hero of the dwarven race,
Seeker of heirlooms lost without trace,
He ventured the deeps where old evil sleeps
He perished in the halls of some dark place.
His restless spirit still stalks the night,
His shining axe still glows bright,
I've seen his ghost, and this is no boast,
I've ne'er laid eyes on a more fearful sight.

The heroes asked Kibbo and Jarrdreg why they were gathering the obsidian obelisk, to which they answered for its reflective qualities. Vreggma, Chief Consort and "Only One Allowed to Nag-Nag His Greatness" is having slaves construct a black mirror in her quarters.

After resting, the heroes enter a room with three stone tables in the middle, while the long benches that once stood next to them had been knocked askew and overturned. This chamber was the site of a heated battle between kobold warriors and a few of their captives, who escaped their holding pen on the kobold warrens and made it to here before being overtaken. When the heroes entered, a halfling was grappling with a kobold warrior and two kobolds had a half-elf girl backed into a corner. They looked like they were attempting to recapture her without harming her too badly. A human boy was crying under a table and clutching his head. Four kobolds rushed to engage the heroes. When two of their numbers were slain, the kobolds tried to flee, with two of them succeeding. The warrior grappling with the halfling though hurled javelins from afar, and was then tripping foes with his flying talon. This kobold was brainwashed to fight to the death. The halfling employed his bardic performance to help the heroes during the fight, while the half-elf girl distracted the kobold by throwing rocks. Edgrin Galesong, a chubby halfling and bard extraordinaire, is a member of the Gray Eagles, an adventuring troupe based in Falcon's Hollow who ventured into the wood a week ago seeking treasure. The Gray Eagles were swarmed by a large hunting party of kobolds. Most of Edgrin's companions were killed, but he and a half-elf wizard named Tyran Moonsilver were captured alive and dragged back as captives destined either for eating or sacrifice. Originally dejected by the death of his friends, Edgrin consigned himself to his fate, but when the children were hurled into the holding pen with him Edgrin grew determined to help them escape. The bard and Tyran overwhelmed their guards with more than a little help from the courageous Kimi Eavewalker. As they sprinted for freedom, Tyran and Hollin were felled by spears, but the other children and Edgrin made it to Droskar's Crucible. They took a wrong turn towards some smoking tunnels, where Edgrin watched helplessly as a hulking dwarf there dragged little Jurin Kreed into the darkness. The escapees reversed direction but the kobolds, fast on their heels, caught up to them in this mess hall. Edgrim and Kimi decided to make a stand and buy Mikra and Savram time to escape. The heroes found the overweight halfling and brave little girl fighting for their lives against a band of evil kobolds in a pitched battle. Edgrin is a sweaty, moon-faced little halfling whose heart is as big as his stomach. His once debonair, brocaded, green-velvet doublet and silk leggings are torn and covered in grime, and his lute still hangs on a strap at his side, although he splintered it on a kobold's skull in defense of the kids. Edgrin is all courage and spitfire, willing to die to save any of the children. Edgrin does all he can to aid the heroes' efforts to save Tyran and the rest of the kids. He told them Savram fled the mess hall towards the north, and disclosed the fate of Jurin Kreed, who was taken alive by a hulking dwarf. Kimi is a black-haired young half-elf girl with fierce green eyes wearing a leather hunting vest, slacks, and high hard boots, looking like a miniaturized adventurer. Her bravery flows from her need to protect Mikra, who she treats as her kid brother although he is older than her. Kimi could not be dissuaded from helping the party save the other children.

Next to the mess hall was a once well-appointed kitchen that had suffered from long neglect. Shelves covered in broken stone and other refuse lined the walls, while across the room an old rusty cauldron rested in the ashes of an ancient fire. The refuse on the eastern shelf concealed two potions of owl's wisdom.

The next room the heroes approached was behind a locked strong wooden door. A malcontent of the Truescale tribe named Kerrdremak held court here over five kobold warriors. Consternation at his tribe's many recent tragedies has caused Kerrdremak to unceasingly express his laments to the other five. The group is rife for rebellion, although Kerrdremak is too spineless to suggest it. While approaching this chamber, Hrol, who speaks Draconic, noted Kerrdremak's disillusionment and appealed to it and earned some allies against the Kobold King.

Into the Darkness (day 2-4)

When Wrackomelor pressed Jeva to talk about the fire, she weaved a harrowing tale of hearing her only friends wail as the flames melted their faces. When asked about Elara, she insisted the headmistress was a wonderful woman "who only did what was best for us orphans, no matter how much it hurt..." When asked about her horrible scars she said, "It was for my own good! She did this to us to make us better, she said". Tears followed fast. Wrackomelor did not believe her story about the night of the fire, and after Hrol detected a dim evil aura on her, he pressed her for the truth. Jeva admitted that she was detained in the basement by Elara the night of the fire for being bad. She claims she lost consciousness and when she came to, she was in the woods and the orphanage had already burnt down. The heroes decide to keep an eye on her and allow her to lead them to the kobold lair for now.

Following the tracks of the kobolds, and guided by the strange wild orphan from the forest, the heroes continue on their way to their barge from their last foray into the wood. Unsettlingly large crows loom into the branches cawing ominously as the heroes pass but otherwise not harassing them in any way. The next morning an ophidian predator crossed the path of the heroes. The moorsnake was too lethargic to attack and merely slithered away. At night, though, it slipped into camp and attempted to constrict Mrunk. The heroes dealt with the hungry animal swiftly.

As the heroes journeyed closer to the base of Droskar's Crag, the shadows of the wood deepened. When they emerged from a bleak treeline of twisted elm they caught another glimpse of the old monastery. Tall grasses and chunks of stone debris have all but overtaken this small yard. Off to one side, a wooden stable has collapsed into a mound of rotting timbers and moldy straw. The outer wall on the east side has also collapsed, leaving a ragged hole. Bits of foundation work only suggested the monastery's original layout, fading memories of a world long ago crashed under the unforgiving heel of time. When the heroes picked about the clearing they found little of interest beyond the ancient stonework and fallen stable. They found a small broken spear with a wicked barbed tip, with a slight oily residue sticking to it. When they scoured the ruins they found the top of a broken staircase half obscured by uprooted bushes. As they descended into the black, the constant woodland background noise seemed to liquefy in the murk below the surface. Replacing it was the occasional quasi-discernible whisper, moan, hiss, or intermittent echo of jangling chains.

The sub-level of this ancient monastery has a spartan interior. Smooth halls stretch between cold-stoned chambers. The stairs descended more than 20 feet below the surface and no sound penetrated from above. The monastery walls are masonry, and there are few sources of light. The monastery warps sounds in strange ways.

The stairway opened into a large rectangular chamber. The stone walls of this area were covered with intricate carvings of dwarves toiling in mines or smithies. In the center of the chamber stood the bottom half of a broken obsidian obelisk. Crude picks, hammers, and other tools lay scattered around the chamber. Kobold slaves gathered the obsidian. When the heroes arrived, two kobold slaves toiled near the west doorway, trying to drag a 60-pound chunk of the fallen monument behind them. Four kobold warriors accompanied them. The slaves used their slings and avoided melee. The warriors hissed and sputtered when they detected the heroes and rushed to attack. The heroes managed to subdue and tie up all the kobolds. When the heroes subdued the whimpering slaves (named Kibbo and Jarrdreg), they realized that they might prove invaluable, if irritating, allies. Kibbo referred to Hrol as Great Liberator and Jarrdreg applied the title of Great Lady Chief Bore-to-Snore to Seoni whom he saw cast sleep. The kobolds are lick-spittles. They know all about the "pink-skinned blood bags for the crown" and were happy to talk. According to them, the children were dragged down to the lower level. Wrackomelor, who reads Dwarven, pieced together and dusted off some of the broken chunks of the monument to read the following: "...Toil is the only true path to salvation. Those who will not work shall have their blood boiled in the Dark Furnace for all time...there is no decadent paradise awaiting us after death, as our corrupt forefathers claimed, only industrious labor in Droskar's Forge awaits the faithful, this great work is its own reward...the unfaithful, they will serve in the end, their blood and bones shall stoke the fires of our industry...the world will burn to the glory of Droskar."

As Kibbo and Jarrdreg led the way, an evil hiss rose from the darkness ahead. A floating dwarven form shrouded in full plate rounded the corner. The air about this dwarven specter shimmered eerily, and the walls and floor sizzled and smoked where it passed. The thing's boots scorn the earth, gliding a full foot above the masonry floor. It dragged a cruel bloodletter axe in the air behind it. The kobolds have seen the "flying dwarf ghost" and are terrified of it. They tried to flee at its approach. The mithral armor and glowing axe (locked to the gauntlet) approached the heroes. When the heroes attacked with a ranged weapon first they immediately noticed that it hit an invisible cube before it reached the armor. The glow shed by the axe refracted through the cube, creating a ghostly shimmer. The cube moved towards the heroes and engulfed Hrol.

Seekers of Lost Children (day 1-2)

The heroes discovered five sets of child-sized footprints meandering northwest towards the orphanage. Their first stop in their quest to find the missing children was Elara's Halfway House, the scene of the infamous dare and the last place any of the children were known to be. The halfway house stands on a small hill about 8 miles outside of town, right on the edge of the wood. Elara's motives for building the orphanage so far away from the relative safety of town are a matter of some speculation in the village. Her isolation cost her her life and the destruction of everything she built.

As the heroes approached the site of the burned orphanage, they saw its blackened husk lying atop the hill. Charred timbers are strewn among piles of caked ash and the only edifice left standing is a soot-stained stone arch. A small stuffed doll lies below the arch, her face seared off and her patchwork dress spilling dirty stuffing. Beside her, a troop of half-melted tin soldiers stand in formation, their bodies twisted and deformed by the blaze that claimed their owner's life.

There was little of interest among the debris here, but the heroes found a charred trapdoor beneath an inch of ash at the center of the ruins. The lock was melted shut, but the door was badly damaged and easily smashed open.

The heroes breached the door and the stench of rot belched forth from this rank cellar. A chipped, blood-stained oaken table rests against one wall, with all manner of blades and barbed instruments laid out on it. A single pair of rusted shackles is bolted into the opposite wall, whose bricks are stained in a bloody account of pain and cruelty. The robed corpse of a woman on the floor is the source of the reeking stench of decay.

The woman did not die by fire. An examination of her corpse revealed the nature of her death (throat torn out) and a band of discolored skin on her ring finger.

Her corpse now plays host to the brood of spiders nesting in the basement. As soon as Wrackomelor approached the carcass, a swarm of spiders scuttled from her nose, eyes, mouth, and rent throat. Their proud mother lurked in a ceiling corner and descended to protect her children. After the heroes dispatched the spiders, they found two masterwork silver daggers and a damp rotten bundle of herbs among the implements on the table.

The heroes had tracked the children this far, and when they searched the area around the orphanage, they discovered a campsite not far from the ruins. A large, makeshift tent lies shredded on the ground beside a crude fireplace of flat stones. Signs of a struggle are everywhere, with broken twigs, crushed foliage, scraps of clothing, and patches of blood on the ground. The heroes also found a few reptilian scales around the fire pit. The reptilians made little effort to conceal their tracks through the forest and the heroes began to follow their trail.

Following the tracks of the reptilians, the heroes at last entered the perilous Darkmoon Wood. Even at high noon, little light breaches the rocky eaves and thick forest canopy, making night one with day.

On their second day of travel through the forest, the heroes happened upon the fresh corpse of a large wolf. On the branches above they noticed a manticore which hadn't seen them yet, so they decided to avoid it.

The heroes resumed the tracks of the reptilians and as they were trying to figure out how to cross the river, they noticed a teenage girl stalking them. When the heroes discovered her, she introduced herself as Jeva, a traumatized survivor of the orphanage fire. She begged the party for food before breaking into tears. Jeva was the young daughter of a well-to-do family of potters living in Falcon's Hollow. Her parents dead, Jeva ended up at Elara's Halfway House. Her ragged clothing hung off one shoulder to reveal horrible scars, and she avoided questions about them.

When asked about the missing children from Falcon's Hollow, Jeva was eager to help. She witnessed the kids' abduction because she was stalking the band of children herself before the kobolds attacked them. She was happy to help the heroes find the kids, and could show the way to their lair, Droskar's Crusible.

Jeva is a rail-thin, green-eyed girl of fourteen years, although she is particularly diminutive for her age. Her mouse-brown hair is a tangle of twigs and brambles and her face is smudged with dark stains. Her back, arms, and legs are covered with brutal scars.