Keep on the Shadowfell - Session 1

Our band of adventurers, a company named Bad Wolf, finds themselves commissioned to map out an abandoned Keep somewhere near the town of Winterhaven. Jacobb the Half-Elf Cleric, Ross the Dragonborn Paladin, Nobalis the Tiefling Warlord, Slavin the Dwarven Fighter and J'Draven the Halfing Rogue make up the party.

After days of journeying and with Winterhaven just over the next rise, a group of small, red and scaly humaniods rush out from around the rocks and charge the group! The Dwarf, Slavin, charges the nearest Kolbold and smashes its head in with a vicious overhead swing of his mighty Maul. It makes a sickly, wet sound as it collapses into a mangled heap. Nobalis rushes a group of three to the north and is surprised by a Kobold with a sling who was hiding in some loose boulders. The small beast lets out a shriek and hurls a strange orb at the Paladin, Ross. It exploded on him, coating him in fire. "It buuuuuurns!!!!", he cries, even as he charges the nearest minion.

Feeling pretty smug about himself, Slavin fails to notice two heavily armed Kobold soldiers with dragonscale shields charging up behind him. The first hacks away, giving the Dwarf a nasty cut on his shoulder, while the second somehow manages to stab himself in his forehead with his own shortsword.....

Feeling pretty smug (and embarrassed) about *themselves*, the Kobolds fail to notice the Rogue sneaking up on them....until one feels cold steel being buried between his shoulderblades.

While the Fighter keeps the two Dragonshield Kobold's attention on him, J'Draven takes them down with a few well-placed daggers to the spleen.

The others, not liking having fire-orbs slung at them, rush the remaining Kobolds and take them out in short order. They take a quick rest to catch their breath and loot the corpses for any money or cool items (like a last remaining fire orb) and continue on towards the town of Winterhaven.

The guards pass the party through the gates and direct them to the inn just as the sun is setting in the sky. The adventurers ask around about the Keep and the Kobolds to the various patrons. The Keep gets marked on their AAA map of the area and they pickup a side job of eliminating the Kobold threat by none other than the Lord of Winterhaven himself. They also hear rumors of a missing person who allegedly went of searching for a dragon burial site. Something to possibly check out later. J'Draven spontaneously decides to follow a totally innocent looking elven female ranger cloaked in emo garb, sitting all by herself in a dark corner and staring out the corner of her eye at everyone who walks in the door. She trailed her to the local cemetery and saw her pass a pouch to a goblin. The elf headed back to town so J'Draven followed the goblin. He headed to the Keep that they were searching for. He ran in yelling about a message for the 'Big Boss' about new people in town showing interest in the Keep. The rogue heads back to town where the others have been resupplying, ordering new weapons and exploring the town a little.

After discussing the events over dinner, the party decides to mislead the elf into thinking they were going after the Keep in the morning but instead they head out to take care of the Kobold lair. A few miles outside of town another party of Kobolds ambush them, a stronger force, probably in retaliation for the raiding party they killed on the way in.

Two Dragonshields burst through the trees and charge at the rogue. J'Draven flips a dagger at the closest one wounding it pretty badly but not enough to stop it. They press for advantage against the halfling and tiefling while a skirmisher runs up for a flanking position. Off to the north a Kobold wearing a bone mask carved to resemble a dragon's head and crimson armor begins chanting an incantation that whips the other kobolds into a frenzy. As Slavin and Ross beeline towards the priest, a third Dragonshield steps out to cut them off. Jacobb positions himself to heal anyone who needs it, and need it they do. As the kobold priest chants the Dragonshield kobolds lay a severe beating on the whole party. Out of healing spells, Jacobb sees an opening. The skirmishing reptilian turns his back to the cleric, trying to get a more advantageous position on the battered rogue. Raising his mace high, Jacobb screams a feral roar, charges the beast...and totally misses. "Aww man, Slavin makes it look so *easy*...." he mutters.

The heavy hitters finally take down the priest and his bodyguard then help the others clean up the rest. Totally exhausted, they decide maaaaaybe taking on the whole lair of kobolds should wait until tomorrow. After looting the bodies (and collecting left ears for the ransoms) they head back to town for a long rest. The kobold priest had a dragon pendant carved out of obsidian around his neck. On the bottom of the figure is etched the outline of a skull with ram's horns. This probably deserves a little extra investigation.....