[ycleption]

Another adventuring note: evil kobolds

Well, after the last episode with the kobold trapper, I decided to pursue the matter, and so last night joined with a group, many of whom went last time, to seek out more. We realized that the next spot we needed to check was the Haven Iron Mines. Some thought to seek out the local kobold population, and convince them to divulge any information. However, as I rather suspected would happen, our attempts at diplomacy were met with a knife, and we were forced to kill all the kobolds in order to defend ourselves. Seeing that failure, we decided to head for the mines.
We talked to Kit on the way, who reported no suspicious activities. Once in the mines, we were very surprised to see no foul creatures, neither gnoll nor kobold. In fact the first creature we did come across was a dead kobold, apparently left there by the gnolls as a warning. This was definitely one of the ones we were seeking as it had a Pyrtechonite tattoo, apparently one indicating relatively low rank. We found the beginnings of a tunnel, in all likelyhood started by the dead kobold. We had a skirmish with some some gnolls, and proceeded down the stairs. Luckily, our rear guard (who I had recently introduced to the idea of watching behind the group when guarding the rear, instead of just listening), saw a door open and then close, undoubtedly the kobold trapper under a spell of invisibility. We quickly realized what was going on: the kobold was intending for us to clear the gnolls out of the cave, then the kobolds would be free to open up shop. The trapper wasn't putting anything in front of us, because it wanted us to be healthy enough to fight the gnolls, and so it just trapped behind as as we made our way through the mines. We decided, since we knew it was behind us, to head back for the entrance. Although the gnolls and the traps did a deal of damage to all of us, we managed to find and kill the trapper, and make our way out with only two casualties. Unfortunately, we were unable to find the trappers laboratory, or do a thorough search to see if there were any underlings left. I am somewhat apprehensive about that... surely if the trapper thought we were skilled enough to defeat the gnolls, it must have had some plan to ensure our demise (what kind I'm not sure): it must have known that once the gnolls were dead, we had sufficient know-how to disarm any traps, since it would not have then been able to use the gnolls tactically to lure us into traps any more. On the other hand, maybe we were mistaken, and it was trying to use the gnolls to kill us rather than the other way around. Regardless, we were able to kill the thing, so at least that is taken care of. I hope that my training permits me to go on further missions to finally solve the matter.