There may have been a scene recently in my AD&D campaign that looked a little like this…
The PCs stumbled onto a map of a treasure location. The note that accompanied the map gave clues that this was a rich haul.
“How hard could a few kobold bandits be?” thought the PCs and off they went…
In my campaign world, kobolds are adaptable and clannish. They will build in caves, in ruins and especially in trees, creating a web of nests, huts and interconnecting ropes and vines. They can move through the trees like squirrels. I guess you could say that I merged the idea of Phanaton settlements (from X1 – Isle of Dread) with Tucker’s Kobolds and came up with kobold Ewoks.
The players started running into traps as they ventured deeper in the woods. There was no clear path, there were not a lot of sign and there was some fruitless exploring until the players ran into some scouting parties. Missiles raining down from the trees, while the kobolds took advantage of cover/concealment to keep the PCs at bay. Hit and run tactics.
Frustrated (both PCs *and* players) eventually went back to a nearby stronghold and hired some mercenaries with the promise of treasure and a kobold hunt. Some of the more experienced mercenary leaders were cautious, having heard of how bloody it can get going against a kobold village, but the PCs paid for 20 light archers and accompanying sergeants/lieutenant and off they went.
(I should mention that I had a player quit during this period. I’m not exactly sure why as all they said was “I’m not having fun” and left without further explanation. After discussion with the rest of the players, they were all-in and welcoming the challenge that they were now facing.)
So after some bloody skirmishes and almost killing a couple of PCs, and the loss of 3/4th of the mercenaries, the PCs captured the kobold king, ran off the remaining kobolds who were frightened after the Druid summoned a Lightning Storm and killed ten kobolds right on the spot. There were further guerilla attacks, and the king ended up being killed.
Was the reward worth it? Well, the PCs opened the door to the King’s hut and found this…
The kobolds had stumbled onto a rich haul of treasure! There were forty empty chests that hold 300 coins each, their contents poured out onto the (reinforced) floor of the hut. The vast majority of the coins are gold. And now the PCs have a logistical problem. How do they cope with such treasure, and with possible kobold reprisals and harassment?
Back to the mercenary camp with the survivors of the force they’d hired. The mercenary captain, seeing an opportunity, appealed to the local noble for judgement on the disposition of the haul. The lawful Monk of the PC party revealed the letter and that the gold might actually be property of a Merchant’s Guild master in a nearby town! The noble allowed the PCs to keep what had been intially recovered, gave the mercenary’s claim to an equal amount, but the remainder will be held by the noble until the guild master is contacted and the amount of his claim is verified – this might not be all of theirs!
Running the kobolds like Tucker’s Kobolds in the woods was not difficult. Don’t let the kobolds get boxed in. Use terrain to the kobolds’ advantage. Employ hit and run. Constantly attack if the PCs are hesitant, melt away if the PCs press. Most of all, be ruthless. These are invaders on your territory. Dispatch them with no mercy.
The reason that the kobolds are sitting on top of so many gold coins is Alex Schroeder/kensanata‘s fault. No really, it is. I used one of his RPG apps – Hex Describe system, with my own campaign definitions, to generate the contents of this area. One of the hexes had an abandoned, ruined castle with orcs there. The software generated a treasure map that led to the kobold lair with a rich, rich haul. Magic items and an immense amount of treasure. When I read that, I laughed, wondering if it would ever see a game.
Well, here we are.
It was a crazy fun set of sessions to see the PCs grapple with this very hard problem. Even with our 5th level fighter carving up 5 kobolds at a time, once they got in melee range, it was a bloody battle. I really thought we were going to lose some PCs and we almost did, so I consider that a win in my book – give them a helluva fight. They figured out how to turn the odds to their favor, and they won. Perfect.
Wait till they mess with Tucker’s goblins…
