Chaos and Kobolds, oy, what the hell was going on?<br/><br/>Not fifteen minutes ago, the party had been guided to the deserted farm from the road to the north into the courtyard of the farm where the last attack had been. Their aerial recon had shown several kobolds running into the woods at the edge of the property, though they had kept running, scattering and racing away. Little real damage had been done to the farm proper, though the fields had been stripped, well, more like they had been harvested. The stalks piled high in with other refuse behind the house, east of the barn, and south of the pig sty. The house was on the West side of the low walled courtyard, across from the barn and the pigpen was to the south of the entrance from the road. The low wall held small little scarecrows every few feet, leaning against the stone of the wall. The only signs of violence, the slaughtered pig carcasses in the sty, and the scent of spoiled meat that seemed to permeate the air. Guthry, the guide the little town of Merriwether had provided had led the party here, but had chosen not to enter the gates. He said he had already seen what was there. Only disgust to color his face. He had said that there were three in the barn and four more dead in the house, but that the family had been murdered to a man, only the two youngest girls made it to Guthry's home. He had gone to town to inform them of what he had seen here before the kobolds chased him off.<br/><br/>The clatter of a ladder falling in the barn and a moan had drawn the inexperienced healer quickly to the half-barred doors of the barn.<br/><br/>Then the doors to the barn burst open a wagon-sized scorpion followed by several smaller sow-sized scorpions. As the others had tried to step to the healer's defense, a clattering sound was heard from beyond the pig-sty. A barrel rocketed high into the air, only to fall among the party, shattering and scattering snakes. Two more barrels, one from behind the barn, another from behind the house descended into the group, the sickest, sulfur egg, spoiled fish and rotting meat splashed across the open ground. Three torches volleyed from the hay loft, landing among the scarecrows and falling into the pigpen bursting the pigpen into flames and the line of scarecrows burst into flames surrounding the courtyard, enclosing the yard, leaving only the road as an escape. The horses panicked, the roc wheeled away from the flames, reacting before the rider could offer direction.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">((OOC))<br/><br/>I understand that as players we may not have fallen this deeply into a kobold trap, but...<br/><br/>As the roc wheels away Mesadra sees the trash piles burst into action, as rigged devices launch barrels through the air into the courtyard. There is one more device and one more barrel per trashpile. The kobolds are scattering after firing the makeshift catapults. DC 14 Handle Animal check to get the roc back in control.<br/><br/> All party members, aside from Mesadra do a Fort save DC 14 or become sickened.<br/><br/>Sickened: The character takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.<br/><br/>Reflex Save DC 11 or take a strike from a viper. 1D2-1 damage, Fort DC 9 1d2 Con 1/round for 6 rounds. </div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Initiative!</div><div class="spoiler_body">26     Click <br/>22     Alomar Gemblossom <br/>21     Mesadre Alabaster <br/><del>20     Scorpion Medium (4)</del><br/>19     Shassara             <br/><del>18     Scorpion Huge (1) </del><br/>14     Livia di Elandor<br/>13     Kobolds <del>(3)</del> (2)<br/>10     Scylla Menador   <br/><del>7       Catapult crew 1 </del><br/>6      Maki the Blue  <br/><del>1      Catapult crew 2 and 3 </del>               <br/></div></div>