Demetrios1453
Hero
Pool of Radiance (Part 33): The Kobold Caves (Part 1)
All rested up, it's time to deal with the kobold issue. I have a feeling they won't be as receptive to negotiations like the nomads were.
Back to the east.
We move north, more or less along the river.
A short way up, and...
Our first outdoor combat!
These often start at a distance, so it's usually best to let the melee just guard while the ranged take out foes as they approach. I did attempt to have the front three go ranged for a bit, but their shortbows, even magical, didn't have the range to reach the lizardmen (the fine longbows had no such issue). So, instead of taking extra time switching weapons back and forth, I just set them to guard (which gives them a free hit once something comes within melee range).
The tree in front of Brother Baltor is causing issues with my ranged attacks, blocking the ability to target the lizardmen in many cases. This is a common occurrence in outdoor combat, as trees are liberally scattered about. You can't move through the upper square of a tree or aim through it. Also, there are bushes, logs, and rocks which will force you to move around them, as well as streams (sometimes) which will block movement completely outside of certain crossing points (but will allow ranged attacks to pass, which makes them pretty nice in situations where you're on one side and the foes are on the other, forcing them through a chokepoint while you pepper them with arrows).
In order to target better, I move some of my ranged so the tree isn't blocking them so much.
We target individual lizardmen as they draw close. The obstacles on the field as well as other lizardmen getting in the way tend to slow them to a trickle moving forward, letting my ranged characters concentrate on the closer ones as they draw near.
And soon enough, the battle is over.
Battle won, we move north again.
But literally one square up...
I guess random overland map encounters are like buses - you wait forever for one, and then two come right together.
The gnolls are at a serious disadvantage compared to the lizardmen - they take up two squares instead of one, so obstacles will be even more of an issue for them moving around. (This gets quite amusing when you have four-square creatures like dragons in this situation; they have real trouble getting to melee range at times.)
Also note the stream to the upper right. It's a pity we're on the same side of it as the gnolls.
The gnolls are indeed stuck among some trees, so they are going to only be able to trickle down to me individually or in small groups. However, they started closer than the lizardmen, so some will indeed get with in melee range fairly quickly.
But we're able to handle them with little issue, since they only have 10 HP each, which means in many cases, even a single shot will take one down.
And soon, they begin to surrender, and the battle is over.
We move further north along the river. Just as we are nearing the cave...
This is a set encounter for when you get near the cave. And again, we have some badly placed trees, which hinder our ranged targeting.
I'd really like to take out this leader, for example, but, as you can see, "Target" is not an option due to line of sight being blocked. So I'm going to have to move my ranged around again to get better angles.
Now that's better!
Bragir also moves around for better positioning, to the right in his case.
(Note the rocks in the stream, which would be the only place where crossings would be able to occur).
We target kobolds as they move forward with no discernible organization through all the obstacles...
And soon they are surrendering as well...
And the battle is over.
We move towards the cave they came from...
We'll go into the larger cave to the east.
No. We forge ahead, heading into a larger room, where...
Uh-oh. We need to kill it quickly, because its tail attack is poisonous!
It goes first. It hits Brother Baltor, and he instantly dies of poison. 1e didn't pull any punches, folks!
So, there's not much I can do other than re-load, because there's no way to neutralize that poison short of dragging the body all the way back to a temple in Phlan. Luckily, because I'm trying to get as much text and action in my screenshots as possible, I'm save scumming like no one's business, and have a save right before this fight. Honestly, given how brutal these games can be, it's not a bad strategy to save as often as possible. If you think "Should I save now?" the answer is always: "YES!"
Round 2!
We get better initiative, and take it down before it can even scratch us this time. Whew! (I'm also quite proud of getting that screenshot, since getting the skull and crossbones is really hard to time properly)
A short distance beyond the body, we find its hoard!
Not bad at all on the cash side of things!
Interesting! Let's see how powerful they are.
Meh. At least they will sell well.
And, having them in the hoard has other benefits, since, because gp value = XP, Bant now is able to level up!
90 HP now! He's quite the tank at this point.
We search further back in the wyvern's cave.
Eh, what harm can it do?
Hmmm, tricking the drunk son of the kobold king sounds as decent a plan as any.
After giving us such useful advice, we make like Elsa and let it go.
So let's head back to where the drunk kobold is and then continue on into the main part of the caves. We'll pick up there at the start of the next post!
All rested up, it's time to deal with the kobold issue. I have a feeling they won't be as receptive to negotiations like the nomads were.
Back to the east.
We move north, more or less along the river.
A short way up, and...
Our first outdoor combat!
These often start at a distance, so it's usually best to let the melee just guard while the ranged take out foes as they approach. I did attempt to have the front three go ranged for a bit, but their shortbows, even magical, didn't have the range to reach the lizardmen (the fine longbows had no such issue). So, instead of taking extra time switching weapons back and forth, I just set them to guard (which gives them a free hit once something comes within melee range).
The tree in front of Brother Baltor is causing issues with my ranged attacks, blocking the ability to target the lizardmen in many cases. This is a common occurrence in outdoor combat, as trees are liberally scattered about. You can't move through the upper square of a tree or aim through it. Also, there are bushes, logs, and rocks which will force you to move around them, as well as streams (sometimes) which will block movement completely outside of certain crossing points (but will allow ranged attacks to pass, which makes them pretty nice in situations where you're on one side and the foes are on the other, forcing them through a chokepoint while you pepper them with arrows).
In order to target better, I move some of my ranged so the tree isn't blocking them so much.
We target individual lizardmen as they draw close. The obstacles on the field as well as other lizardmen getting in the way tend to slow them to a trickle moving forward, letting my ranged characters concentrate on the closer ones as they draw near.
And soon enough, the battle is over.
Battle won, we move north again.
But literally one square up...
I guess random overland map encounters are like buses - you wait forever for one, and then two come right together.
The gnolls are at a serious disadvantage compared to the lizardmen - they take up two squares instead of one, so obstacles will be even more of an issue for them moving around. (This gets quite amusing when you have four-square creatures like dragons in this situation; they have real trouble getting to melee range at times.)
Also note the stream to the upper right. It's a pity we're on the same side of it as the gnolls.
The gnolls are indeed stuck among some trees, so they are going to only be able to trickle down to me individually or in small groups. However, they started closer than the lizardmen, so some will indeed get with in melee range fairly quickly.
But we're able to handle them with little issue, since they only have 10 HP each, which means in many cases, even a single shot will take one down.
And soon, they begin to surrender, and the battle is over.
We move further north along the river. Just as we are nearing the cave...
This is a set encounter for when you get near the cave. And again, we have some badly placed trees, which hinder our ranged targeting.
I'd really like to take out this leader, for example, but, as you can see, "Target" is not an option due to line of sight being blocked. So I'm going to have to move my ranged around again to get better angles.
Now that's better!
Bragir also moves around for better positioning, to the right in his case.
(Note the rocks in the stream, which would be the only place where crossings would be able to occur).
We target kobolds as they move forward with no discernible organization through all the obstacles...
And soon they are surrendering as well...
And the battle is over.
We move towards the cave they came from...
We'll go into the larger cave to the east.
No. We forge ahead, heading into a larger room, where...
Uh-oh. We need to kill it quickly, because its tail attack is poisonous!
It goes first. It hits Brother Baltor, and he instantly dies of poison. 1e didn't pull any punches, folks!
So, there's not much I can do other than re-load, because there's no way to neutralize that poison short of dragging the body all the way back to a temple in Phlan. Luckily, because I'm trying to get as much text and action in my screenshots as possible, I'm save scumming like no one's business, and have a save right before this fight. Honestly, given how brutal these games can be, it's not a bad strategy to save as often as possible. If you think "Should I save now?" the answer is always: "YES!"
Round 2!
We get better initiative, and take it down before it can even scratch us this time. Whew! (I'm also quite proud of getting that screenshot, since getting the skull and crossbones is really hard to time properly)
A short distance beyond the body, we find its hoard!
Not bad at all on the cash side of things!
Interesting! Let's see how powerful they are.
Meh. At least they will sell well.
And, having them in the hoard has other benefits, since, because gp value = XP, Bant now is able to level up!
90 HP now! He's quite the tank at this point.
We search further back in the wyvern's cave.
Eh, what harm can it do?
Hmmm, tricking the drunk son of the kobold king sounds as decent a plan as any.
After giving us such useful advice, we make like Elsa and let it go.
So let's head back to where the drunk kobold is and then continue on into the main part of the caves. We'll pick up there at the start of the next post!
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