The party and Alaetha’s crew walk into the Clay Pits and come upon a fork in the road. Sgt. Alaetha asks them to take the western path and she and her Guard to take the eastern path. They were to return to this position in 4 hours and assist the other path’s members if required.
The party walked forward and faced pit traps that required their ingenuity and perception to cross and came upon a chamber which had natural light even though they were deep underground thanks to an opening in the ceiling. It seemed to be a management area of some kind with Kobold managerial tablets and records lying about. The Kobold had left in a hurry. The party found a locked chest which Raidaath unsuccessfully trying to lockpick it. Sigurd took matters into his own hands and smashed the lock with his Axe. They found official tablets as well as the Kobold currency of copper shavings.
Exploring into one of the Kobold-made tunnels led to an encounter against horrid beings of the underground – Dreadworms. These wormy creatures seeps into the small chamber the party resided in to attack them with their fear inducing spray. Some members succumbed to the fear toxin and were crippled by an irrational fear and intense will to just lie down and let the danger pass. With some effort, the Dreadworms were dispatched. Bastian was able to use his knowledge of Command to rally his compatriots into realizing the true threat.
Travelling further into the Clay Pits brought the party into another large chamber with natural light. However, this time the Kobold were not gone and the party were ambushed by several Kobold. Several Javelineers and Warriors attacked the party by rope ladder from above and also from the several Kobold caves in the sides of the cavern. Leading them all was a mighty Axe Fiend Kobold of tremendous size and strength (For a Kobold)
The fight was hard and the Axe Fiend seemed to be powered by some unnatural magical energy as he did not fall even when limbs were cut away from him. Once he finally fell the rest of his Kobold soldiers fled except for the one that the party captured. They kept him on a leash.
Raidaath scouted further into a corridor where shamanistic chanting could be heard faintly. The chanting seemed to shake the very earth around the Clay Pits. After he reported this to his friends they decided to travel back to the meeting point and enlist the aid of Alaetha to combat this threat. They found Alaetha unharmed but she and her men were rattled. She had faced Dreadworms just like the party and a powerful Earth Shaman.
They rested and relayed the information to her and after a bit they traveled to the dark corridor with the chanting. They found Galia the Blind. She was a very old Earth Shaman who did not share the warlike and aggressive characteristics of the other Kobolds. She stopped her chanting the second Alaetha set foot into the cavern the blind Kobold resided in. She spoke to them and told them that the twins were safe in her care and offered the party a deal – She will drive the Kobold away from the Clay Pits and keep them away as long as they leave her alive in the cavern to live out her years inside the Earth.
The party and the reluctant Alaetha agreed and the Huge Earth Elementals that protected Galia caved in the entrance to the cavern. The party took the twins back to Reefard where they were lauded as heroes.