The battle at Fort Valor was still raging.
The gnoll attacks were growing more and more urgent, and the kobolds were planning to use their ancestral "tunneling tactic" again.
Unfortunately, Lord Heather had sent two earth priests to guard the fort so it could be repaired in the shortest possible time. The kobolds' tunnels were discovered before they got within five hundred meters of Fort Valor.
Standing atop the unfinished watchtower at the construction site, the two silver dwarf priests cast their spells together, calling upon the power of the earth to repel the enemy. In an instant, they collapsed the kobolds' tunnels, burying hundreds of the little lackeys in one fell swoop.
But unfortunately, gnolls had never cared much about kobold lives.
To be honest, the kobolds themselves didn't care either. They bred like rabbits, and their intelligence was poor. They did have feelings, but perhaps they were too stupid to show some of the emotional reactions normally associated with death in war.
The earth priests had just crushed hundreds of kobolds digging tunnels, yet on the battlefield, the frenzied kobold brutes continued charging toward the defenders with wild yelps, led by the gnolls.
Hogg had once explained to the players that kobolds were cowardly by nature, but they also had a particularly nasty side. If they went to battle alongside their masters, they became vicious and brave.
Until their masters broke ranks, kobolds could miraculously maintain their morale.
But once the gnolls overseeing them were driven back, the remaining kobolds would scatter in a panic, no matter how great their advantage.
Classic lackey behavior.
The soldiers and armed laborers at Fort Valor were veterans who had patrolled the Dark Mountains with the Bloodbound Knights for years. They knew exactly how to deal with swarms of kobolds.
They paid