D&D 4E: Crouching Halfling, Hidden Kobold

Our time in Winterhaven passed all too quickly. Soon the innkeeper, the Lord Warden and most of the random townsfolk were all too ready to see us go. We’d come for a night and stayed for a fortnight. Even the street sweepers began wondering loudly and openly beneath our windows if there wasn’t some adventuring to be done. Somewhere. Else.
Bryn is a mean drunk. It has to be said.
I went to the local pan-denominational temple and got some vials of holy water in case the rumors of vampires, ghosts, demons, ghouls and so on were more than the wild stories they seemed to be. Can’t get enough of the holy water.
The road to the ruined keep was wide and well-maintained. We could easily see anyone approaching or following. We were well-rested, close enough to support each other in case of an ambush but far enough apart so that, if needed, we could unleash our most potent attacks. We were absolutely ready for anything we might meet upon the road.
That’s when the halfling took off.
I guess he saw a squirrel? Or something? He just went running merrily into the trees.
Seconds later we heard him scream. Followed by the startled barking of a pair of kobold dragonshields — heavily armored little knee lizards.
Really sucked to be Wenner.
There was some discussion about just leaving him. But we sighed a collective sigh and headed into the fray.
My Longsword of Life Drinking hummed warmly in my hand as I charged at the closest of the kobolds. I just now remembered that I forgot to use my sword’s lifedrinking abilities last night — but I did (this time) remember to use my Feats.
While Wenner, Sheeoil and I were engaging the dragonshields, Bryn was meeting up with his own challenges… another dragonshield, a powerful kobold wyrmpriest and a kobold slinger. Bryn was so startled that he missed a spell, and then went down to the ambush.
The wyrmpriest tried, futilely, to ignite the elf as Wenner’s dragonshields met their doom. My Armor of Bahamut feat turned a critical hit into a normal hit, and my Martyr’s Blessing daily let me take a hit for Wenner. Meanwhile, Wenner was using his Sly Flourishes to keep the kobolds unbalanced, and Sheeoil was using healing attacks to do damage while giving needy folks temporary hit points.
Someone had to deal with the dragonshield standing over Bryn’s bleeding body and patch him up before he died, and someone was going to have to deal with the slinger and the wyrmpriest so they wouldn’t immediately put Bryn down again.
Sheeoil took Bryn’s dragonshield down with elan and got the wizard back on his feet while I charged the wyrmpriest. He tried to run. But running just means you die tired. Bryn’s magic missile hit him in the back as he tried to flee.
The remaining kobold, the slinger, yelled something about getting help and took off into the trees to the north.
We all used healing surges to get back to something resembling health. Bryn stayed back a moment to kick a dead kobold before joining us as we all pursued the kobold into the trees.
This started a Skill Challenge. We would have to succeed at Nature and Perception rolls more than we failed in order to successfully track the kobold. After some false starts and vague clues, we eventually heard some kobold barking beyond a tree line, above the roar of a waterfall crashing into the rapids beneath. The towering menhirs of a stone circle could just barely be seen through the trees.
I think we’ve found our kobold lair.