Kobold Hall, Part 2

Now that the dead PC had been replaced and the borrowed wizard swapped out, the adventure into Kobold Hall continued.

Area 4 - The Big Boss
As DM, I found the rolling boulder confusing and weird. The battle map indicates that it should roll in circles around the room, but that makes no physical sense (and physical traps should obey physical laws, even in worlds with wizards and dragons). Instead I had it come around the corner and head down the entry passage as the party entered. This had the interesting effect of keeping two party members (the warlock and cleric) out of the room for the first few rounds of combat.

Lots of action ensued. Slingers rained down stones while dragonshields and the spiretop drake engaged the party. The wizard pushed a dragonshield closer to the wyrmpriest so the dragonborn could catch both in his breath weapon. Hatha attempted the first improvised attack of the campaign by trying to knock a slinger off the wall with a ladder - one Str vs. Reflex check later the outcome was decided, nice and simple. Near the end of the fight, a couple of party members attempted to daze or knock down the remaining enemies to give the rogue a chance to finish them off with a sneak attack. By this point all the kobolds were low on hit points and these attacks kept killing them instead, much to the rogue's chagrin.

Analysis:
Keeping two characters out of the room for a few rounds created an interesting dynamic - it allowed the fight to initially go pretty well for the bad guys, but also let the good guys get back on top pretty dramatically once their prodigal members returned. I didn't use the spiretop drake as effectively as I could have - he never used Flyby Attack, instead just landing and slugging it out with the paladin. Apparently even the simplified "all right there for you" 4e stat blocks still aren't simple enough for me.