They tried to ambush us in the cave
I was reading up on Kobold shaman and witch doctors [Perverse Osmosis isn’t hosting Nerdfest accidentally] today in the DMG. There can be the equivalent of a 5th-level cleric amongst the kobold swarm; granted they do not get all of the spell choices that a PC gets, but they might have cure light wounds, light/darkness, chant, resist fire, and curse. That is pretty good magic for a monster only two steps up from humanoid protoplasm. As a witch doctor, they can only get to second level, but that is still high enough to cast push or shield.
Imagine being the kobold witch doctor; what kind of life would K’iop, witch doctor of Cave C have? How does a kobold find out that they have magical powers? I can see it now: a bunch of kobold children are trying to figure out how the pit trap works and the one who doesn’t fall is placed into a special kobold school where the students are given complex puzzles such as “round object into round hole” or “put all the same colors together.” Kobolds, although cunning, are not know for their conceptual ability; there are not a lot of kobold mathematicians or cultural theorists running around out there. The average kobold would probably not do well a scantron test [more likely to steal the pencil] or even be able to fill out a job application in common. Most of their intellect seems to be used setting traps that even a first level thief can find and reproducing. When the average kobold only as one or two hps, they better start mating and quick because most of Mr and Mrs. Kobold’s brood is going to end up on some adventurer’s boot or as dinner for some renegade Derro. But being a smart kobold, smart enough to remember a spell, must be incredible. K’iop could easily swindle his littermates and have the pick of all the fine kobold ladies. The only problem he may face is anti-intellectualism, which runs fairly deep in most kobold communities.
Stone and lichen became their grave