Rimli & Ozzy:  (strain mightily with the gate, but to no avail)
Eagle:  (emerging from the carrion crawler's room, holding his nose) Eww, 
  stinky.
Ozzy: (peering to where the kobold pulled the lever, he turns to the
  others) Gimme a minute.  (pulls out a rope and grappling hook from his
  pack and oh-so-deftly [read: critical success] snags the lever on the
  other side of the gate) Ha!  (threading the rope through an upper 
  horizontal bar of the gate, he is able to create a little leverage
  and pull the lever back up) Yeah!  (the stone doors behind the party slam
  back open)  Oh.
stone doors:  
Tasencia:  (thinking about how she just advised that everyone be quieter)
  Hmmm....
Ajax:  (retrieves both sword and torch using his bow)

While this is going on, you hear much in the way of squealing and
high-pitched voices up ahead which is cut short by a lower-voiced
individual speaking an ugly, gutteral tongue.  Around the corner, from the
left-hand passage, come another five kobolds.  It is obvious that they
don't want to be here.  Two have slings, two have short bows, and one 
only has a bag.

sling kobold#1:  (runs for the lever) 
other kobolds:  (hesitate, but prepare to attack)

A poor map of the situation:
    |~~~~~~~~~~~|
    |           |
----:E    -----------
 k  :O     Al
    :AR    G
    :      T
  -------------------

Remember, this isn't to scale.

k=kobolds (5)
E=Eagle
A=Ajax
R=Rimli
O=Ozzy
Al=Alenniel
G=Greythur
T=Tasencia
:=gate

sling kobold#1:  (makes it to the lever and tugs on it with all his 
  might) Ungh!  (once more, the stone doors slam shut loudly)
kobold#5:  (the one with the bag; he fumbles with it, although exactly 
  what he's doing isn't clear)
Ajax:  Ah, hell.  (he fires his short bow at the lever-puller)
sling kobold#1:  (catches Ajax's missile in his temple and expires)
Eagle:  (takes out his sling and hurls a stone at the bag-holder)
kobold#5:  (hit in the shoulder, he looks annoyed)  Skree!  (he takes 
  something from the bag and hurls it through the gate; it hits the floor 
  in the midst of the party with the sound of breaking glass)
Rimli:  (while cocking his crossbow, he feels an oily liquid hit his 
  leg)  Huh?
Tasencia:  (wisely heads into the stinky but rather safe carrion crawler 
  lair)

From beyond the gate, you again hear the lower-pitched voice which spoke 
to the kobolds earlier.  It sounds a little farther away, but is still 
angry. 

The party is once again faced with a number of kobolds....

Ozzy:  Eagle! Can you pick a lock? If so, get this gate open!
Eagle:  (pulls out his deluxe thieves picks and goes to work at opening 
  the gate) Sure Ozzy, can someone protect me while I open the gate?  
  Roasted Halfling doesn't smell very good!
Ajax:  (sighting another arrow at a kobold)  Hah!  You never smell good!
Ozzy:  (to Eagle)  I'll cover ya!  (he whips out a number of darts and 
  starts tossing them at sling kobold #2, who seems to be eyeing Eagle; his 
  first missile misses, and in a fit of clumsiness he drops the remaining 
  darts to the floor where they scatter everywhere [read: a miss and a 
  fumble])  Damn!!!
Rimli:  (lightning-quick, he grabs another hand axe and hurls it at the 
  bag-holder, but misses)
Eagle:  (working furiously away in the midst of all this confusion)
Ajax:  (in an attempt to cover Eagle, he fires at sling kobold #2 and bow 
  kobold #1, hitting both times)  Heh heh.... (looks rather smug)
sling kobold #2:  Grk! (dies)
bow kobold #1:  Krg! (likewise; the arrow pierced his right eye, ending 
  his koboldish ways)
bow kobold #2:  (fires at Ajax and hits)  Ha ha!
Ajax:  Ow!  (he is hit in the left leg)
bag-holding kobold:  (tosses another object at the party, but it hits one 
  of the bars in the gate)
Eagle:  (sweating under the pressure, he is hit with an oily substance)
Greythur:  (rather Rob-like, he ponders life's meaning)  Hmmm....
Tasencia:  (holding her nose in the 'crawler's former home)
Alenniel:  (aims for bow kobold #2, and hits)
bow kobold #2:  (dies in a manner too graphic to describe)  AAARRG!!!
Alenniel:  (aims for the bag-holder, but his a bar in the gate)
bag-holding kobold:  (his companions all dead around him, he flees down 
  the long corridor)
 
Ajax:  Oh no you don't....  (fires a volley of arrows which, unfortunately, 
  miss the errant kobold)  Hmm, maybe you do.
Alenniel:  (follows suit, but hits him in the shoulder)
kobold:  Eeg!  (keeps running)
Ozzy:  (gathering darts)  Grr....
Rimli:  (his crossbow finally cocked and ready, he fires-- and misses)
Eagle:  Got it!  (the gate springs open)

The gate is now open.  Rimli and Eagle both have a good deal of oil on
them, and there is a fair-sized puddle of the stuff in your general area. 
About 20' beyond the gate is another passage to the left (west), and the
passage you are in continues straight ahead (north) for some distance.  
Down the western corridor there seems to be some kind of flickering 
light.  Opposite the western corridor is a door.