-Posted with Wayfinder
"Telepathy can seem invasive to the unitiated. That said being hidden should prove to be a fine defense to potential agitation."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Yeah, that's true... but I should at least be safe, Terex agrees. Well, should I try it?
It seemed a decision was needed. His voice grating like gravel, Kincaid replied, "Yes. But don't get too far ahead. The rest of us will follow within telepathy range in case we're needed. See if you can get one or two of them to come and talk to us. If they seem worried about our numbers perhaps suggest they can talk to just me and you."
Yes, sir! Terex seems perfectly happy to have Kincaid taking the lead. He does exactly as instructed, stealthily flitting ahead, but staying within range of the squad.
Terex flits forward, passing right next to two gnolls without noticing them. He also passes behind a rattle snake without noticing it, swings past a lynx that's waiting to pounce on something to eat, and then swings past a giant demon with a salivating mouth and tendrils waiting to snack on something before zooming past a troop of adolescent girls singing songs about cookies as they tromp through the forest looking for badges*.
Well, the demon and girl scouts maybe not so much, but with his perception rolls, he wouldn't notice them if they were there.
Stopping at the edge of the forest, he spies some gnolls just within range of his telepathy.
Rokas tries to follow Terex, but as he is concentrating on keeping an eye on the Pseudodragon, he steps on a dead branch. Noticing the loud crack that the branch makes as it break Under his weight, his rush to get in the bush right next to him. Sadly the bush would have better fitted for Xaeken and not someone of his size.
Keeping his hybrid form, Abbo goes with the group, not particularly worried of missing Terex. We have a direction, he thinks, And I tried to make clear we needed everybody together. At the end of the day, though, I can't control the actions of my companions.
The Fashtali was happy enough that most of the group was moving together, in case they were ambushed, and limited himself to cross his fingers that the pseudodragon stays out of trouble. Some people have adventures of their own...
Just as Terex is about to attempt to communicate with the Gnolls in the clearing, there's a horrible wailing sound that comes from behind and above him. It carries clearly for a mile at least, and seems to arc up from the trees, into the air, and then arc back down into the forest.
Almost immediately the gnolls in the field become agitated, grabbing weapons while others begin pulling on the tether lines to pull the animals toward the tower.
On the top of the tower, someone begins to beat a heavy metal plate, making ringing 'GOONNGGG' sounds.
Well, I would say they know we are here...
"Apparently so." remarked Kincaid wryly, "Seems these Gnolls are twitchy. I guess we'd better wait here for a bit, until out scouts can return. Let hope there are no misunderstandings..."
Terex starts at the sound, looking around frantically before deciding his hiding-place hasn't been compromised. Once he feels certain no gnoll has spotted him, he tries to find one close enough to telepathically speak with.
Wait! he 'says' if one is close enough. We don't want to fight! We just want to talk!
The closest gnoll, about 50 ft from Terex, suddenly looks toward the forest, and calls out.
"Who are you?! Show yourself..."
The other gnolls then look at the first one, then look toward the forest, readying weapons.
I'm Terex! And, umm... could you please not point so many weapons at me? I'm just a little pseudodragon, I'm not a threat, Terex telepathically replies, staying hidden for the time being. And you guys look hungry, I don't want to poke my head out and get eaten until I'm sure you're not going to try it. Is the hunting really bad here or something?
The gnolls argue back and forth for a second, and then seem to relax a bit. One calls out in Gnome up to the tower, and the clanging stops.
The one close enough for Terex to communicate with lowers its weapon. "Alright, you can come out mini-drag. Never seen one of you before... guess you can visit. Can't offer you hospitality, even as small as you are." He warns, and looks at the forest curiously.
Cautiously Terexaltherin sticks his head out of the leaves he'd been hiding behind.
Hello! Here I am! He waves a claw at them to make sure they can see him. I've never come here before. Have you been living here long?
The gnoll looks at Terex, squinting his eyes. "This our place now. Was no ones place, we fix, is ours now." The ones behind him say something, and he nods. "If you want to come visit, you must talk to Kapitan."
Stuck in the shrubs between a whistling arrow and gnolls that are yelling Xaeken decides its best to get closer to Terex if he can avoid being seen. Not necessarily knowing where that is, the psychic decides to travel towards the barking gnolls and put eyes on the situation...
Abbo sees the projectile, but he's not much on his comfort zone. He tries to simply hide and stay together with the group, and slowly advances towards the gnolls.
Terex thought for a moment. He much preferred talking to fighting, but he was worried these gnolls were, if not enemies, at least not friends of Kotelia. What would they think when they found out he was scouting for a group?
On the other claw, he wasn't going to keep that secret for long. That signal earlier had almost certainly been them getting spotted.
I could do that, though I should probably tell my friends what's going on. They're probably the ones that noise was about, Terex says. Maybe I could get my friends and you could get your Kapitan and we could talk? I'll probably have to translate for them, though.
The gnoll turns and whispers to the other gnolls, and one runs into the tower. A few minutes later, the same gnoll comes back out and whispers into the first gnoll's ear.
That gnoll then turns around and nods. "Yes, we see your friends. Warning arrow tell us where they are, how many there are. You tell them come out, they put down weapons, you will be allowed to talk to Kapitan."
Standing with the others Kincaid mutters, "Anyone see anything? I hope they're all right..."
Okay, I'll go talk to them! Terex telepathically replies, then flies back towards the rest of his squad. He wonders whether or not this is the right course of action, but... he couldn't think of a better one.
Once he finds the squad, Terex comes in to a landing. I talked to the gnolls! he declares to them. They spotted you, but said if we sheathe our weapons we can talk to their Kapitan. I think I'll have to translate, and we'll have to be careful in case they turn on us, but... I think we should do it!
"Good work Terex, keep yourself hidden in case they have dishonorable intentions." Kincaid thinks in reply. He sheathes his sword and says quietly to the others, "Well lets try talking, but be ready if things go sour."
Slowly and calmly he walks forwards in the rough direction of the tower, figuring the Gnolls would quickly move to interdict.
Rokas falls in behind Kincaid. As he walks toward the tower, he tries to keep an eye out to notice any gnolls that would try to surround them.
As Kincaid and Rokas (and anyone else that goes with them) steps into the clearing, they find a tall tower that soars above the tree tops. Around the base, humanoid canines stand, weapons ready, looking fidgety.
As they exit the forest, one of them, a large male with a bow stiffens and gives a half-bow. Then he points to the ground in front of them, and speaks in a yipping howling voice.
"Weapons on ground, then may talk to Kapitan."
Ummm... they want us to put our weapons on the ground, Terex repeats to the others, uncertainty clear in his mental voice.
The Beigra stays with Kincaid and Rokas, and simply shakes his shoulders. He then finally replies, speaking normally.
As I imagine my friend already made clear, we're here on peace.
Hylar keeps quiet, preferring to let others do the talking. He would previously have noted that he can power the scroll device, however.
Xaeken is fine to put down his club if the others are...
Kincaid ponders, if the reports where accurate the Gnolls had them heavily outnumbered and if they became separated form their weapons they'd essentially be at their mercy. The question was, where they honorable? He really couldn't be sure, their culture and mannerisms were alien to him.
Perhaps he needed to look at it another way, they hadn't attacked. There seemed to be two main possibilities: one, they where indeed honorable but naturally didn't trust a heavily armed band encroaching on their land; two, they had dishonorable intentions and sought an overwhelming advantage, perhaps seeking to press them into slavery or worse. One adage that had been drummed into Kincaid was to hope for the best and plan for the worst. He decided to take a chance, one that would soon reveal their intentions.
Unsure if they would understand him, Kincaid shouted out to the nearest Ghnolls, "That is a big ask, you are many and we are few. I propose a compromise. I will put aside my weapon and speak to your Kapitan if he will put aside his weapon and speak to me. If this is agreeable, we shall meet half way between, where all can see. By my oath to Sithana Nehandris I promise no trickery."
The gnolls whisper to themselves, then the spokesgnoll turns back around again.
"You ask much, strangers. Would you allow armed strangers to talk to your Kapitan? Even in the open, where a stranger in the woods could cut her down with a bow? I don't think you would. Heavily armed, armored, you would never let strangers with weapons within striking range of your Kapitan..."
Abbo crosses his arms, but waits for Kincaid's decision. He doesn't want to force his companion into putting or not aside its weapons - but he, himself, is fine to put aside his shurikens. His own body was a weapon, however, so it wasn't fair for him to give an opinion on this matter.
Not wanting to make thing worst by saying the wrong words, Rokas will, however lay down his bow. He hopes that this move would make everyone less on edge and more willing to keep the talk going.
Terex watches the gnolls closely as they speak, trying to get a feel for whether they're predatory or just wary.
I don't think we'll get to talk while carrying our weapons, he telepathically says to his squad, excluding the gnolls from his broadcast. Fortunately a lot of us are dangerous even without weapons, right?
He glides down from his perch to the ground and sets his tiny sword down next to Rokas's bow. We don't have a Kapitan like you, but I think we understand what you mean, Terex broadcasts to everyone in the area.
Hylar is of course unconcerned with laying down weapons. He has never seen need of them to do harm, though he is certainly more effective with a weapon than without. Terex was certainly right about that. Especially in conjunction with Kasha, there was not a lot that they couldn't take down.
He sets down the rapier, in acquiescence.
Speaking to himself more than the Gnoll, Kincaid replied, "We have no Kapitan, but if it was me - I would walk into the lion's den, if I thought it would help..." He unbuckles his sword and starts slowly walking forward.
The gnolls watch everyone dump their weapons, and then nod. "Follow me..."
The gnoll that was doing the talking leads the group into the base of the tower, and then up a stairwell.
There are partitions up with canvas covering them, it looks like an internal wall, but there's a crack at the bottom of one of the canvases, and it looks like stairs leading down below ground behind the canvas, indicating the tower may have more space below ground.
The tower stairwell goes up and up and up, along the outer walls. There are landings every floor, with arrow windows and slits. Gnolls, both male and female, guard the floors and the slits.
Finally near the top, the group is led into a room that's open other than a large wooden table that's a good 20 ft across and square. Chairs are set up all around the table.
The table is very old, and has been repaired in places, not exactly expertly, but solidly. The chairs also don't match all the way around, as if they were salvaged from other rooms.
In addition to the information in the DC 10, you also notice that the armor and weapons of the gnolls, while well maintained, are also old. Nothing looks new, and much of it looks like it might have been cobbled together from multiple sets of armor over the years, due to the leather pieces not quite matching the same color here and there.
Sitting at the table, opposite of the group, is a female gnoll with a scarred muzzle and multiple earrings. She wears scale male, and has what looks like the nicest armor among the Gnolls. "I am Kapitan Bel'gra'grah." She says in thick and very slowly spoken common. The tone of her voice and the way she speaks is more reminiscent of someone who is not used to speaking in the language and is going slowly to ensure she doesn't mangle the words. "I am told you come in peace, and wish to speak with me?" He words are very stiff and formal.
Needless to say, there are a half dozen Gnolls along the wall with swords and axes, left and right of the group, between them and her, and four archers behind her at the wall.
The Beigra looks at everything with attention, trying to see as much details as possible.
Although he doesn't speak initially, he steps and positions himself humbly behind his companions, as if to show he means no harm to anyone - despite his threatening height and natural weapons.
You're are correct, Kapitan. - he bows briefly - My companions will explain better our mission of peace.