In the midst of his exercises, a thought occurs to Tsakua. Standing, he looks back towards the fire and calls out towards the barbarian. "Jietin, would ye care to spar a bit?" A plan formulating in his mind, Tsakua ponders the last words he heard the tiefling speak. Death and destruction, the dragon might send, but to whom would it go?
"One good act does not make up for many evil ones. But I don't really care, since you don't plan on helping her anyways."
Jietin raises a brow and finishes his rabbit leg, cracking the bone and nibbling out the marrow. "I'm up for it. I have to get used to this halberd anyways."
Ishak just quietly watches the group discuss, he does not speak out, not yet at least as he was curious about the dwarfs reaction. It was going to be an interesting turn of events for this specific kobold. His eyes glinted from the fire light, betraying the intelligence hidden below. Its going to be quite interesting to see how this group manages their situation. Let's see how they survive the next following days. This will be most... interesting indeed. The kobolds eyes turn back to Luca and then to the approaching blue man, watching him say something to the dwarf in its tongue. The kobold paid no mind to it before looking back to the main bulk of the group around the fire.
"Me watch too." was all he said before turning to look out onto the road below.
The night begin to go dark, it was near time for everyone to get their rest for the preparations for the next day.
Zorgg listens while everyone argues about the dragon and her eggs. Then seemingly out of no where he pipes up.
The dragon was very nice. Dragons are very fierce and deadly. In my tribe befriending a dragon is considered the ultimate achievement, as they typically will just eat you. Also killing a dragon is considered the ultimate achievement too, because they are very deadly. Also killing a horse is considered a great achievement. We like achievements. I am hungry again. Give me some of that deer... Oh yea, umm.. Once we are equipped we should help her find those eggs. She might just reward us with wondrous treasures.
With that Zorgg wonders off, looking for that deer that Jietin was eating. He then sets back watch the 2 big guys spar.
Breewyn ate enough to be able to satisfy the gnawing hunger she had developed and got up. Immediately her attention was turned to the goblin rambling, but then after his little outburst he heard the faint sounds of fighting. Out of curiosity and perhaps a little worry, she tracked down the source of the sound. She watched Tsakua and Jietin spar for quite some time, taking care not to actually hurt each other and putting forth a lot of effort into it. Play fighting? No that isn't quite accurate... She was then looking around for where the little kobold went. She spotted Ishak near the edge of the camp and approached him carefully, not wanting to spook them. She speaks softly in Draconic to Ishak. "Your queen...", she began, "what is she like? She asked quietly, looking directly at Ishak. She was afraid when the dragon came, she could do so little as she listened to her angrily demanding to know where her clutch was. With the shock from that initial encounter finally gone, now she was curious to know more about her majesty. She waited patiently for Ishak to speak.
Ishak turns to the gnome with a curious glance before looking back out onto the forest, particularly looking north towards the ruins. "Queen is benelovant, she is great and powerful. All knowing." His voice had a tinge of admiration and affection. Ishak turns to look to the gnome, "She intelligent, knows the world. She had saved my clan from death, she was willing to let clan free. We stayed, serve her because we want." He muttered something under his breath before glancing to the group by the fire. "She lost children, angry, upset. Just wants to find. Legacy important, want to safeguard future. Clan spread out to help find. Most clan stay to try and defend her lair. Lost many to when humans attacked."
Kobolds were known to not be extremely hostile if they served the correct dragon, though this was an interesting turn of events. The kobolds usually served out of fear or worship, but the situation was different for the two.
Breewyn sat in a silence for a few moments, before she spoke again. "I can understand the loss of family. The fear, the sadness, the anger..." She paused for some time, before she was able to continue. "Humans have taken a lot from me. I honestly want to try and believe they are capable of good, but it is really difficult." She looked up into the sky, sighing wistfully. She then turned back to him again, "They aren't the most compliant of companions. I want to say it's because many of them haven't known what it is like to be free for a long time, myself included." She got up and started to walk off, before turning back to him once more. "Maybe they'll change in time, but I don't know if it will be enough."
"Don't worry about it," Luca replies to Octavian. She doesn't mind the presence of Zorgg or Ishak. In fact, she doesn't even seem to notice them. Her eyes are fixed on the stars just above the horizon as several long seconds go by.
"Do you know what it feels like to not know the fate of someone you care about? Someone you love," she asks the wizard after that silence.
"Yes. My people...are isolated from the human empire. And while we are what many races would call 'long lived', the last they heard about my caravan was that it was attacked and all those not found dead at the scene were gone. Twenty years ago. My mother will still be alive but my father is much older then her. Does he live now? Did I miss the chance to say goodbye? What about my younger sister, has she also taken up the study of magic? Has she married? Are any of them still alive or has the human empire stretched it's martial power out that far? A few weeks ago those thoughts were but faint whispers in the darkness of my rage. Now I have to face the daunting task of returning to them, to let them know I still live." Octavian responded.
He looks over as Luca stares up at the sky. "What about you?"
By the end of the sparring match, Tsakua is breathing heavy. Wiping his brow, he chuckles and says "That was a good match lad. Maybe next time I'll get the better of ye." Looking up at the skies while stretching out his arms, he asks, almost offhandedly, "Lad, what be yer thoughts what we should do with our new freedom?"
Still staring up at the stars, Tsakua continues. "All I know to do is fight with m'hands," he says, cracking his knuckles. "Can't plant nor build, never done well when they had me work the plantations," he says. "And the one time I tasted freedom afore, it was snatched away." Looking over at Jietin, Tsakua poses the same question again "I ask ye once more lad, what will ye do with yer freedom?"
"My sisters," she replies flatly, tears beginning to rim her eyes. For a long moment, she says nothing, then, almost when it seems that she wouldn't say anything else, she begins telling of Dovan-Dur's fall in a soft, broken voice.
"It was about a year ago, I guess. That's when it began," a single tear runs down her cheek as she stares off into the night, her eyes dark and far away, "That was when the humans began their siege. They numbered nearly a hundred thousand, and Clan Shatterstone could only boast three and half thousand warriors all told. For the first time, we had to fight our enemies within the halls of our keep, and fought we did. They paid dearly for every inch, and their dead piled high within our halls, but it was not enough. It was never enough," she closes her eyes as the memories of those dark days returned.
"We killed them by the thousand, and still they came. In the end, we were pushed back. Over the next six months, my mother, my father, and my brothers all fell to human blades. Our numbers dwindled until we were only a mere shadow of what we once were. Of the ten-thousand and more dwarves that had called Dovan-Dur home, there were less than three thousand left when we had to flee. Only two hundred of us could fight, and some of us would need to stay behind to... to cover the retreat," Luca's voice begins to break, the tears starting to come in twos and threes, "Fifty of us faced thousands, and I was one of them. The fighting lasted hours before they wore us down to twenty and overwhelmed us. We had killed two thousand more of the bastards, but-- but," Luca swallows, her emotions threatening to overwhelm her control.
"They had found their way through the tunnels and had captured the others even as we fought. They paraded our kin in front of us in chains. They held pikes with the heads of dwarven elders and children, and the bodies of babes who'd not even been weaned. They-- they dragged my sisters before and all I could was watch as I was dangled by my hair like some doll in the hands of a careless child."
Several long minutes pass as tears run freely down her face. She refuses to look at Octavian, or the others listening to her tale. Her eyes are fixed on the same point in the sky as she sits there quietly weeping. Finally, she breaks the silence, her voice broken and quiet.
"And so it was, Luca Shatterstone watched as Dovan-Dur, the Steadfast Halls, fell, and witnessed her clan die."
"I lost my family too..."Ira settled down next to Luca. She wrapped her arms around her knees and set her muzzle upon them, "They raided my village in the south...murdered everyone and left. Humans are a merciless plague." She sighed with resignation. She turned her head and looked at the dwarf, "But Clan Shatterstone still lives. My family still lives. Even if just in our memories. We carry that torch and must use it to bring light to a new day. Don't you think?" She watched Luca for a moment gaging her response before turning back to the camp fire and watching it flicker and dance. In it she could glimpse the nature of things to come: either a bright light that gives hope to the world...or an all consuming force that would destroy everything.
Octavian reached up and placed a gentle shoulder on Luca's shoulder in understanding. While he hadn't had anything like the experiences of losing so many of his kin right in front of him, he could well understand the sorrow. A painful memory tugged at the back of his mind and he steeled himself before facing it. "When I left from my home a...friend came with me. Her name was Saleese. She was a little older then me but we had both studied in the same classes. In our society age is irrelevant when beginning your studies of a subject. All that is important is the learning."
He stops on a sudden note and shakes his head slightly while looking down. "My people are so obsessed with learning and cataloging that I often wonder if they haven't missed the whole point of our survival on...here. Entire centuries will pass by and a focused scholar will not even step outside to feel a breeze on their cheek!" he exclaims. For several moments he stood there with his hand on her shoulder, head bent and breathing deeply to bury the mix of fury and sorrow that threatened to overwhelm him. So many raw emotions all piled one on the other. It was enough to make him want to scream.
He swallows his emotions and continues the story. "Saleesa and I were fellow students. I followed in the tradition of my family in focusing on magic that could change the physical world but she...she loved art. To her magic was an expression of our soul, something our race has long suppressed. Ask an Ilidari to give the angle necessary for a series of buttresses needed to hold back a damn and he could do all of the equations in his head. But ask him to paint what he is feeling or to sing a song to lament the sunset and he's a fish in the desert. Not Salessa, not her with her illusions. She always liked to say she wasn't doing magic. All she was doing was weaving starlight into color and giving it life."
Octavian's face went stony as he came to the end of his story. "Even by human standards Saleesa was beautiful. Full of life. Hope. They put me on my knees and tied me to the ground by the wrist. She had a collar attached to a post and nothing else. One by one the soldiers...."
He begins to shake and once again rage threatens to overwhelm him. "When they were done with her they decided to make an example to the rest of us. She had fought the whole time, fought hard. Bitten one soldier's ear off. These I received trying to pull my bindings out of the ground through brute strength." he holds up one hand to show old but deep scars around his wrist.
"They tied her to that damn post and stacked firewood around her. Then they beat us to the point of unconsciousness but not quite. When there was nothing we could to stop them they burned her alive. With our unborn child. I was forced to watch the mother of my child and the love of my life burn for no other reason then hate."
He steps around and looks Luca in the eyes. His own were filled with righteous fury and the wood of the spear handle in his hands creaked as he gripped it with enormous force. "Among my people there is an old saying; They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind."
Jietin shrugs. Compared to the harsh, unfiltered, raw anger that he had been fighting with, the sparring session was mild enough that his mind had been wandering. Lad. I must be at least twice his age. He ignores that bit and shrugs. "Don't know. I'll have to learn more about the world. Seventy years is a long time away from it, I don't know what opportunities are out there. Maybe I'll spend it killing humans. Maybe I'll build a nice little wooden shack in the forest somewhere and lay low. I have no plans right now...just basking in it all."
Breewyn continued her way back to the rest of the group, hearing Luca speak at great length about her people and what humans had done to them. She heard Iraldia speak of humans doing horrible things to her family as well. She listened to Octavian speak about his people, his friend and lover brutalized. She bit her lip as she walked over to Octavian.
"I- I think I would have really liked to have been able to meet Saleesa. I bet the things she created were incredibly beautiful" Bree always did have a love for colorful magic and art. She could imagine the kind of things that Saleesa created effortlessly. She spoke softly, "I never knew my real parents, my closest kin. I grew up with a half-giant who raised me like a daughter, and had brought me to a small community. There mostly elves, some other gnomes, a lot of forest folk like to visit and live idyllic lives. If we met any humans, in the neighboring towns or communities they were hardworking country folk. They didn't have any love for me or my Uncle, but we didn't hold it against them. Very few humans weren't raised that way or followed those teachings."
She smiled, weakly, as she continued her own story. "I guess you can tell from me being here, that my own story doesn't have a happy ending. The town I grew up in is probably nothing but ruins. I don't know for sure, because when the humans attacked and I fled, it was still burning. My Uncle had fought many of them valiantly, but in the end he was cut down. Before the humans had closed in on him fully, he told me to run. Run far away and never look back."
She crouched down, sitting curled up on the ground near the fire. "I was always a good girl, I listened and did what I was told. I don't know what happened to him, but I can only guess as I lived hungry and alone for the longest time after that. I managed to be able to scavenge, living on what small game and other wild vittles I could find. Those humans..." She said as she stared deeply into the fire, "They still managed to find me and catch me."
She gave a visible shiver, as she leaned back again, turning to look up at Octavian. She had a grin creep across her face, a warm and sincere one. "I am however glad I met you." She turned and grinned at everyone else. "All of you. If not for you all I would still be living a waking nightmare day in and day out. Thank you." She looked back up at the sky, wondering what the future held for them.
"Hah!" Tsakua laughs, as he reaches over and slaps Jietin on the back. "Ye're no more ready to retire to a shady glen then I am t'grow an' orchard." Chuckling, Tsakua gives a friendly grin and walks back towards the fire. "But I'm not showin' proper respect to my elders. My 'pologies on that regard." Seventy years? Tis a wonder he's not ravin' mad!
As they walk back to the fire, Tsakua's mind turns over the different points of the discussion that were had earlier. Aloud, he asks Jietin "Why is it such a strong fighter as yerself wants to avoid death and destruction? Ye had no trouble layin' it about on the battlefield."
Jietin gives a laugh for the first time in a long time. "No, I don't suppose I am. Wasn't made for nice things like that." He shrugs at the elder comment. "Just the nature of what I am." His tone seems to imply he doesn't altogether know what that nature entails.
"Why is it such a strong fighter as yerself wants to avoid death and destruction? Ye had no trouble layin' it about on the battlefield."
Jietin looks down darkly. "That is the reason I want to avoid it." He picks at the corner of his halberd for a moment, then grunts and shakes his head. He's got a right to know. Every time my blood boils, it puts him in danger...it puts them all in danger...
No, I can keep it under control. No need to stir the pot. I'll just keep it under control.
And then what happens when you cut one of them down? Better to be thrown out peacefully then fall to a dozen steel blades in your back.
"I..." He clears his throat, glancing around to see who all is listening. He doesn't plan on stopping regardless, but he wants to know who's paying attention and what their reactions are. "Well if you hadn't notice, I got a bit of a temper." He tries to give a weak laugh, but the seriousness of the situation makes the sad joke fall flat. He takes a deep breath and exhales. Just say it you bloody coward. Better to do a thing than live in fear of it. "I can't control it." He spits out.
"It's like...somebody else takes over. Somebody a lot more bloodthirsty and senseless than I am. I don't even know what's happening half of the time and it's all I can do to keep...it from cutting my throat; staying focused on the fight is all but impossible." He glances at Breewyn. "I feel like I'm possessed by a demon of mindless death."
He looks back at Tsakua. "That's why I don't care for it. Because I don't know when I'll be able to stop it." Well, there it is. I wonder if I'm walking out quietly or fighting out.
Tsakua stops and stares at Jietin for a while. A demon? Well, he fits the picture. Still pondering, he searches the tiefling's face, and he remembers the wild look the barbarian had about him in the heat of battle. A danger to all around him, friend or foe...
Not sure of what to say, Tsakua glances around at the rest of the group. A ragtag bunch of misfits if I ever saw one. What can we do? Most times we're at each other's throats, others we're friendly. What can we accomplish?
Zorgg hears Jietin speak of the demon and suddenly looks up with a curious look on his face. Demons are very real and scary. You must look out for them. People of my tribe once came across the home of a demon, in the forest. The great demon became very angry and shock the earth. Many homes were destroyed that day.
In reality the "home of the demon" was a shrine of Desna, and the earth moving was an unrelated natural earth quack. Zorgg is a bit superstitious. Especially since wild animals started talking to him.
Once the conversations moved away from the kobold or dragon Ishak decided he needed to occupy his time. Ishak wandered down the slope that lead up to the plateau, moving up along the rode in the shadows. It wasn't hard for the Kobold to hide in the night, and pretty soon if you were watching him he had disappeared. For what he was doing? Who knows.
The hour was growing late as the conversations went deeper, the group expelling what had been bottled up during the day and the time of their captivity.
The weather stayed relatively calm, the night sky was clear and the stars were bright. With the darkness of the world you could easily make out the band of stars that formed the celestial heavens above. It was quite the sight though everyone could begin to feel their eyes get heavy and their bodies ache for the rest that awaited them. With Octavian taking first watch it would be quite easy for everyone else to get some decent shut eye.
When everyone has finally drifted to sleep, it would unfortunately not be the one they hoped for as a very vivid dream comes about them...
Your arms felt heavy, you look down to see the weapon of your choice in your hands. It felt like you've been fighting a battle for hours now. Looking around you were in a city being seized, orange sunlight casting down on the world, only making the many fires seem even bigger. Bodies lay before and around you of humans and non-humans. A yell catches your attention as you look up. It was someone dressed from head to toe in full regal plate. You couldn't make anything else out but the armor and the medallion that hung from their neck. The medallion itself was a golden circle with a rose compass centered within. Each diamond of the compass was a different color. Though the only four colors that stick out to you are the red, green, blue, and yellow. They seemed important, you reached out to touch the medallion, feeling the time around you slow, your movements became ragged as the sky is suddenly above you again, but there was someone watching you as you lay there. Someone familiar with a sick, gut wrenching grin.
Then the realization hit you, that figure who watched you, was yourself. Then everything faded to black.
Once the dream faded to black you would awake with a start. The sky was a soft blue, the sun slowly rising from the eastern mountains, casting a soft yellow glow across the plateau and tree tops below.
Breewyn awoke with a start, panting. A sheen of cold sweat was on her face, and her eyes look around wildly. She felt better after the much deserved sleep and her eyes looked a little less insomniac-like, but the dream was intense and vivid. She listened to the sound of her breathing and the soft thud of her heartbeat as it began to slow. Taking a couple deep breaths she decided to get up and walk around for a little bit. She would not stray too far from the encampment, perhaps only around the lip of the plateau as she mulled over the implications of the dream she just had. She didn't dare to wake the others, figuring they were just as tired if not moreso than she was. After walking around for a couple minutes, she finally felt calm enough to try and sit back down near the remains of their campfire.
Tsakua sits up quickly, covered in a cold sweat, looking around frantically. He looks down at his hands, waiting for the battle weariness to come back, but it doesn't return. Standing, he stretches his arms and legs out and looks out over the horizon, searching for any sign of the soldiers they were expecting.
Pulling out a piece of bread and cheese, Tsakua walks over to where Octavian posted himself. Handing the wizard the food, Tsakua asks "Any sign of the enemy?"
Zorgg jumps up with a startle. What a terrible nightmare. I was a metal man. Zorgg realizes that he is sweating. What a scary dream. Glad we are still here.
Did they have nightmares too, or do they always look like that when they wake up. They are strange creatures after all. No I think they too had nightmares.
What did you dream of? he says to Tsakua and Breewyn. I had a terrible dream where I was a metal man.
Octavian jumped when Tsakua touched him on the shoulder and spins around. He smiles when he sees the food and takes it with a nod. In his other hand he's holding the book he scrounged and seemed to be reading it intently. "Not while I was awake. Not sure who took watch after me though but we're still here and in one piece so I guess we got lucky. No i was just thinking of how to take that caravan. Speaking of which, someone needs to keep an eye out for it."
Ira was awake, but she didn't start from sleep. She was used to nightmares, usually about the haunting, dead eyes of her mother. But a new nightmare had replaced it, haunting her with visions not of the past but of some horrible future. The compass stood out, lingering in her vision as she noted the colors. The kitsune felt like she knew the meaning but it eluded her consciousness. Something big was coming and she wished she knew the way to peace. But she was used to being lost in the wood. She would find her way. Sitting up, she moved to grab a bite to eat. She spotted the troubled goblin. She offered a piece of meat.
"Are you alright green one?"
Breewyn heard others stir, bringing her out of her introspection that she had while gazing at the remains of the campfire. She got up, brushing herself off as she moved over to join Tsakua and Octavian. She heard the goblin pipe up, and she almost replied, before Iraldia spoke to the goblin. She decided against saying anything, turning back to the other two. She then felt her stomach rumble again, and she went to rummage through what food they had leftover from the night before. She didn't want to dig into their collective rations if she didn't need to.
Zorgg grabs the meat like it was his last meal and immediately shoved it in his mouth. I have bad dream. I was a metal man watching myself.Lots of fighting and fire. Fire good. The metal man was me, but looking down at me. He, or I had a golden circle with a rose compass on it. Very strange dream. Metal men scare me. Lots of dead humans and non humans. Big fight.
Jietin pushes himself against the side of the plateau, falling asleep and snoring heavily within minutes.
"Raaaahhh!" Jietin wakes up with a jump, grabbing his weapon and stumbling to his feet. After a moment of looking around to understand that the camp is still calm, he breathes out and wipes the sweat from his brow. Then his face twists in anger. You control me in waking, leave my dreams alone you bastard! He snorts and spits, but then the others all look like they woke up from other bad dreams. He narrows his eyes. Magic? Probably bloody magic. Maybe that drago-where'd that little kobold go. Jietin frowns, then starts searching around the camp for the creature.
The sounds of birds chirping in the morning was a reassuring thing, whatever that was stalking them must've left as the normal sounds of nature were in full swing this morning. It was a stark contrast to what the day prior was. The world around them almost seemed like nothing ever happened the previous day.
Jietin frowns at the fleeing creature. If this creature has betrayed us, I will gut it with my teeth. He starts searching around the area, trying to find whatever the creature may be attempting to hide from.
Jietin doesn't see anything following the kobold. The kobold is now close enough where it makes a wild hand wave to Jietin then pointing his crude sword down the road. To anyone who might not understand general hand waves the kobold may seem to just be having a sporadic seizure of some sort. Though he doesn't keep it up for long as he scurries across the road to be against the cliffs before running up the ramp to the group.
"I went, found humans, they are down the road. Two hours away? Maybe." He was panting slightly from the sprint. "Watched them for a little last night. Counted. Lots of humans, ten dangerous. Got three wagons, full of stuff. Also slaves. Lots of them, like more above ten!" He was talking fairly fast and wasn't stopping for a breath, though that was from his excitement. It appears the little guy might be wanting to kill some of the humans. The little thing was a bit blood thirsty!
Jietin growls at the creature's random and sporadic movements. However, he can't deny the usefulness of the information. He turns back to the others, putting his thoughts about the dream aside for now. "We should prepare for them." He starts walking the area, trying to find good ambush spots.
Octavian snaps his book shut with a thump and tucks it away into his sash. He quickly moves over and pulls the top off the 3 barrels of blasting powder before setting them on the ground twenty feet away from the barrels. "I need a hole in the center of each of each of these only a little bigger then the girth of rope. A spear or sword point spun very rapidly should do the trick. Don't worry if you have any flare ups, there isn't enough powder to do more then flash." he says very quickly.
Next he goes the rope they have and using his spear cut 3 sections out, each a foot long. He tucks the rope into his belt and moves over to the kobold. He draw 3 squares in the dirt with his finger and looks at the creature. "Show me where the humans are and where the slaves are."
Breewyn crouched down watching Octavian drawing his map. It was crude, rough, but it would do for the battle plan he seemed to already have in mind. She hadn't known him for very long, and it seemed that ideas came very quickly to him. As if he was thinking miles in mere seconds. She saw how the hand-drawn map in the dirt started to take shape as he added more to it, based upon the kobold's observations.
What did you dream of? he says to Tsakua and Breewyn. I had a terrible dream where I was a metal man.
To Zorgg's question, Tsakua mumbled something about a nightmare, not sure he knew well enough to talk about his dream.
Looking out over the trail, Tsakua searched for anything that could be used to their advantage. They had the high ground, but very little to do with it. The barrels they could throw, or do whatever the wizard had planned, but could nothing else be used? They had only one archer, and should the humans have more bows, they would be sitting ducks.
Ishak looked at the Octavian when he began to draw in the dirt, his eyes glancing down to the squares. It took him a moment to understand that the squares were representations of the carts. When the realization hit him he grinned, "Smart! Smart!" With that he took his sword and began to draw X's in the dirt of the location of everyone. The end result were a lot of marks in the dirt, almost... a disturbing amount. They were largely spread out along the caravan structure besides a tight cluster of marks behind the last caravan. He then made a large circle surrounding all these marks and looked up to everyone who may be watching. "Slaves, like you, all non-human." He clicked his tongue and then made a sound that sounded like a chirp.
"Ishak will fight with you, you need help?" He was actually asking, what a nice kobold! "You not so bad. Me thinks you be what all needs." He gestured to the land behind them. "Ishak will like to help."
He gave one final nod fore pointing at one particular hex, this one he made a little square around, "Heaviest metal, on horse. Big metal spear. Very frightening." He must've been talking about a lancer of some sort. "How can Ishak help?"
As a lad, I always enjoyed tossin' rocks from cliffs, just t'see how they'd bounce and hear the stone strike. Chuckling, Tsakua turns to the group. "What do ye think, friends?" Gesturing to the boulders and debris on the plateau, he says "We could block the path with some logs. When they stop, we toss one or two of these pebbles down to get their attention, and when they come runnin' up to slay us, we bury the lot of'em!" Excitement shines in Tsakua's eyes as lays this plan out before the group, looking from person to person to see what they think.
Jietin nods and wordlessly helps Octavian with the barrels, using his stolen longsword to poke a hole in each barrel. "Let's close off the trees to the north and the path to the east with trees and rocks, making escape difficult. We need to make sure they don't just cut and run from us." Jietin starts going around to drag some boulders closer to the edge.
"For this plan to work we will HAVE to block the road somehow. A fallen tree or a few boulders should work. Secondly there is nothing to say they wont just hide behind the wagon's and take potshots at us. So here is my plan. It will require great stealth, daring and more then a little luck. We will use the human's arrogance and hate against them to make them blind to the obvious danger. First Jietin and Iraldia, I will use magic to increase the power of your bows for a few minutes. Then when they come into place I will use a short lasting spell to greatly increase your accuracy for a single shot. Both of you will aim at the neck of the commander and kill him in a single dual blow. The three of us will be in plain view when we do this and then we will taunt them." Octavian begins. He starts to smile as his plan unfolds and became quite animated.
"If we kill their mighty commander in front of god and the entire world in a swift move and then follow that up with several well placed taunts, they will chase us. If for no other reason then revenge, they will come for us. We lead them up the trail here-" and he points to the broken trail they used to come up. "Which will be further complicated by fallen trees and boulders used to hide two of the explosive barrels. At that moment anyone who can cast a flame will target the rope that I will impregnate with powder and will be stuck into the top of each barrel. They will die in an inferno of fire and shrapnel."
He points to the marks showing the rear guards. "Most likely they will not leave their post for fear of the slaves using that chance to break free. We will FORCE them to leave. Iraldia will stay up here and continue to pepper them with enhanced arrows. You Jietin, my mighty friend, will take the fight to their faces. Draw them away from the slaves and kill as many as will fight you. I would like you Luca and Tsakua to guard his flank."
Octavian turns and looks in turn at the three small folk. "You will have your own mission. With these keys-" he reaches into the bag hanging at his side and draws out the same keys they used to escape their bonds before. "You will hide in the forest near where their last wagon will stop. Take these keys and use the diversion of the fight to unchain the slaves. Lead them into the forest so they will not get caught in the fighting. However if any of them WISH to fight, aid them as well as you can. If however these keys do NOT unlock their chains then use that chance to instruct them to pull together. Most likely they will be attached to the last wagon and a unified effort will rip the chain right off."
He paused for a moment thinking something over. "Actually if the slaves wish to leave tell them to go into the forest and hide. I then want you three to move up and aid the three fighters. Most likely they will have taken a few wounds by then."
He looks at the rest of the group. "Any questions?"
Jietin listens to the plan, missing a few pieces of it, but getting the general concept. "Shoot their leader, harry them on the way up, blow up the powder, then clean up. Got it." So let's just hope that we can actually kill their commander that quickly, and then the men will be incited to rage instead of fear, and then they will charge up, and then they won't see the barrels, and that the others will remain by the slaves. The blue man makes a lot of assumptions. But there's little to be done about it, and I'm sure it's a far better plan then what I could come up with.
Iraldia chuckles at the blue man's wild plan, "You are totally bullcrapping your way through this." She gives a shrug as she slings her arrows over her shoulder, "You have my bow. But my priority after the leader will be to keep those slaves safe. Gommie will be on the ground there for added protection. Lets just hope we get lucky." She shakes her head at the ridiculousness as she begins to gather up her armor as well. Moving to the edge of the plateau, she scans the road as she straps on the armor.
Zorgg listens intently. Then he speaks up. Fire! I can make fire. I can make fire fly through the air and burn things. He then has a look on his face like he had an idea. I can also cast a spell to make someone not be able to move. Maybe Iraldia can pick off someone after I make them get stuck.
We going to get those nasty humans. I hope they don't have horses. They are so very dangerous.
"Dunno if any god wants t' pay that much attention t'us, they haven't seemed to care so far." Tsakua says, with a grin. "We're leavin' much t'chance, and if any get around us ye'll have a time of it killing them. I think we should try and draw some of'em up the trail where we can contain'em, but that leaves the woods open, and we don't want'em hidin' in there." Pondering, Tsakua puts forth another option. Pointing to Octavian's drawing, he says "One person could contain any soldiers that would come up this path, and Iraldia and yerself could keep any archers or others off Jietin's back from above, either with bows, spells, or rocks, and Bree could tend his wounds. While they fight to come up this hill, Luca, Ishak, Zorgg, and meself will come up from behind, freeing the slaves and trapping the soldiers under the cliff."
Looking up at the wizard, Tsakua continues "We'd still need the shot from the bows to bring them up the cliff, but we'd save blastin' that may damage the wagons or slaves. Ye may want to use it on them that'll wish t'climb to ye."
Breewyn listened carefully to the plan. It has a lot of chances for errors, but he seems to think that we should be successful. She at least felt a glimmer of hope with the amount of conviction he had backing his plan. He thought it would work and she felt more confident about as a result. However as the others heard and assessed their parts in his plan, she felt a little bit of her belief slip a little.
She was pretty sure he included her in the small folk that was to go down with the keys. However, if she was down there, if anything serious happened to Iraldia or Jietin...There could very possibly be a chance she couldn't make it back up quick enough to save them.
And that was where the flaws in the plan were, it was only successful so long as hits taken from the humans were minimal or non-existent. If they got too many lucky shots, Jietin would be face-down in the dirt faster than anything. Granted that's why they wanted to bait them along the path that made approach more difficult.
She bit her lip in thought. She wanted there to be no injuries, but if they happened she hoped that she would be able help. She also piped up, "I might be able to incapacitate a few of them for a short while, though it might have to be defensive if I get found..." She admitted sheepishly, looking around at the others.
Ishak shifts his weight as all the plans are spoken about, though he doesn't seem to care too much about it, all he is concerned about is destroying the caravan and killing the humans for revenge for the slaughter of many of his clan. He was hoping some of his clan members were actually with the caravan, as they were missing more then the bodies they had collected. He still remembered seeing so many kobolds bodies, including his little family. He had a special treat for the humans, oh yes he did.
"Ishak thinks plans are good," he said as he pointed his sword in the direction of where the caravan is coming, "But plan must hurry so we surprise!" There wasn't a whole lot of time for them to be debating what they should do, though it was mainly Ishak just getting very antsy.
"Ishak will help hide in forest. Ishak good at hiding. Ishak then will kill humans with slave, then free slaves." He gave a firm nod at that as he looked up to the others. "What we be doing?" He was getting ready to just run down the slope and begin getting everything ready. "If you care, Ishak thinks green mans idea using logs and rocks are good idea, help lots, less time to do. Also blue mans idea using barrels goood, but use them on slope, make them come to you, collapse rocks on them from the big boom. Big boom only hurt those we want. Kill for sure, kill many. Bury those who not dead alive." He grinned then, "Me help dig to hide barrels?" He looked between Tsakua and Octavian then.
Tsakua looks over at the small kobold and bites his lip, thinking.
"Buryin' the barrels is a good idea, but it might be better done on the path up here. Make them a little cautious about runnin' up to ye, and if done right might send some rocks down on'em." Turning, he gestures to Ishak and Luca to come with him. "Keep Bree up here and out of harm's way. The guards are likely to have their own keys, an' they won't matter much if we can't take'em off their corpses." Taking off at a jog, Tsakua turns around to deliver one last thought. "Don't mind us in the woods! When we hit'em, they won't know it till they're dead!"
Heading down the hill, Tsakua begins dragging logs and boulders to block off the road just in front of the path up the hill. Won't stop'em, but might keep their horses from gettin' up and stompin' on the small ones. When he finishes, he turns and hides in the woods, out of sight of the road, hoping the archers above get their shots off before he's noticed.
"Won't burying the barrels take a long time? Plus it might shelter the blast. Maybe just cover them with some tree branches and dirt or something." He shrugs. "Not that I know much about explosions." He takes out his bow and pulls it back effortlessly. Gotta get me one of those composite bows.