"Well we could at least silence this ugly and noisy one. I wouldn't mind doing that now, his screams are irritating my ears." Yresk says as he looks annoyed at the mite.
"It would be better to question him before he is silenced forever, especially as he seems to have alluded to our missing Idol. I agree that we should scout around the area, but it appears that his friends were merely cowards and abandoned this one."
Skoll sighs and looks to the left and then to the right before spitting out the grass in his teeth.
"Any other mites there were are no longer here. This is not their trap.It is ours. Nevertheless, caution is prudent.["
With the merest gesture Skoll sends Mandible to scour the area for tracks of mites.
Mandible skitters about never moving more than 5 feet from Skoll's side.
Scent: Survival
Though it would be near impossible to hear approaching mites over the loud stream of profanities the trapped mite is screaming, it seems that his companions must have truly abandoned him, as none of you can see or smell any others. Draahzin does manage to spot a couple of trees which have been carved with Draconic runes, each indicating a cardinal direction indicating the direction from that tree to where the trap was set.
As you argue over what to do with the mite, he again attempts to contort himself into position to gnaw at the rope he's suspended from, and this time actually manages to grab it. Straining with all his might, he now starts trying to pull himself up, his teeth already chomping in anticipation.
Glaring at the audacity of the mite, Werpfoil concentrates to bring his powers of unluck upon him. "It would still be good to take him alive for questioning... but he may have sealed his own fate."
"Just kill the damn thing and be done with it." Yresk walks up to the mite and stabs him with a dagger.
Skoll tries not to let his horror show as he moves past Yresk to the disgusting creature hanging from the rope.
Move action: Move to mite
Standard Action: Cast stabilize if necessary.
"Yressk! We may question the blighted creature yet. We go to its lair. Finding out the mites' defences, tricks and traps or other unwelcome surprises is our aim. Then kill it!"
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Draahzin after scouting the area rides back to rejoin the rest of his fellows who have surrounded the hapless Mite and stabbed it. He nods approvingly to Yresk and says, "Good strike Tresk. Right under the ribs with a twist for good measure. Make use of that technique against more Mites in the future."
He looks to Skoll and says, "Yes yes, keep him alive for now. He could tell us information. But be careful, mites tell lies."
Yresk looks at Skoll and Draahzin with a questioning look.
"As far as I could tell, the thing didn't want to talk to us. Not much use for him then now is it?"
Yresk cleans his dagger with a piece of cloth, but wipes the last bit of blade away with his finger, looking quite insidious.
Then he takes some distance between him and the mite, waiting on the others to talk.
Sezzen snorts a laugh. "Wanted to talk too much, but not a useful word among them."
If the mite is still alive, she'll draw a dagger and move up to it with her best toothy grin.
Krik' listens intently as the others discuss the future of the hated mite.
While listening he takes a closer look at the tracks of the other mites trying to determine how many there were, how long ago, and in which direction they went.
If we can track these other mites, we should try to end them before they can return to their hovel. Fewer to deal with later.
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Draahzin Greyscale nods to Krik and says, "Yes, that is a good point Krik. We spent enough time dealing with this fool. Finish the Mite off and we shall track them back to their holes."
He takes some of the mites blood and puts it to Glyphar's noise and says, "Track Glyphar."
His wolf picks up the scent and Draahzin rides on the wolf as it follows the scent he gave him to find more of these creatures.
Skoll ignores Draazhin's "orders" and stands menacingly by the mite, watching Sezzen's interrogation with interest.
"Just as eassily as we ssave you we can end you, mite. Talk to usss of your home!"
The mite screams and then passes out, the pain from Yresk's dagger too much for him, blood spilling forth onto the ground. Skoll's quick application of a divine orison saves the mite's life, however, he's still unconscious and thus blessedly silent. Sezzen may have to poke and prod him a bit to be sure he's in fact knocked out, but he definitely is out of it and eventually even begins snoring. This leaves you with the obvious options of leaving him be, finishing him off, or cutting him down and dragging him along with you as you continue.
All of the tracks Krik' and Draahzin can find indicate that the mites who ran away all headed off in the general direction of the Sootscale Caverns after an initial panicked flight, and the tracks can't be more than a day old. A larger grouping of tracks suggests that the mites approached from the northwest, likely coming directly from their reported lair under the great sycamore tree Chief Sootscale described. With luck, you might be able to follow the tracks, though from his description, the tree is easy to find, and it is the entrance itself which has evaded detection.
However, he will not disagree with just dispatching the varmint. One less mite....
Onward Kobolds!
Yresk will try and follow the tracks back to the ancient tree, but decides to wait for the actual trackers several feet further on.
"Kiil him, less trouble and less drag for us." He states on the subject of the mite.
"If he was still awake, he would be worth questioning. As he is now, he will merely be a waste of resources and effort."
With that Werpfoil expands his massive dragon jaws and tears out the Mite's throat. With that, the Kobold turns to follow the trackers towards their goal.
The mite hangs limp and silent from the snare now, blood dripping onto the earth from the gouged wound in his throat. Setting out again, you find that though the mites' tracks are difficult to follow at times, by spreading out somewhat, you're able to navigate the path they took for several hours before finally cresting a hill and seeing the silhouette of a massive tree on the next hill. It's far more difficult to follow the mite trails from here, however, as there are many similar tracks, the whole area rife with signs of the ugly blue menaces.
Aside from the giant sycamore tree looming over the crown of the next hill, there is almost no vegetation to speak of, the area seemingly stripped barren by the mites. Even the tree itself, towering more than twenty metres into the sky and spreading out to cover a diameter of at least sixty meters, has seen far better days, its branches still bare of leaves weeks after the end of winter. Approaching the tree in stealth will be no simple task, and the knotted roots of the giant tree give plenty of hiding spots for the mites to either observe your approach or plan an ambush.
Sezzen approaches the crest of the hill in the shadow of a dead bush, to avoid being silhouetted against the sky. She eyes the hollow between themselves and the old sycamore with a frown.
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Draahzin Greyscale also stays low and in cover thinks on the situation. After pondering he says "By looking at this tree I can tell that the Mites have many exit points. Just walking up to the tree is setting us up to be ambushed. I have a few ideas of what to do. We can set fire to the tree thus forcing the Mites to leave their holes in order to protect their home. This might burn the statue as well though if it is stored in that tree. Another option would be for someone to act as a decoy to draw out the mites and get surrounded. Once the Mites have emerged though we can spring our own trap and surround the mites. This will put one of us at risk though as they will be surrounded and it will be have to be someone who can weather the blows of weapons. Only myself or Sezzen could fulfill such a role. A third option would be to search for holes and clean them out of mites one by one. Kobolds are about the same height as mites so we should be able to fit into their holes although Glyphar can not."
Werpfoil listens to Draahzin respectfully then responds in an even tone, "You have more experience fighting than I, however, there are likely many more mites than we could reasonably fight all at once, no matter what our skill Draahzin. Thus, I would suggest the last option, trying to fight them a few at a time, possibly with hit-and-run tactics."
Yresk looks on at the great sycamore tree and groans at the open field before him.
"Such an open field they might see us coming long before we might see them, though I can still try to approach stealthily. Their vision is as good as ours in the dark and they do not expect us now, I might be able to sneak closer and try to find a few sentries to take out."
Yresk tells them as he looks on for any signs of movement out on the fields.
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Draahzin Greyscale shakes his head to Yresk's suggestion, "We cannot leave you alone to do this Yresk. If you get caught we will not be able to close the distance fast enough to save your life. Werpfoil's suggestion seems like the best one. We will edge ourselves towards the tree searching for holes along the way and flush out some Mites and then retreat when their numbers get to plentiful."
Sezzen hisses her remark in a low voice, cautious that the group may already be within sight and hearing of sentries. "Old Sharptooth's statue is all of stone; very solid and without flaws. I think that fire would not harm it." She makes a displeased noise in the back of her throat. "The greater risk is that when fire flushes the entire mass of them, we could find ourselves greatly outnumbered and surrounded. Chief Sootscale advised us to be wary of fighting them en masse."
Let us wait for night, I can cover our approach with an illusion, enough to get us to the tree.
"We can't stay standing here, we'd better make up a plan else we'd never get the statue back."
Yresk tries to look at the great sycamore tree and the field again before heading out.
With that Yresk slides down the slope and stealthily tries to approach the great sycamore tree.
Skoll also listensintently to Draazhin, Werpfoil, Yresk and Sezzen in turn. When Krik' speaks Skoll nods.
"All good points. I think we use the option Krik' provides."
Sezzen is silent, but there's laughter in her eyes when she realizes what Yresk is up to. When he's gone she shrugs to the rest of the group then poises herself once more in the shadow of the dead bush, ready to charge when an enemy is revealed. The very tip of her tail flicks back and forth while she waits.
Skoll shakes his head in irritation.
"This is not wise. Twice now Yresk does as he wishes, impulsively and without consideration. If we do not act as one suit of scales on one proud dragon we will die as mere stupid lizards."
He pauses, watching the brave, deft little kobold sneak off. He turns to Draazhin.
"Draazhin. We may disagree on general approach, but I defer to your tactical nous...If you wish to lead, I will support you - but we must have unity."
Nodding at Skoll, Werpfoil adds, "Yresk is acting with the chaos of a goblin. We cannot let him risk the mission. If he returns, we will speak with him. If he is caught out alone against the enemy, we cannot let this mission fail by charging into combat like goblins. He will be on his own. We are Kobolds, we act with thought and order, working together. That is our strength." Seeing Sezzen tense, the mystic adds, "Sezzen, we must use tactics for they are many and we are few. If one charges alone, the one is lost like a foolish goblin. If we work together as Kobolds, we may be victorious."
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Draahzin nods to Skoll and says, "It is good you know who the leader here."
Sitting tall in his saddle he says with pride he says, "Here is my command. We shall flush the holes for Mites and face them in smaller numbers. As Glyphar and myself cannot fit in the holes I will stay outside and provide cover against any emerging Mites as well as make sure we have a venue for escape. Better we catch the ambushers first than walking straight to their lair and allow them to emerge from behind us. If their numbers become too many we shall retreat and regroup for another assault in the future."
Nodding to Draazhin, "Sound tactis as I would expect from a reknown warrior such as yourself. You will surely be a great military advisor to the chief some day. I would suggest, however, that we wait for our goblin-addled companion to either spring a trap or return to us before we move on..."
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Draahzin notices that Yresk Shadowscale has vanished and growls, "That fool disobeyed me. His impulsive actions could get him killed and ruin our surprise. Kobolds, sneak up and watch for holes in the ground. You see a hole, search it for mites and kill all you find. All of you sneak out first. I shall follow behind and cover the rear and cover the party against Mite attacks."
He pulls out his sword, readies his shield and points for the more stealthy folks to go ahead intending to follow behind to cover the rear as he is much less stealthy while mounted on a wolf.
Werpfoil shakes his head sadly at Draahzin's command. "No. Better we wait for Yresk to succeed or fail then to march off and fight on multiple fronts. Draahzin, you are a great warrior, but you are not Cheif. You do not command here, we are a team of equals who must work together."
Sezzen gives a rasping laugh. "Are we, or are we not?" she hisses, her eyes not leaving the valley below. "Talk takes forever. Yresk and I have fought side-by-side often enough. He knows what he's about."
Skoll is visibly unimpressed with Draazhin's plan.
"I rescind my support Draazhin. I support Werpfoil. Better we do nothing than die with poor leadership."
"Sezzen, we must assume that Yresk will return and report what he has learned. I doubt even he is foolhardy enough to assualt the tree on his own."
Sezzen looks away from the valley just long enough to raise a browridge at Werpfoil. "Didn't I just say as much?" She remains poised to rush to the scouts' aid, at need.
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Draahzin Greyscale snarls and says, "I am the leader here. I got the big wolf and my great warrior might. Don't lip back to me Skoll. I do not serve under a weakling like Werpfoil nor do I take the bantering of a druid to sway my actions. I gave an order and I expect it to be obeyed. Get in there and start cleaning out those holes."
He pulls the reigns of his wolf and it growls. He gives a fearsome glare at the others and looks very angry and menacing.
Wolf Intimidation Check
Draahzin Intimidation Check
Yresk slowly approaches the great sycamore tree, walking slowly and close to the ground hoping to avoid any traps or holes the mites might have near.
In this darkness his slow movement might not catch the mites's eyes.
Further back he hears some sort of aggravated sounds, no doubt his disappearance had been noticed by others like Sezzen. Sezzen knew he'd like these reconaissance missions, catching sentries off guard and preparing for an ambush. He looked forward to it.
Let's hope the mites think the ruckus over there are just some animals, a wolf or coyote, we shouldn't alert them of our coming if we could help it.
He watches his step as he approached further hoping he could return with information for the others, none of them had been here ever before.
"Or else what? Will you sick your wolf on us? Will you draw blade against us? If you are a traitor to our tribe then attack us and get it over with. If not, then stop acting as if you have a right to lead here. We are a group of equals, all beholden only to the Chief. We all share the same mission. The enemy is down there, in that tree - unless you are a traitor, then the enemy is here and we outnumber you three to one."
With that, Werpfoil calmly watches the larger kobold.
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Draahzin Greyscale sees that Werpfoil is not going to obey him and has an urge to move to more physical means of persuasion. But merely attacking him would be a violation of his cavalier oath and make him a "Traitor" to his people. Still yielding on this issue would be a sign of weakness and that he can not do. He would not yield to a lesser Kobold.
He looks to Werpfoil and says, "Then stay here and shiver like a rat in a hole. If you will not obey my commands then I shall get the job done myself."
With that he jostles his wolf and rides out stealthy and looking around for holes where the Mite may be hiding.
Krik considers the ground between the group and the tree, he casts an illusion of lumps of earth, 10' wide, and several feet high, varying the heights and sizes of the illusory ground. Here be our way in.
That said he slowly and quietly walks towards the tree while maintaining his concentration on the illusion.
Shaking his head at the foolish wolf-rider, Werpfoil follows Krik cautiously along behind the illusion. "No wonder the wolf-rider wasn't sent along on the earlier raid... his delusions of granduer and an inability to work with others do not bide well for our success."
Skoll watches the showdown between Werpfoil and Draazhin. He isn't interested in leaders, by support he merely meant supporting Werpfoil's position,which was also his own.
He watches Draazhin ride down and feels sorry for Glyphar. So many lost kobolds over the ages. Lost to pride and foolishness. No wonder kobolds were not masters of the earth.
"Let us go Mandible. We must support our kin."
Skoll strides purposefully after Werpfoil, Mandible attentive at his heel.
Sezzen looks between Werpfoil and Skoll, as Krik' sneaks off into his sheltering illusion. "It is unwise to rush in without our scouts' report." She sighs. "But if we must, we must." With some reluctance, she abandons her hidden position and follows the blue-tinted mage as quietly as she's able. May Old Sharptooth guide us. If not to victory, than at least to survival.