Jaden takes the skin, takes a quick drink and hands it to Effan
"Much thanks my freind, it is good to see you again."
Jaden takes the skin, takes a quick drink and hands it to Effan
"Much thanks my freind, it is good to see you again."
Effan also drinks. "Ahh that's good after a long march." He hands it on to whoever is closest.
Morganst sighs quietly in relief that his companions know these lizard folk. If there wa sone thing he'd learned from playing cards, it was knowing when to shut up and listen. So he did.
Keegan looks extremely ill at ease dealing with the lizardfolk. His hands tighten around the handle of his morningstar.
Keegan looks extremely ill at ease dealing with the lizardfolk. His hands tighten around the handle of his morningstar.
Abe takes a drink from the wine skin and passes it on. He bows to the lizard-person "It is a great pleasure to meet you."
He pats Leo to calm him. "It's ok boy, they are friends."
One of the five looks at Jaden and says "Hello, Jaden-human, it isss good to ssssee you again!" Jaden suddenly realizes that this particular warrior was part of the first meeting that the group had with the Folk, "The Talon Leader wasss hoping your party would come by. He wasss hoping to offer ssssome help. We didn't expect you to come from thisss direction though, we thought you would use the lumber camp roads to get to us. By what path did you travel?"
"We came by way of Elara's. We thought it would be more direct than the lumber camp."
"Elara, yessss. Ssshe is a lovely human woman. Ssshe hassss ssssuch a good way about her and is a blesssssing to thossse kidssss. How doessss sssshe and the child-humanssss fair?"
"Much better, we helped the dark cloud pass from them. All the children are whole again and she cares for our beasts of burden."
Faldor rubs his small legs as they continue walking, "The great ballads never tell you how long and far the heroes of old walked."
"Uhmmm... Do you want a Hozsy-back ride?" Hozs squeeks at Miss Squeeker who climbs down and begins walking alongside him. The big man then picks the short-one up and slings him on his back.
Morganst chuckled. "They also ever mention the amount of ale needed for those epic quests. I mean seriously... How drunk do you have to be to go hunting fully grown dragons, right?"
"Uhmmm... Do you want a Hozsy-back ride?" Hozs squeeks at Miss Squeeker who climbs down and begins walking alongside him. The big man then picks the short-one up and slings him on his back.
Letting out a yelp as he is picked up he settles down and smiles. "Thanks Hoz."
Effan stifles a snicker at Faldor and his mount, then looks down at his own feet, which despite being in the finest boots to be found anywhere, are starting to get sore. Maybe dignity isn't everything. He begins to silently envy his bardic friend. A feeling that only grows worse when Catharine begins trying to climb his backside looking for a ride of her own.
Next pet I get is going to be a pack-dog. Abe is on to something there.
"Much better, we helped the dark cloud pass from them. All the children are whole again and she cares for our beasts of burden."
Faldor rubs his small legs as they continue walking, "The great ballads never tell you how long and far the heroes of old walked."
"Dark cloud? Of what do you ssspeak? Ssshe and the newtsss were fine sssseveral weeksss ago when we lassst visssited with her." he says with what looks like concern on his face.
"Yes a young girl had contracted a disease and we helped Elara heal the young one and all is well with the children now."
"Wasss it the ssssame assss the one in your human-town? The damned koboldssss tainted Elara'sss well alssso?"
...
...
... and the newtsss were ...
"Newts? I thought she was turning into a wolf not an amphibian?"
Hozs' face drops at Effan's discomfort. "Uhmmm... Bark Leo snuffle ruff?"*
"*Leo, do you have space for one more?"
"No a girl was bit by a wolf and contracted the lycan disease. But I don't trust the kobolds not to try an attack against our young ones."
"Divine Droppingssss, a Were-creature?! At Elara'ssss! We must take actionsss to prevent her from sssssuch problemssss in the future. I will ssssuggest to Talon Leader Sssethissss that we sssshould man a ssssmall outpost near her to help protect her and to offer more asssssissssstanccce. Besidessss it will give usss an excusssse to be around to help her out more...." he states.
The party travels for about an hour with the group before they come to the river and head northward. Soon the sounds of a towns activity can be heard and the treetop crosswalks begin to come into view. The group is guided to a grouping of ancient darkwood trees and into a courtyard formed within the midst of the trees.
"Pleassse sstay here for a moment, Talon Leader Sssethisss will be brought immediately. Have sssome fruit and fermented musssshroom wine while you wait."
Effan stifles a snicker at Faldor and his mount, then looks down at his own feet, which despite being in the finest boots to be found anywhere, are starting to get sore. Maybe dignity isn't everything.
Keegan doesn't even try to stifle his own raucous laughter. Pointing at the unlikely pair, he slaps his knee exaggeratedly.
"This in't half ridiculous, innit? Droogy thinks 'e's a horse! AH HA HA HA HA!"
"Divine Droppingssss, a Were-creature?! At Elara'ssss! We must take actionsss to prevent her from sssssuch problemssss in the future. I will ssssuggest to Talon Leader Sssethissss that we sssshould man a ssssmall outpost near her to help protect her and to offer more asssssissssstanccce. Besidessss it will give usss an excusssse to be around to help her out more...." he states.
The party travels for about an hour with the group before they come to the river and head northward. Soon the sounds of a towns activity can be heard and the treetop crosswalks begin to come into view. The group is guided to a grouping of ancient darkwood trees and into a courtyard formed within the midst of the trees.
"Pleassse sstay here for a moment, Talon Leader Sssethisss will be brought immediately. Have sssome fruit and fermented musssshroom wine while you wait."
"Fermented mushroom wine? Sounds like something my aunt Roclabsta would serve. Thanks. " After the lizardman leaves Effan tries an experimental sip. He makes a sour face and whispers, "Tastes likesomething my aunt Roclabsta would serve too. " More loudly, "Keegan, I think you might like this."
"Pleassse sstay here for a moment, Talon Leader Sssethisss will be brought immediately. Have sssome fruit and fermented musssshroom wine while you wait."
"Eurgh... What sorts o' saverges is thinkin' fruit's food? In't rightways, that."
"Fermented mushroom wine? Sounds like something my aunt Roclabsta would serve. Thanks. " After the lizardman leaves Effan tries an experimental sip. He makes a sour face and whispers, "Tastes likesomething my aunt Roclabsta would serve too. " More loudly, "Keegan, I think you might like this."
Keegan makes a sour face.
"Feh. This one insn't right liking the taste o' likker. All th' stuff smells unhealthsome-like ter me, eh?"
"Uhmmm... Bark Leo snuffle ruff?"*
"Grrr. Woof Woof!"
Dog:
Faldor squeezes onto Leo's saddle behind Abe, and they travel that way to the lizard-folk camp. Leo appears to be straining under the load, but is doing his best not to show it.
Faldor climbs down and trys some of the wine but after making a face he begins a little song;
'Hurrah for Jones' brewry, may it never fail
Brew us beer and porter and beautiful stock ale,
That's the stuff for me, my boys, it drives away all pain.
Whenever I can get a glass of it I'll have it just the same.'
"Not bad at all," Faldor says with a beeming grin.
Morganst sips quickly. Actually it was a bit earthy but not too bad. A quick tilt of his head and he swallowed the mushroom wine down. 'It's not elf-wine, but it'll do in a pinch."
He was still uneasy around the lizard folks. But the others seemed fine so he tries to stay relaxed. Morganst glances over to Keegan with a shocked look. "Wait... You don't drink?"
Hearing Morganist yap about Keegan's none drinking only comes to Jaden in one thought. "More for me", and he quickly flags over the liquide.
Sethis, the Talon leader, arrives shortly after. The lizardfolk warrior that was speaking with the group steps up to him and exchanges some words with him in their native language, then the warrior heads off quickly.
In draconic-
The Talon Leader then turns to the group and addresses them, "My friendssss! It isss good to ssssee you all again, and to thossse I haven't known before, welcome to our town. We have been trying to watch the ruinssss for more of the ssssmall-sscalykindsss activity but it hasss been difficult with the dissstance between there and here. We have dissscovered from the Kobold you left with usss that hisss group isss trying to weaken the human-town and fill their own rankssss until they are sssstrong enough to desstroy the humans.
My sssscoutsss have reported that koboldsss from other sssmall tribesss are being brought into the ruinssss at a ssslow rate, jussst a few at a time. We esssstimate the number of recruitssss to be sssmall at thisss time, only about 25 or sso recruits. We expeccct that number to risssse to around 30-35 by the time you can get to the ruinsss, in addition to the original tribe of 20 or sssso. The captive ssspoke of a leader that hasss rissssen, a new King of the Koboldsss.
He can't be permitted to gain much more power or he sssshall be a threat to all in the area, including my town.
To that end I would like to sssend with you, a Talon. 10 of my warriorssss to help end thisss threat. I have given them insssstructionssss for what to do when they arrive. Half of them would meet with my ssscout to find out if and where the lasssst kobold team headed to look for recruitsss and they are assssigned to track them down and eliminate them. The other 5 would asssssissst you in assssaulting the underground lair if that issss acccccceptable to your group. They would be under your leaderssship and would offer asssistance in whatever way you, Jaden, would decide is most helpful.
I really don't have many more troopssss to sssend without leaving the town somewhat un-patrolled and unprotected and I really don't believe that numbersss are what isss needed in thisss underground asssault.
I would like to also offer sssome assssistance in the form of accesssss to ssome itemsss of power that my folk have acquired over the agesss. I will take you to the treasssury and allow you each to choosssse one item to help in your quessst. You may keep thissss item if the king isss killed, and the threat removed.
What sssay you all?
Hozs fingers are tangled at trying to figure who many scalefolk will go which direction, but he snorts out a brief laugh. "Uhmmm... Jaden can we? Please can we?"
Effan looks to Jaden, who has had double his share of the mushroom wine and Hosz who is obviously having trouble keeping track of his digits. Then he decides to speak, "Thank you, Talon Leader Ssssethisss. I think I speak for all when I say we would be glad to march beside you in this cause."
"Hrmmm... Twoscore littlescales for the bashing and skewering..."
Keegan's eyes flash with a hellish light.
"Hells, I'd do this job for free."
"Hells yeah!" Taking a swig of mushroom wine, you are not sure if he is referring to the wine or the prospect of killing kobolds.
Jaden takes all in all that is said, waiting for it to all sink in. He starts to thank the leader before Effin beats him to the punch, he really needs to slow down on the wine.
" I think they will be more then helpful. They will meet bone and steel with the short lizards basterds, and help throw down the would-be king."
Jaden takes all in all that is said, waiting for it to all sink in. He starts to thank the leader before Effin beats him to the punch, he really needs to slow down on the wine.
" I think they will be more then helpful. They will meet bone and steel with the short lizards basterds, and help throw down the would-be king."
The Leader takes the party over to the treasury to help them pick out some gear for their quest, leading them down into a tree trunk, to a winding tunnel that leads deep under the river judging by the direction taken. The treasury is quite well stocked and a bit of a surprise to the group. There are a good amount of masterwork weapons and armor of small and medium size, although metal armors are looking scarce.
Treasury-
----normal items----
Bracers of Entangling Blast (MIC)
Cape of the Viper (MIC)
Cloak of Resistance +1 (there are 3 available)
Rhino Hide Armor (DMG)
+1 Bloodfeeding Morningstar (MIC)
----Altered/custom items----
Glove of the Soothing Hand- a blue and green glove covered in small, shiny river rocks-(3x/day any healing spell delivered with the gloved hand is maximized)
Armor of the Fox- made of foxskins with a large fox skull helmet attached (+1 leather armor, +2 to hide and move silently, 1/day activate(swift act.) to gain +4 to charisma for 5 minutes, 3/day activate (standard act.) to cast Disguise Self as the spell with a duration of 5 minutes.)
Otter Armor- Sleak, oily armor made of otter hides (+1 hide armor, Swim speed equals 1/2 land speed, +10 to swim checks, 1/day activate (swift act.) to gain a +4 to dexterity for 5 minutes.)
Darkwood Shield of Mercy- A deeply carved shield depicting a group of paladins holding a line, while behind the line several of the paladins tend to wounded soldiers (+1 Heavy Darkwood Shield, expend smite attempts to heal damage or conditions- heals wounds equal to 2x smite damage- can use 10+ healing to Remove Poison or Disease(non-magical)- can use 15+ healing to heal up to 4 points of ability damage- can use 20+ healing to remove negative levels (1d4).)
Scalydeath- The axe head looks like a scaled hide of greenish-silver with a handle that resembles a scaled tail (+1 Battle Axe, that becomes +2 vs. Reptilian and Amphibious Humanoids and does 1d6 bonus damage to those also.)
Bow of Javelins- Rough looking bows with fetishes tied to the ends -there are a few different types here (+1 bow, when normal arrows are fired from the bow they become enlarged for 1 round, dealing the next size category of die damage when they hit (1d4-->1d6, 1d6-->1d8, 1d8-->1d10), This effect is only bestowed upon non-magical ammunition.) They have longbows and shortbows available, along with composite versions of up to +2 strength bonus.
8 Acidfont Arrows or Bolts- (non-magical, alchemical-AC5 to target an area, 2d8 acid damage in a 10' radius for 2 rounds. DC14 reflex for half.)
6 Arrows (bolts) of the Bite- (+1 arrows, DC16 fort or 1d6 constitution damage, no secondary effect.)
Javelin of Electric- appears to be a scorched piece of darkwood, possibly struck by lightning, that has been fashioned into a javelin (+1 javelin that when thrown becomes a bolt of electrical energy for the first 30' of it's path before returning to javelin form to complete it's path. It is treated as a 2d6 lightning bolt for the first 30' of travel, then as a +1 javelin of electric (+1 shock damage) for the remainder of it's flight.)
All special items can be enchanted to be either small or medium sized by one of the lizardfolk mystics for free.
Please copy the relative text into your Character sheet for special items so the info on their usage is available.
Bracers of Entangling Blast- 3x/day activate (swift action) to have a spell do 1/2 damage, however any creature damaged by spell is entangled for 1d3 rounds, taking an additional 1 damage per spell level, per round entangled on the caster's turn.
Cape of the Viper- Has 3 charges/day renewed at dawn (swift action to use), spending charges turns the wearer into a viper for 7 rounds as follows:
1 charge= small viper
2 charges= Medium viper
3 charges= Large viper with +2 to the save DC of bite's poison.
Change is like a polymorph effect, replacing stats and abilities with those of a typical viper except for HD, HP, alignment, and ability to understand the languages you know.
{I saved the best for last, Shiny!}
+1 Bloodfeeding Morningstar- everytime it does damage it gains 1 blood point, which can be stored for up to one hour. The weapon can store a maximum of 10 blood points. This requires no activation.
When you deal damage to a creature while wielding a bloodfeeding weapon, you can activate the weapon to spend up to 5 blood points. Each point spent deals an extra 2 damage to the creature. The weapon doesn't gain blood points when using blood points while striking.
Other than that it's a +1 morningstar that looks like a leering devil head with spikes all over it.
Not very close to leveling. Yet.
Jaden eyes over the hoard that would slow a small army, and slowly looks over the battle axe that looks like it was made from scales. He picks it up and test the balince with a few swings.
"I like the feel of this one. If you will, i will take this."
Jaden steps back to the leader, with his old axe in his hand.
"I would ask you keep this old axe here, it brought me luck. It is what i have left of my father.[/i]
The Leader takes the party over to the treasury ....
Treasury-
----normal items----
Bracers of Entangling Blast (MIC)
Cape of the Viper (MIC)
Cloak of Resistance +1 (there are 3 available)
Rhino Hide Armor (DMG)
+1 Bloodfeeding Morningstar (MIC)
----Altered/custom items----
Glove of the Soothing Hand- a blue and green glove covered in small, shiny river rocks-(3x/day any healing spell delivered with the gloved hand is maximized)
Armor of the Fox- made of foxskins with a large fox skull helmet attached (+1 leather armor, +2 to hide and move silently, 1/day activate(swift act.) to gain +4 to charisma for 5 minutes, 3/day activate (standard act.) to cast Disguise Self as the spell with a duration of 5 minutes.)
Otter Armor- Sleak, oily armor made of otter hides (+1 hide armor, Swim speed equals 1/2 land speed, +10 to swim checks, 1/day activate (swift act.) to gain a +4 to dexterity for 5 minutes.)
Effan looks over the treasury, holding back, waiting for the others to choose first. He'll ask the lizaradman a little about each item, and how it was made, especially the enchanted items.
Abe takes the Rhino Hide Armor and looks at the gloves.
Looking through the collection of items and examines the river rock gloves, then also looks through the weapons and removes four bolts of the Acidfont and places them into his quiver. As he is about to slip on the gloves the Armor of the Fox catches his eye then pauses as he tries to figure which is better to suit his band of friends.
“What do any of you suggest I take with us?”
Abe takes the Rhino Hide Armor and looks at the gloves.
Nope, only with spells. And it's only one glove.
Yes, they would. Any spell that does Hit point damage to any number of targets. Entangling Fireball sound cool?
Looking through the collection of items and examines the river rock gloves, then also looks through the weapons and removes four bolts of the Acidfont and places them into his quiver. As he is about to slip on the gloves the Armor of the Fox catches his eye then pauses as he tries to figure which is better to suit his band of friends.
“What do any of you suggest I take with us?”
If you want the arrows you would take all of whatever type you choose. Don't forget though, only one magic item each.
And to everyone, don't forget that you can replace one other weapon with a Masterwork weapon and your regular armor with a masterwork version (if it isn't metal).
+1 Bloodfeeding Morningstar- everytime it does damage it gains 1 blood point, which can be stored for up to one hour. The weapon can store a maximum of 10 blood points. This requires no activation.
When you deal damage to a creature while wielding a bloodfeeding weapon, you can activate the weapon to spend up to 5 blood points. Each point spent deals an extra 2 damage to the creature. The weapon doesn't gain blood points when using blood points while striking.
Other than that it's a +1 morningstar that looks like a leering devil head with spikes all over it.
"Hurrrmmm..."
+1 Bloodfeeding Morningstar- everytime it does damage it gains 1 blood point, which can be stored for up to one hour. The weapon can store a maximum of 10 blood points. This requires no activation.
When you deal damage to a creature while wielding a bloodfeeding weapon, you can activate the weapon to spend up to 5 blood points. Each point spent deals an extra 2 damage to the creature. The weapon doesn't gain blood points when using blood points while striking.
Other than that it's a +1 morningstar that looks like a leering devil head with spikes all over it."Hurrrmmm..."
Having second thoughts Faldor puts the bolts back and grabs one of the cloaks and drapes it across his small shoulders.
"Thank you clan friends for these gifts."
Seeing the others begin to finalize their choices, Effan feels comfortable making his selection. He draws one of the cloaks of resistance from the stack. "I will wear this with pride and try to be worthy of your trust, " he tells Ssssethisss.