With Wulfram busy tying up the giant gecko, Rogar mumbles to himself, "We have got ta stop takin home every animal we find. There won' be room fer people before long at this rate."
However, he does nothing to stop Wulfram. Instead, he does his customary 'capture' routine, taking the token and club from the unconscious Trog, and raising four stone walls around it, tying up as well.
"Ah suppose we'll want ta take this one home and raise 'im, too, will we?"
Wulfram finished restraining the giant lizard, while his companions brought down the remaining foes. "We could form a traveling circus," he replied to Rogar with a grin. "Seriously, though, the gecko could be very useful. It can climb smooth, sheer walls! I'm not so keen on the other one; it seems very unpleasant, in more ways than one! Did anyone understand what they were saying? I couldn't make head nor tail of it."
Both the gecko and troglodyte begin to stir, though they still remain incapacitated.
"They were speaking Draconic," Karla says. "They said the stones told them we were intruders and we must be slain."
"Stones? Interesting. Rogar do you speak to stones? You seem to handle them well enough. I say kill the Trog, and take the lizard." Eustoma is ready to move on away from the stink.
Wulfram considered Karla's account of the Troglodyte's words. "I wonder if the Ironfang are communicating with them somehow, or if it's something else entirely," he said. He stayed silent when Eustoma talked of killing the captive. He was uneasy about the idea of slaying a helpless intelligent creature, but was there really another option? If this creature was in league with the hobgoblins, releasing it could be very dangerous. He paused and listened to what the others had to say before responding.
"Speak? Nay. Torag has blessed me ta command tha stones, but ah cannae speak ta them yet."
"Is anyone familiar with these Troglodytes?" Wulfram asked. " I don't know much about them. If some of them can be trusted to keep their word, we could bargain for information, and perhaps let this one live. If, not — well, I don't like just killing it, but we might have no choice."
Eustoma tries to recall what she knows about troglodytes, and if the can be reasoned with or trusted. "I'm trying to remember what my Da told me about these."
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"Per'aps ye should try, lass. See if ye can learn anything from 'im about where they live- it migh' be a good place ta stay." Rogar tells Karla, stroking his beard.
As you debate what to do, the troglodyte regains its faculties. You can hear it snarling and hissing angrily, though it is securely bound behind Rogar's stone walls.
The troglodyte hisses and thrashes in its bonds. "Your presence here has disturbed the balance! The stones have told our leader of your unnatural violations. The only way to settle this is to drag your rotting bodies back to our caverns and use them for protective rituals to ward off further intrusions!"
Wulfram frowned as Karla translated the creature's response. "I'm not seeing any room for compromise here. This troglodyte seems to be an implacable enemy."
"Do not play a fool!" the troglodyte says. "You know of what I speak. Our leader says the stones cry in protest at your passage upon them. The earth weeps as the soft-skins abuse it. The Children of Stone will avenge these transgressions!"
"You are the invaders!" the troglodyte screeches. He thrashes and snaps his teeth at Karla, refusing to say anything more.
Wulfram listened to the exchange between Karla and the troglodyte. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was pretty clear that the reptilian was hostile. When the conversation was at an end, he said, "I have to agree with Eustoma's earlier assessment — kill the Trog and take the lizard." It pained him to say this, but he was unwilling to put the refugees in further danger by releasing the prisoner.
"I can ensure his end is quick," Wulfram replied. He picked up his spear.
"Trogs don't come to the surface often. When they do. They aren't friendly. Go ahead please. It will do no good to reason with him." Eustoma sighs and prays to the forest for forgiveness.
Wulfram moved directly in front of the Troglodyte and aimed his spear at the creature's chest. He thrust with all his might, trying to end the enemy's life as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Afterwards, he bowed his head in sorrow that it had come to this.
Wulfram ensures the troglodyte's end is quick and merciful, driving his spear through its heart. With that taken care of, you return to the camp.
Rhyna, Jace, and Karrga are tending to your sick followers, helping them recover from the filth fever. Your other parties return from successful foraging expeditions.
Kining mutters a grudging thanks when you return her pack to her. "I came across several hoofprints in the woods nearby. They looked like horse tracks to me, but I didn't see the beast they belonged to."
Wulfram meditated, and then magically enhanced more berries.
As they discussed plans for the next day, Wulfram said, "I would really like to try to contact the Chernasardo Rangers tomorrow. We could use their help."
"I agree. We should head for the Rangers tomorrow." Eustoma says as she works on some animal traps while sitting near the fire. SiA at her back. "Which direction were the hoof prints in?"
"It looked like they were heading east," Kining says. "I tried to follow them but I lost the trail after a mile or so."
"The Rangers are due south of our camp," Wulfram replied. "We'll have to leave the main forest and cross a short stretch of open ground to reach the stand of trees containing their redoubt. It may take us all day to get there."
"Do we per'aps want ta track down where tha Trog came from? There's got ta be a cave or summat nearby tha' they live in. Bu' yes, we need ta find tha rangers. We're far too open an' defenseless agains' tha Hobs and Trogs. Thinkin' o' which, we should probably set a double watch tonight, in case there are more trogs that find us." Rogar looks around as he says this, looking deep into the woods for pursuit.
Yes double watch sounds like a good idea. I think we need support from the rangers if we can get it. We need to let them know what happened."
You set up a pen for the giant gecko separate from the wolves and your herd of sheep and goats. Indeed, it is quite an eclectic collection of animals you are gathering.
You double the watch over night, but fortunately no enemies attempt to attack your camp. In the morning, Aubrin wishes you luck as you prepare to contact the Chernasardo rangers. The retired ranger has almost fully recovered from her injuries--another day and she'll be good as new.
"Good luck, friends. Oh, and if you see a ranger named Tomasz, tell him I said, 'These aren't my pants!' He'll know what it means!" She laughs at what is presumably an inside joke.
As you depart, Wulfram notices the clouds moving quickly through the gaps in the trees. A warm breeze blows through the woods. The signs seem to indicate that a powerful storm is building. It will likely hit the region tomorrow.
You travel south through the woods for most of the day, emerging briefly into the sunlight before plunging back into the shadows of a swampy gully. It is mid-afternoon by the time you reach your destination.
The forest grows thick here, trees pressed close together with their branches intertwined. A gloom hangs in the air. Foliage around the base of the trees is sparse, stunted by lack of sunlight. The songs of birds and noises of small animals have ceased, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the ancient woods.
This eerie gully contains a number of standing pools and dead trees, all swarming with insects. The redoubt is a large tree house built above the depressing terrain, protected from most predators by the muddy water below. A worn path leads to the building, a short wooden footbridge crossing a muddy stream.
"Aubrin glad to see you are looking better. I'll be sure to pass your message along."
Eustoma looks a the pathway and the muddy area below the tree house. Karla you may be right. I'd trap the path to my home if I didn't want visitors."
The pathway is trapped, but not in the way Eustoma had expected. The perceptive halfling spots the nearly invisible spiderweb that is strung across the trail just before the bridge.
Soft scuttling noises brings the hunter's attention up to the trees, where she sees bulbous shapes moving in among the branches. She sounds the alarm as two spiders the size of men skitter down towards you! Further away, a hideous purple creature clambers among the branches. It walks upright like a man, but its face is that of a spider, and its hands are sickle-shaped claws.
The monster quickly spins a web and hurls it at Eustoma! It sticks to the hunter, entangling her as the creature approaches its prey!
Eustoma struggles with the web in an attempt to get away. "Watch out for the web."
"Storm's brewing," Wulfram observed, looking at the sky through the trees. "The camp should be OK; Aubrin has been around in the wild longer than any of us."
Wulfram scanned the terrain vigilantly when they came to the stretch of open ground, as they neared their destination. This is where they could be most easily spotted, and were vulnerable to riders on horseback. He was relieved to get back into the trees, even though the passage was more difficult.
As they walked into the deepening gloom of the gully, Wulfram noted that the sounds of wildlife diminished to leave only an eerie silence, broken only by the sounds of their own footsteps.
Wulfram gazed upon the wooden structure looming over them as they approached the redoubt. "It doesn't exactly look welcoming, does it?" He looked for signs of sentries.
When Eustoma was caught in the ambush, Wulfram rushed forward and tried to pull her free.
Rogar wastes no time in blasting the closest spider (to him), unwilling to risk hitting Eustoma. A line of disrupted earth snakes it's way to the vermin, and a jagged pillar bursts out of the ground at the spider's many feet.
Sia moves up and bites at the purple creature.
Eustoma struggles to free herself from the web, but she's still stuck tight.
Rogar blasts the nearest spider with a column of stone. It crushes part of its carapace, but there's not enough force to knock the arachnid back.
Wulfram tries to tug on the halfling's bonds to get her out, but he fails to make much progress. Besides being big and poisonus, he doesn't know much about this particular breed of giant spider. He knows nothing about the purple monster--it's an unnatural aberration.
Karla moves around to catch the aberration in a color spray. It blinks its many eyes, unfazed by the pattern.
Sia moves in and bites the creature. It hisses as the wolf tears a chunk of flesh from its leg.
Nik'o growls as she eyes the nearest spider warily.
The spiders leap down and scurry over to attack. One bites at Rogar, but the dwarf's armor protects him from its mandibles. The other bites Nik'o, injecting poison into the lynx.
The cat resists the poison and retaliates, tearing at the spider with her teeth and claws.
The purple monster chitters with laughter. "Oh, yes, yes, yes! So many new friends! New friends for All-Eyes! But bad dog go away!" It assaults Sia, slicing the wolf with its sickle-shaped claws.
Eustoma gives Sia the aspect of the Bull, and the tries to escape her bonds again.
Sia bites at the purple creature again.
"Friends don't attack Friends!", Wulfram replied to All-Eyes.
He stabbed at the aberration, trying to silence it's disturbing chatter.