Oh yes, how aggressive of them, reaching for weapons after having been pounced upon and assaulted by a group of strangers? We made the first hostile move or are you so addled brained you simply do not recall?" The dwarf says looking at the big man with disgust in his eyes. "If they had attacked us first we would not be having this talk now would we?"
Kardok just stands a bit behind Devlin, mouth agape, looking at the discussion unfold itself in the group.
Draconic:
On the other side of the camp, Kay and Taras express their vote for Michael as well, standing behind him.
Taras seems to want to speak some words with Michael now, though doesn't want to disturb the conversation going on.
Kardok just stands a bit behind Devlin, mouth agape, looking at the discussion unfold itself in the group.
Draconic: ** spoiler omitted **
Majet standing near the Kobold responds
Draconic
Whatever she is saying she seems to give a glance over to Big Ern as she says it
Michael looks around, confused and concerned that the group seems to be splintering into two and that people see him as a potential leader.
He nods at Delfrey, Devlin and Queslin in acknowledgement at their vote of confidence and decides it might be time to interject.
He strides up beside Branomonrik and places a hand on the priests shoulder, "Gentlemen, can we agree to disagree, before we say something we can not withdraw, mistakes were made by both sides of this arguement. Let us learn from these mistakes and heed each others advice. Take me for example, I know nothing of the reputation of Kobolds for cunning and trickery, to me they look rather comical, lying on the floor with their bloated bellies. Had I been forarmed about their reputation I may of been more, let us say, cautous." He looks at the two big warriors with hope. "Shall we agree to at least try and put this behind us and continue on togethor, if we find we come to an impass in the future, then at least we can say we tried?"
Oh yes, how aggressive of them, reaching for weapons after having been pounced upon and assaulted by a group of strangers? We made the first hostile move or are you so addled brained you simply do not recall?" The dwarf says looking at the big man with disgust in his eyes. "If they had attacked us first we would not be having this talk now would we?"
"I admit that I'm not an expert on the law, so let me get this straight for the next time I go to the big city:
If a stranger yells something at me, that's an attack, and I should draw my weapon.
But if a stranger pulls a knife on me, that's not an attack, and I should do nothing.
You can be my lawyer next time I get into trouble, then. Or I'll at least invite you to the hangin'."
"Shall we agree to at least try and put this behind us and continue on togethor, if we find we come to an impass in the future, then at least we can say we tried?"
"No. I cannot accept you as leader, and I definitely can't trust you in combat. You, and several other of these 'holier-than-thou' diplomats, have proven you don't have our backs if you happen to dislike how a situation goes down. Your companions are in danger, and instead of helping them, you stand aside and say "I hope one of the little buggers guts one of you"? I'm no expert on your god, but I can't imagine he teaches that. If that truly is his stand, than perhaps I need to re-examine the respect I had for him. Abandoning supposed comrades when they're fighting an evil race is the height of betrayel and cowardice. If anyone in my home tribe had done something similar, they would face exile ... or worse. And that applies to the everyone who 'sat this one out'."
Agerron retrieves his horse, and gets back on it. He looks to Queslin a moment, "And you, elf. I had thought better of you. Your companions abandon us in the midst of combat, and 'vote' one for leader? You fired with us, remember. Well, so be it. Your choice, I guess."
Astride his horse, he turns to Big Ern. "Are we going after the mites?"
Astride his horse, he turns to Big Ern. "Are we going after the mites?"
Ern grins. "'Bout time! Enough talk, let's go!"
He rather gracelessly mounts his horse as well.
"Keep up your studies, Stubby. Maybe I'll see you back at Oleg's later."
[ooo]Lots of things.[/ooc]
"You seem to gloss over the fact that the pair of you caused the fight in the first place while the others where talking, so yes too right we didn't back you up. You risked our lives by starting a fight that was avoidable and you expect us to leap up and down and be overjoyed at fighting beside you. I hope your blood lust doesn't become your down fall."
With that Michael turns his back and walks over to Taras who has been trying to attract his attention.
Night falls, as the two humans ride off, away from the makeshift camp.
Michael:
Taras keeps his voice low, when talking to Michael, speaking of his time with the bandits at the Thorn River Camp:
We found just one of them alive when we came back.
They came in the night, slaughtered 2 of our men, took a third prisoner. The last one defended his post up in the tree, so they let him be.
They stole some of our... of the bandits stolen stuff. Took it with them to their lair. It's an underground complex under an old dead tree, as far as I know. 20, maybe 25 miles about southeast of the bandits camp.
We didn't need the stuff they took (just some trinkets and copperys), and well... loyalty isn't high among bandits, so we didn't go after them at all."
Kardok looks after the two riders, then looks at the elf, to which Agerron spoke lastly.
Draconic:
Branomnrik shakes his head as the two wonder off "Foolish, very foolish. I wash my hands of their fate, sometimes children must be burned by the fire" he says to no one really. "That was well said Micheal, well said indeed. Now shall we make camp here? and what says the kobold, Kardok was it?
Devlin says, "Kardok, yes. He asked why Queslin didn't got with Agerron and Ern." He then turns to Michael and asks, "Okay boss, what's next?" and he grins.
Michael nods at Delvin before looking at the others, "if we agree, I think we should rest here tonight, then tomorrow, I suggest we give the mapping a break and head to this kobolds home," he looks at Delvin for confirmation on his pronunciation, "Car-Dock, correct?" pausing to choose his words carefully, "I believe it is in our interest to get to the kobolds home before they can get too riled up and ready for retaliation for their losses, their is no guarantee that taking Car-Dock back will be enough to make peace after the loss of some of their numbers," he gestures at the bodies of the dead kobolds (two of them?) "we need to go their looking for peace, but be prepared for the fact that we may end up at war, taking their dead back, may go some way to make amends, but..." he shrugs, unsure of what to say next. After and awkward silence he adds, "Taras has given me some information on the mites, it may be of use to Agerron and Ern, I think," he pauses again, his brow furrowing in concentration, "I think we should at least furnish them with the information, so they don't ride off to their deaths, or at the least, their deaths are not on our conscience," he looks at the others for support, "I was thinking, maybe, me Taras and Queslin, track them, they can not of got far, and let them know what Taras knows, we should be back before night fall."
From his tone and the amount of questions he asks during the speech it is obvious he is not sure of his role as leader. He finishes by looking at both Taras and Queslin to see if they agree.
Queslin looks at Runner and his disapproval is evident, though that's nothing new where the former bandit is concerned. He gathers his gear in silence and begins tracking Agerron and Ern. They haven't been gone long and he saw the direction they were headed so he expects it to be rather easy to find them.
Survival includes fav enemy bonus
"I view mites as irredeemably evil, and therefore have no issue with assisting Agerron and Ern massacre the homicidal little bastards. I say we all catch up with them, and work together to fight the mites, after which we should see to returning Kardok to his tribe. What say the rest of you?"
Branomnrik shakes his head. "I vote nay, While I do not mind killing the mites if need be we mat have put the folk in this land at risk of a war with the kobolds. Those two are like children who have been scolded. They ran off in a huff while leaving us with the matter of stopping the threat we caused, one way or the other. " He sits down near the fie
"No, I say, the mites are where they are, but the kobolds could be riled up and ready to strike at some poor hunter or farmstead or the trading post all because those fools lashed out without thinking. I say we handle the threat we caused first. We sent the elf, who we could have sorely used in case of ambush. That is more then those two deserve if you ask me."
With that the dwarf warms his hands on the fire,waiting for the others to vote or have their say.
Majet seeing the confused look on the Kobolds face begins to translate everything that has been said so far (although in regards to Ern and Agerron she simply says they have decided to go hunt mites)Once she has finished explaining everything that had been said up to that point she begins to speak with the others "I think it would be best to ask Car-dock here if he really wants us anywhere near his home before we decide to do anything." Majet then again translates what she has just said to the Kobold.
Night falls, as the two humans ride off, away from the makeshift camp.
Big Ern takes 10 on his Survival check for a result of 13. Agerron, can you Aid Another?
Big Ern takes 10 on his Survival check for a result of 13. Agerron, can you Aid Another?Night falls, as the two humans ride off, away from the makeshift camp.
Aid another check for Survival
Agerron and Big Ern:
After three quarters of an hour riding in the dimmness you see a small fire behind some trees. Sitting around that fire, you see some human figures and three humanoids that aren't as tall.
You found your way back to the group you wanted to ride away from. Maybe riding in the dusk is not the best of practices.
Queslin and anyone else tracking the two, if that would happen:
You only make some steps away from the fire and pretty much lose the trail the two must have left. Unmounting you search for a minute to find it again, only to see it already going in another direction.
Some yards later you give up. Them two are probably getting themselves lost, even within the hour.
Kardok thinks shortly about the things Majet translates for him, then asks, warily:
Draconic:
Maybe if you bring back Old Sharptooth to Chief Sootscale, he will not go to war with humans?"
Draconic
Majet seems somewhat excited about something
"Gods be damned! We're back here." Agerron says to Ern as they see the others in the distance. "I suppose we should probably make our own camp and try again in the morning. Should we try and head back to Oleg's first, to see what information we can find about the mites first?"
"Naw, I don't think they have any more information on the mites than we know already. Let's just hunker down here and head off in the morning. You can take the first watch; I need my beauty rest."
"Naw, I don't think they have any more information on the mites than we know already. Let's just hunker down here and head off in the morning. You can take the first watch; I need my beauty rest."
"Very well." Agerron takes out some rations, and lights a small fire for warmth. He eats while watching and listening.
perception
Michael is disappointed at not being able to inform the two warriors of his information, but is pleased when they return later. Initially he thinks that they have maybe had a change of heart, but then he realises that they are making their own camp. He makes a comment a to the others about the will of Erastil.
He decides he should give them the information and heads over to their camp, he approaches noisily and with out stealth, stumbling over a few tree roots on the way.
Despite the noise he made approaching, he still coughs at the edge of the fire light before entering, hands spread towards the floor in a sign of peace. "I know you have no respect for me, but please hear me out, it turns out Taras has information on the mites that you will need if you are to hunt them, he told me a dozen of the mites raided the bandit camp at Thorn River while only four of the bandits where present. They killed two, dragged one away and the only one who survived hid in one of the platforms. Apparently they came at night and took some of the bandits loot back to their underground lair which is 20 odd miles southeast of their camp under an old dead tree." he shrugs, "just thought you would want to know where to look and what you are facing," he will turn and leave unless he is engaged in conversation. Stopping just at the edge of the fire light to say, "good luck."
Devlin translates what Kardok said about the mites, then says, "I would seem fate has plans to keep our group together. Perhaps it would be best for us all if we accompanied those two to the mite's tree, retrieve the statue, and then return Kardok and the statue to their tribe?"
Kardok talks excited with Majet:
We tried to steal it back from the Mites, but we lost good Kobolds in the try and didn't find it in their lair.
And the longer we don't have it, the worse Old Sharptooth's curse hits us..."
The Kobold seems rather worried at the end.
Draconic
Draconic:
Kardok seems really worried
Sense motive.
[mite talk deleted for brevity]
Ern grumbles to himself as he nestles into his blanket, "Great, I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight without knowing there are exactly twelve mites to kill."
Michael is disappointed at not being able to inform the two warriors of his information, but is pleased when they return later. Initially he thinks that they have maybe had a change of heart, but then he realises that they are making their own camp. He makes a comment a to the others about the will of Erastil.
He decides he should give them the information and heads over to their camp, he approaches noisily and with out stealth, stumbling over a few tree roots on the way.
Despite the noise he made approaching, he still coughs at the edge of the fire light before entering, hands spread towards the floor in a sign of peace. "I know you have no respect for me, but please hear me out, it turns out Taras has information on the mites that you will need if you are to hunt them, he told me a dozen of the mites raided the bandit camp at Thorn River while only four of the bandits where present. They killed two, dragged one away and the only one who survived hid in one of the platforms. Apparently they came at night and took some of the bandits loot back to their underground lair which is 20 odd miles southeast of their camp under an old dead tree." he shrugs, "just thought you would want to know where to look and what you are facing," he will turn and leave unless he is engaged in conversation. Stopping just at the edge of the fire light to say, "good luck."
Agerron frowns as Michael approaches. "Thanks for the info and well wishes. At least there's no hoping for us to be gutted by the 'little buggers' this time."
Kardok reverts to being mistrusting when he answers Devlin's question:
We have Chief Sootscale and we follow his order.
We have the shaman Tartuk and we hear his spiritual guidance.
The chief has some eldest to advise him as well.
The Kobold is a bit unsure what else Devlin's question was aimed at, but the sneer in one word is clearly audible.
Some more discussions are had until the group makes their way into the bedrolls.
The night is uneventful and at the next morning Kardok is still with the group. He slept a bit offsites, under the watchful eyes of Delfey, as to not be part of any possible 'accidents' to either side.
Thus starts the Wealday, Pharast 10th. 4710AR.
Agerron and Big Ern are within sight of the rest of the group, when the breakfast is had.
Sense motive
Majet awakens and immediately starts t pre pair concoctions for the day.
Queslin prepares for the day's travels. "Mites or kobolds first?"
"Mites. Retrieving the statue of the kobold deity would be another tool we could use to gain their trust and assistance."
He continues in draconic...
Branomnrik sleeps snug in his bedroll, but is up at dawn to pray to the vault keeper for both spells and guidance. He sits with the others around the embers of the last nights fire, brushing frost from his beard
"Aye, although I would like to settle the kobold matter, the mites sound far more deadly at this time. And retrieving the kobolds trinket may give us leverage. We may be able to make them useful. I'll go with how the council decides on this. May Adabar guide us"
Yawning Kardok answers:
The Kobold gets a bit excited to fight the Mites, it seems.
Michael looks up from a brief prayer to his god and looks at Devlin questioningly, "Back up a bit, statue? gods?"
Michael ponders and speaks again "I am pretty sure Big Ern and Agerron are intent on heading to the mites and they have made it crystal clear that they do not want to travel with me. So as I see it we have a few choices:" he counts the options off on his fingers,
"1) Try and team up with them.
2) Give them the task of going after the mites, possibly some of us going with them so they do not die.
3) Beating them to the mites as we know where they live."
Big Ern gets up, stretches and yawns, and starts packing hastily.
"Come on, Killer -- time's a wasting! Hopefully we'll have better luck in daylight."
Survival:
Xanda sighed. She'd been riding North East for what seemed like forever.
*Eventually I'm going to find some one who can point me in the direction of a road.* She thought, though her very lightly loaded cart was not giving her any trouble, she really wanted to find something flatter than grass to pull its large wooden wheels over.
On the plus side, the forest she was currently riding trough did kind of remind her of home, but she didn't want the trees to be growing any closer together, lest she have to back track. Still it was nice forest to ride through...
She glanced towards the rising sun. She'd risen early today, not that traveling alone had kept her to any sort of real time table. She'd moved along when she'd felt like it. Stayed and camped when the site and weather had been nice when she'd felt like it.
SShe glanced around as her horse continued to walk along. Today looked like it was going to be more of the same, trees, grass and a few hills. She shifted the light x-bow where it rested ion her lap. Maybe she could spot a rabbit or pheasant for a change of flavor to her diet...
Big Ern gets up, stretches and yawns, and starts packing hastily.
"Come on, Killer -- time's a wasting! Hopefully we'll have better luck in daylight."
Survival: 1d20+3
"Very well. Don't you need to make some of those concoctions of yours?"
Aid Another survival
Big Ern shrugs. "It only takes a minute, so it doesn't really matter if I do it now or later. You can heal, right? In that case, I might whip up a shielding elixir."
He putters around for a minute or so, then says: "Satisfied, grandma?"
Devlin summarizes, "The kobolds had a statue representing their deity, Old Sharptooth. The mites stole it. The kobolds want it back. We get it, return it and Kardok to the tribe, maybe have a better chance of forging an alliance with them instead of having to slaughter more things."
After Kardok's request, Devlin asks the group, "Would anyone be opposed to giving him one of the spears? He seems very enthusiastic about fighting the mites, and would be happy to lead us to their lair." He looks over to Agerron and Ern's camp and sees them already departing. It's easy to see he's debating whether or not to tell them they have a guide to the mite lair.
"He gets no spear until we're in the mite caves." Queslin says. "Actually, Michael, they have to choose wheather to come with us or to follow us. We have a guide while they have to search out the mites. I suggest we tell them then get ready to go."
Big Ern shrugs. "It only takes a minute, so it doesn't really matter if I do it now or later. You can heal, right? In that case, I might whip up a shielding elixir."
He putters around for a minute or so, then says: "Satisfied, grandma?"
Agerron laughs. "Yeah, I'm satisfied, "Cookie". Let's get this show on the road."
Agerron and Big Ern head in the direction of the mites (see above Survival check).
While Branomonrik, Devlin, Delfey, Majet, Michael and Queslin discuss the situation with/about Kardok, Agerron and Big Ern mount their horses and ride off to the southeast.
They don't ride far though, as only some strides later they see a female half-elf riding a horse, pulling a cart behind her, towards north.