Mo'butu's critical confirmation: (confirmed!) Damage: (14 total)
Bwenge's trip: (success!)
Mo'butu moves forward to meet the two apes who disentangled themselves from the undergrowth, and as one of them stumbles forth, Mo'butu cuts a deep gouge in his neck. Growling and choking, eyes wide with shock, it falls to the ground and dies.
Meanwhile, Bwenge tears into her opponent, who is now covered with numerous wounds. It seems he is about to flee, but Bwenge savagely bites into his leg and brings him to the ground.
Bwenge:
Ape:
Bwenge is entangled, but the ape manages, somehow, to avoid the vines.
Taking a step backwards, Ku'ada draws out his longbow and takes aim at the standing but stunned Ape-man. <Fly true>, he cries in elven as he looses the arrow.
attack
damage
Rheed also attacks the stunned ape-man with a throwing axe. Unable to defend itself, the ape topples to the ground with Ku'ada's arrow and Rheed's axe embedded in its chest.
attack - hits
damage
Satisfied that the ape next to Ku'ada is out of the fight, Ceer turns towards Mo'butu. Turning causes his would to flare with pain and reignites his fury. He casts Daze (DC 16) at the ape in front of Mo'butu by snarling an incantation and gesturing.
will save vs daze:
The ape in front of Mo'butu reels from the flash of light in front of its face, but it remains on its feet. (It is dazed and will take no action this round.)
The prone ape fighting Bwenge attempts to attack the entangled panther. - Although the panther is caught by the vines, the ape's wild attack barely misses. (-4 penalty)
Mo'butu sees the affected ape man in front of him and swings his scimitar at him.
attack
damage
Bwenge snarls with anger, still feeling the pain from teh ape man in front of her's previous attack. She pounces and attacks with everything in her.
bite
damage
claw one
damage
claw two
damage
Bwenge ravages the fallen ape with her teeth and claws until its desperate thrashing ceases. Mo'butu's own attack against the dazed ape-man almost brings the creature to its knees, but the pain seems to help the creature focus and it begins looking for a way to flee...
Seeing the only Ape-man still awake looking for an escape, Ku'ada snarls and fires off a magic missile at the creature. "Perish, spawn of Silverback"
damage
With a grunt, the last standing ape is struck by the magical bolt of energy conjured by Ku'ada, and collapses onto the ground.
Five sleeping ape-men, and four dead and/or dying ones, litter the muddy, blood-strewn path.
Ku'ada turns his head and spits.
"Maybe we should bind these creatures before they awake", then as he gingerly removes the spear that struck him, "or perhaps spit them on their own javelins."
The druid gives the command to the panther to stand down and return to his side. He strokes her lovingly as she sits by his side. "Good girl," he whispers to his friend.
"I have rope to bind them, Ceer. Let's do that now," he says reaching into his backpack.
"Fine" Ceer replies "but Ku'ada's javelin idea sounds more satisfying."
You use rope to bind the five remaining ape-men, who remain under the effects of the magical sleep spell.
Grinning at Ceer's response, Ku'ada shakes his head. Speaking doubtfully, "It is possible this was only a misunderstanding. There are many tribes of ape-men, though they all serve Silverback"
"But we at least need prod one for information first..." He hefts the still-bloody spear, with the tip above the neck of the nearest ape-man, and prepares to wake him.
"Go ahead Ku'ada." Ceer says. He loads his crossbow and points it towards the ape. "I will kill him though if he tries anything."
Ku'ada nods at Ceer and then lowers the tip of the spear to the ape-man's neck.
With a swift kick; "Wake up creature. Why have you attacked us who offered you no harm? Are you here to do Silverback's bidding and if so what brings you so far south?"
The ape-man awakens with a grunt and quickly realizes that he has been bound. He glares hatefully at Ku'ada as the elf speaks, then says, "This King Silverback's territory! You trespass! You must die!" Feeling the prick of the spear against his neck, the ape-man cringes and continues, "But... you strong warriors, have strong magic. Maybe you not be killed, if you join King, help find red stone..."
Mo'butu stands closeby listening with rapt attention to the ape man's threats. He held Bwenge back, as the adrenaline from the fight left his body. He further inspected Bwenge's wound, and saw that she had taken a strong shot from the attackers. "I'll fix you up this evening," he tells her, petting her head.
Rheed had momentarily lost his composure at the sight of the Silverback King’s warriors, his mind reeling back to the fateful ambush that had torn Tameka away from him. After regaining himself, the roguish warrior returns his knife to its sheath and looks around to check if his lapse had been noticed.
"Well done," he says offhandedly, striding forward to look down at their prisoner. "We are strong warriors," he speaks to the ape-man with a feigned smile, "perhaps we could help your King find this stone... what's so special about it?"
The ape looks from Ku'ada to Rheed and says, "Red stone very valuable. Only King know why King want stone. King very angry that short man take stone. We look for stone, look for short man, but we not find stone or man. No one at camp know where stone or man is either! We feel King's anger!" The ape looks furious, but also very afraid...
Bwenge, brave as ever even while injured, stays close to Mo'butu, but sniffs at the other sleeping ape-men as well.
Letting up the spear just a bit, "Who is this short man you speak of? Know you his name or associations? You must at least have his description."
The ape-man glances nervously at the spear, still dangerously close to his throat. "He is of the Thornleaf family of small-folk. This much we know. He take stone that King want, and now he is gone."
Rheed narrows his eyes almost imperceptibly at the mention of Thornleaf, then leans towards the ape before speaking confidentially, "maybe you should tell us where this short man took the stone from so we can look for ourselves, we might be able to track him down and recover the stone for your king..."
The ape-man says, "Took from old ruins, north and east in jungle, one day for apes... longer for man. Very dangerous place, shock that short man not dead man. But, stone gone from that place now."
Upon hearing the name "Thornleaf", Mo'butu casually looks at the group, trying to see if they recognized the name that the dwarf had given them earlier that very day. He continued to stand in silence watching the others question the creature.
Ku'ada glances back at Mo'butu and nods.
Stepping back and reversing the grip on the spear, he asks, "You know no more leads on where this... Thornleaf character has got to? Perhaps some of your fellows nearby who could tell us more information?"
The ape shakes his head and replies, "We do not know. Have been looking for days, still do not know. Maybe camp-dwellers know, but they no talk... yet."
"You've been to the camp?" Rheed asks simply, "the one along this trail?"
The ape-man nods, "Yes, camp now belong to King."
"Do you know if Thornleaf was alone or were there other people with him?" asks Ceer.
Nu’mara’s legs were starting to cramp from running away from Malgri’s camp. For days now she had been looking for a way out. Not wanting to miss her chance, she broke into a full stride down the road toward Nantambu, the closest city she could remember. As she rounded a bend in the road, she could hear talking. One sounded like an ape-man, but the other was not. Hoping she had found people who could help her free the camp, Nu’mara slowly comes around the corner, hands in front of her with her palms out breathing heavy from the long sprint. As she spots the elf with a spear to one of the ape’s throat, a sense of relief overcomes Nu’mara and she collapses to her knees.
Looking up at the sound of Nu'mara's approach, Ku'ada calls out, "Greetings to you traveler, you seem to be in some distress. Have you news from Malgri's camp?"
Nu'mara looks up at the Elf and with short breaths of words she speaks. "Ape-men..captured camp..they won't..let anyone..in or out." She begins to rise to her feet. As she catches her breath she speaks again. "I had been tracking them for awhile and thought I would take a rest at the camp then they attacked. It does not look good, I fear for their lives."
At this news Ku'ada lowers the point of the spear back to the throat of the ape-man. Grimly he asks, "How many more of you servants of Silverback are near, and who is your leader?"
The ape looks around frantically as the newcomer arrives, clearly nervous and seeking a way to flee. He cringes with fear when the spear returns to his throat. "Two more groups, our size, at camp. Led by Garboko. He mighty hunter, maybe you talk with him, help find red stone...?" The ape-man looks imploringly at those gathered around him.
Nu'mara hears the ape's words and knows that he speaks the truth about the number of apes remaining at the camp: about twenty more.
"The ape-man tells the truth. What exactly do you know of the one who stole the treasure Elf?" Nu'mara asks as she approaches the group. "Sorry, I am not trying to be rude. My name is Nu'mara, it is nice to see friendly faces about."
Rheed rises from his crouch, nodding a quick greeting to the new arrival, then leans in to whisper to Ku'ada.
"I don't think we're going to learn much more from this one," he nods down at the bound ape-man, "and if the camp is in danger we should act quickly."
Ku'ada nods in agreement to Rheed and grins wickedly at the ape-man. "You been most helpful." Quickly flipping the spear around he delivers a swift blow to the creature's head.
nonlethal damage
Not noticing the effectiveness of his blow, he turns to Nu-mara and smiles. "Not at all... you may call me Ku'ada. My companions may want to introduce themselves... as for the treasure-thief, it was taken by a halfling named Thornleaf. Him we are looking for as well (along with his companions) but for more benign purposes than these creatures here."
"In that case, I would like to accompany you. I have nowhere else to go and I owe this King Silverback revenge for my village's slaughter."
Fortitude save:
The ape grunts and collapses onto the ground, unconscious.
"I for one welcome you, as we shall have a tough fight ahead of us if we intend to rid this camp of the influence of this Garboko. With the welcome we received," waiving his hand at the battlefield, "I am not terribly disposed to work with this creature."
Looking around at the bound and sleeping ape-men, "We still have to decide what to do with these creatures. I hate to slaughter an intelligent being while it is defenseless, no matter how foul. But it would not be good to leave them here, with the leisure to break their bonds and come upon us from behind. Perhaps we could bring them as hostages to deter further attack? But I do not think that Garboko would hesitate to rush to bloodshed in any case. At the very least we can take all of their weapons."
"Quite, I doubt Garboko will put much value in any hostages we take," Rheed agrees with the elf, "and bringing them with us in their current state might proove... difficult."
The rogue then turns to Nu'mara, "we'll need all the help we can get against those numbers, you can call me Rheed."
"Nice to meet you Rheed. I agree, it may be difficult to move these creatures as is. We should move quickly though, I have little faith that the ape-men's patience will last much longer." Nu'mara says with a weary look on her face.
"Did you see how well organised these apes were before you left?" Rheed asks as he starts to gather up the fallen weapons, "did they post guards and such?"
Nu'mara knows that the apes had about four guards patrolling around the camp at any given time, and the rest of the ape-men were generally fairly spread out amongst the camp, which is roughly 100 by 80 feet. Much of this perimeter is protected by a low, crumbled wall of some ancient building, but those who stay at the camp are just as likely to pitch their tents outside this perimeter as within it, depending on how crowded it is. The more permanent tents used by Malgri and the other people who live at the outpost are currently inhabited by Garboko and his apes.
"Greeting, Nu'mara. I am Mo'butu," he nods in her direction.
"I think we need to take the weapons of the helpless creatures as well. They will be less of a threat to others unarmed."
"I say we leave them bound and burn their weapons." Nu'mara agrees. She then looks at Mo'butu with a nod. "Greetings to you."
Stooping to gather the weapons nearest him, "We may have a hard time getting anything to burn in this wet, but we can at least carry them a ways with us toward the camp if that fails."
"Any ideas on dealing with the ape-men, companions? My talents are such that I can call a seeming of one imposing man or large creature, to distract some away from the others, or perhaps to cause them to feel outnumbered and overwhelmed. However, it will have no abilities in battle and will make no sounds of its own."
"Perhaps we could lure a few of them away with your decoy," nodding to Ku'ada, "...deal with those, and have a more manageable group at camp," the druid suggests.
"I like the sound of the plan." Ceer says with a grin. "I have a feeling that some of them are going to feel sleepy."
He turns to Nu'mara. "Are you injured? We have supplies to share if you need them. Also, how far from the camp are we?"