Diceros examines each in turn. The big human, Maegar Varn, is not carrying any weapons. At first Diceros thought maybe he was a barbarian or a fighter, but the lack of weapons is very curious, as clearly a man of this size would be a ferocious combatant.
The smaller human, Willis Gunderson, is a rogue of some sort. He has daggers attached up and down his body on various belts and straps, and Maegar asked him to handle the traps previously.
The elf female, Laurana, has a bow and was said to be a ranger. You didn't catch her last name.
The gnome with the bright hair is certainly a wizard of some sort. Earlier (not written), she introduced herself as Peeka Glenderhome.
Ike seemed a bit shocked by Laurana's reaction as well, slinking back from the elf for a moment before watching her move her hands. In an effort to try and mimic her, believing it was how she was speaking, he took his two tendril and tried to recreate the motion... though it seemed to end up just making a bunch of flailing motions.
Finally, he turned to the others and started to motion as best as he could what he was trying to get across what he was trying to say, hoping it would translate. It seemed to be her preferred method of communication, so he did his best to oblige, before extending his mitt arm again.
Though it's a bit hard to gather that he's just trying to say "Hello. My name is Ike. It's nice to meet you." It looks more like he's trying to badly retell some sort of epic tale than miming a greeting.
"Well We are sorry we do not have more interesting stories to tell and really appreciate the sharing of the potion. I have a few extra vials of acid if any of you could use some of that?"
Rai offers each of them a vial of acid if they would like (subtracting four if so)
"Sure, I know how to use those. Mighty nice of you." Willis takes the acid.
Without the ability to speak, Laurana has developed her senses in other way, and is particularly gifted at interpreting the motivations of other people. She watches Ike for a while, and realizes what he is doing, and how he is akin to a child in the copying of her behavior.
She smiles and pats him on the shoulder, and shakes his hand. She pulls out a sugary treat from a pocket and hands it to him.
Ike relaxes a bit as his intent seems to be getting across. She was an interesting person! The sugary treat gets accepted enthusiastically as he stuffs it into what counts for a head, though it just kinda sits there, slowly digesting. Though he felt a bit bad... he didn't have anything to give her back... did he?
Holding up a tendril, Ike seems to a pause a moment before he places a little wooden figurine back at Laurana's feet. He'd found it at the bandit camp, likely a small project from one of the former bandits, but he'd taken it and started to smooth it out as a project of his own. It was certainly amateurish in detail, but unnaturally smooth in its polish. He figured it would help him with finer motor controls, but he could always make another.
Pleased with his return of a gift, Ike puddles up by a nearby log.
Laurana smiles at Ike's gift and inspect it carefully.
It was late even before your guests showed up, and now the night is pressing on you.
Everyone drifts off to sleep, after setting proper watches, of course.
Gozran 3, 4710
Terrain: Plains ; max PC speed: 40 ; days to explore: 1
A cool spring day. No effects
The morning breaks, and thankfully the heat has diminished. It feels like a normal, cool spring day.
Maegar Varn and his party thank you for the previous night, the beer, the goodberries, and the fine companionship. They wave goodbye and turn to leave toward the east. Laurana gives Ike a final wink as they go.
EXPLORATION PHASE
You continue southwest, staying in the plains and on the edge of your charter of the Greenbelt. The wide open expanse of the grass meadows opens in front of you. Here and there, a stand of trees around a pond, or on a hill, breaks up the otherwise uniform landscape.
One roll to explore this hex.
Arlen rides along, contemplating the beautiful landscape in front of her and wondering how best to turn these natural resources into the resources of civilization that fuel academia.
She turns to her comrades "From what I've read, prairies have very rich and deep soil horizons as a rule. I believe we could find these areas quite arable in the future."
She nods to Diceros "Though preservation of species diversity will likely maintain the overall health of this natural system and promote it's functioning."
Rai will keep a sharp eye for any of the quests they are on enjoying crossing them off the list.
|
Sigurd rides along, enjoying the sun and cooler temperatures. This kind of weather isn't seen very much in his homeland, so it's truly a treat when he's able to experience it.
He ends up singing as the party travels on:
"When birds sing and take wing
Mother Nature's heart is glad.
When deer run and have fun
Mother Nature bursts with pride
My heart is joyful
When Mother Nature shares her beauty
I sing to praise her glory
And lift my cup in her honor
For a drink's the thing
That helps me to sing
As I ride along today,
Abreast Mother Nature dressed so beautifully."
Ike arises and follows along with the group, rolling along the group as he snakes out tendrils of slime here and there to survey the place and see what he can find.
Arlen enjoys the exploration as she and her comrades survey the countryside with a fair amount of expertise. Apparently they are getting good at this! She turns to the others "So how are we going to handle these kobolds when we find them? Sneak attack? Or are we going to try the diplomatic rout? Diplomacy could save us a lot of risk but if it fails, we'll have lost the element of surprise."
Ike, oozing the ground and feeling for indentations in the dirt, is the first to feel it. Small Humanoid tracks...fresh... very fresh.
He gestures for all to be quiet and leads the way forward. It isn't too long before you see four kobolds peering around some boulders. Their back is to you.
"I tells you all, they be coming this way. We jumps out at them and kill them all. I gets to ride the rhino."
"That old one with the map, she be going on and on about dirt. If I's be with her, I probably stab self in eye with fork."
"The tall giant, him be good singer though. Do we will have kill them? Me like to make him my singer slave."
"You always want all the good slaves, Snarfbart. You need to be less greedy about the slaves, me thinking."
"Tartuk says to kill all intruders in our territory. No slaves!
"Tartuk not chief. He be thinking he be chief. But everybody know Sootscale be chief!
"Me think Tartuk be a mighty chief. Me think Tartuk should staby stab old Sootscale right in face!
"You be talking bad! You be talking tree... Tree son!"
"Trees not involved. Tartuk forever!"
and so on... and on... and on...
Arlen whispers "Let's get the little fiends."
"Aye, I would wait fer that one," Brokk'r whispers back.
Rai pulls a bomb and will chuck it into their group to hit as many as possible with the frost bomb imbuing it with acid.
Sigurd balloons up to impossible heights, but before he can do anything, Rai simply sighs, mixes up a bomb, and chucks it. Mixed with cold and acid, the kobolds freeze and melt simultaneously, all dying before they even knew you were standing behind them.
Arlen smiles at Rai's cold efficiency. She then walks up to the kobolds and searches for anything useful or informative they may have had.
"Where do you think the others are? And how many?"
"WAIT!" Ike quickly transforms into his kobold form, looking to try and speak with them peacefully, if possible, but before he could finish, Rai had chucked his bomb and melted the kobolds before he could even get out a word.
Ike stands there silently for a moment, a collection of thoughts running through his mind as he approached the scattered remains of the little fiends. Why was everyone in these lands so violent? Why was fighting always what everyone resorted to? Even his own friends. Was it because they were monsters? ...but he was too, technically. Yes, they were talking about ambushing him and the others, but... what if he could've talked them out of it? If he didn't look like his companions... would they've attacked him too? ... they would, wouldn't they? It happened in the villages he tried to blend into. Whenever he melted, they always grabbed their weapons to run him off.
And that was all his life was going to be, wasn't it? Trying, in vain, to look like others, to fit with the whole, to find a place he could finally call home.
He was a monster. There was no home for him.
Ike didn't look back at the others. He didn't say anything. He didn't even look up. He just started to sift through the shattered remains of the kobolds, looking to see if anything useful turned up. Though those in the group who took notice might see that as he moves, cracks in his form start to appear around the joints. Ike was hardening himself to this new realization. Literally and figuratively.
The kobolds carry little besides a few copper in their pockets. Surely you could have captured, befriended, or interrogated them to learn more, but they are dead dead dead.
There is little else to be done here, as the kobolds are dead. You spend the rest of the day mapping and searching the area, but it is clear that the kobolds do not have a home base in this region (119 gold for the map here; giving double for Sigurd's song which he clearly put some effort into).
You camp for the night, and in the morning are ready to proceed.
You can either go the south-east or south-west. Both hexes remain undiscovered at this point.
Rai looks at Ike and says plainly "I will not idly stand by while some vile thing talks of killing and enslaving us. They died. They had it coming. I will kill the rest of them in exactly the same fashion. Some things you cannot let stand or allow Ike. Its just that way."
Ike doesn't seem to acknowledge Rai's statement, though the cracking at his joints does grow audibly more pronounced. Finally, though, he does nod.
As the group sets up camp, Ike seems to keep out of the way of most things and when night does fall, instead of his usual resting spot in Pygmy's saddle pouch, he slinks to the edge of the campsite and finds a hollow log to squeeze into, staying there until morning.
Whichever way the group decides to go, Ike now seems to be keeping his distance behind everyone, and seems to have lost some of his elasticity.
|
|
They did die, Rai. However, they were only scouts and posed no threat to us. You proved that when you took them out so easily. But that doesn't mean it was ok to take unilateral action. If we're to set up a town in this country, we've got to let everyone have a voice before we act. That being said, nice job. You saved the rest of us from having to worry about them at all.
The next morning, he wakes up and looks around for the kobold's back trail. He suspects it would lead them southeast, but he wants to back that suspicion up with some evidence if he can.
With no real tracks to speak of, he still voices his vote for going southeast.
|
|
Diceros engages in the conversation, too. "Many kobold tribes ransack villages and have attacked my tribe as well. They are evil creatures. Unlike the centipedes or elk, mindless beasts attacking or running simply by instinct. I'll not mourn kobolds."
Diceros uses his survival skills to try to track the kobolds more than anyone else has figured out so far.
"Well said, elf!" Brokk'r agrees. "We don't kill kobolds 'cause they're ugly, lad! Though they are that. We kill 'em cause if we don't, they'll kill us first. Askin' 'em not ta is like askin' a dwarf ta fersake his kin... or ale!"
You spend some extra time following the kobold tracks around a bit. They lead in circles, going this way and that. You come across several burned out campsites, indicating that they have been in the area for some time. Eventually the trail simply becomes too old.
Eventually, you head to the southeast to continue your explorations.
Gozran the 4th, 4710.
EXPLORATION PHASE
Terrain: Plains ; max PC speed: 40 ; days to explore: 1
Thunderstorm: Muddy footing prevents melee attackers from properly attacking (20% miss chance in melee). There is a 50% chance of a lightning strikes dealing damage every round to a random creature (Damage and Reflex DC set by GM to be relevant). Those wearing metal armor have twice the likelihood (assign numbers and roll)
You spend another day in the plains. As you look to your west and and southwest (within your charter area) you see hills in the far distance. You have come to the end of the plains region and pushing forward will put you back into the low mountainous terrain that you have dealt with in the past.
The sky is threatening and dark; tall billowing clouds build up on the horizon. A storm is going to hit; it is a question of when, not if! You quickly go about exploring the plains biome.
"the weather does not look promising today. Hills here form a barrier that allows winds and heat to build and then race across the plains giving them much needed water in the rain. Or you could point to some God for the creation of things."
|
|
As they ride, the day get more and more miserable. This is the worst weather we've seen yet! We need to find cover.
"This storm isn't going to hold off much longer. We should do our work quickly and try to find some shelter."
Sigurd keeps his eyes open for anything that would offer them some protection from the elements.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Arlen watches Ike plodding along unhappily and tries to understand.
Seeing but seriously misunderstanding Ike's downcast spirit, she pulls Mortimer alongside Ike as they travel and speaks in a gentle, grandmotherly tone.
"Ike, I know you are sad because Rai killed those Kobolds so suddenly and without warning. You didn't get a chance to kill any of them either, you poor thing! Now while there's nothing wrong with enjoying a little blood if blood needs to be spilled, that's not the point. As much as you may want to butcher some of those little scalies for being so strange and weird, that's not the right way to think."
"We don't kill things for being strange. Gosh, I'm pretty strange myself. HEEEHEEHAAAHAAAHOOO!!!!! We only kill things if we absolutely need to. So cheer up! I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity for you to prove what a deadly slime you are later!
The old lady smiles a toothy, encouraging grin at her slimy pal.
|
|
Diceros is no stranger to storms out on the plains. Typically, his tribe simply ignores the rain, understanding that it is a part of nature, and one dries later.
However, he's seen that others don't always feel the same way, and no one here probably wants to become "one with the light" as happens from time to time. Plus, it does get uncomfortable walking around with wet underpants.
So, he does join in the search for cover, and gives some tips on living through storms.
It is Diceros who manages to find some decent cover; a stand of several trees, on the upper edge of a swamp. The trees will break up the wind a little and prevent your tents from getting the full blast on what promises to be a doozy of a storm. And having low lying land nearby will ensure that the rain will collect at a location lower than the bottom of your tents. The trees appear healthy, so you are not concerned about the wind knocking branches off and smashing you while you sleep.
The wind starts to pick up, and a steady rain begins. Everyone just wants to get into their tents and ride it out, but a watch is set, all the same, and the party sets up several of their bear traps as well as the line with the bell.
And then, the sky grows dark prematurely, and the thunderstorm hits! The winds and the rain beat down on you, and threaten to collapse your tents! But you are experienced explorers by this point, and know how to set your tents to reduce wind effects. Lightning crackles and thunder roars!
You all begin to wonder if you will find any sleep this night, but eventually you all drop off, one by one, exhausted by the day.
1. Ike
2. Arlen
3. Sigurd
4. Rai
5. Brokk'r
6. Diceros
(+1 for determining surprise)
avoids bear traps and bell
1. Ike
2. Arlen
3. Sigurd
4. Rai
5. Brokk'r
6. Diceros
7. shambling mound
8. tree
9. tree
10.tree
no one wearing metal armor at the moment so no double chances of being hit
init:
It is Brokk'r who is on watch when it happens.
The lightning and thunder is raging on, but suddenly it starts to feel far to close... right above you! A tremendous lightning bolt strikes down from the heavens, right on the tent where Ike is sleeping! Somehow, the lightning bolt catches the tent and leaves him untouched.
In the flash of light, Brokk'r sees a huge creature coming right at him! Either the lightning interfered with his darkvision or the creature was incredibly stealthy. He only has a chance to yell, "To arms! We are beset!" before holding his shield up in front of him.
The plant like creature slams poor Brokk'r, who has his shield, but removed his armor for the night! But the creature slips in the mud, and his fist goes wide!
The party jerks awake and scrambles for weapons! All of you are prone and need to spend a move action to stand up, and a move action to get out of the tent. Can Brokk'r hold off the monster until you are able to help?
ROUND 1
Brokk'r
The rest of the party--getting out of their tents-- can't do anything else
Planty Monster
Lightning Possibility
Go Brokk'r!
To learn 1 piece of information, free action check: Knowledge: nature, DC: 16. (It will be revealed next time GM posts and it will be assumed all players are told.Higher rolls give more information.)
"Get a move on, you lot!" Brokk'r shouts over his shoulder at his companions. Then, giving the creature his undivided attention, he pounds his shield invitingly. "That all ye got!?"
He attempts to bash their verdant foe and then quickly raises his shield .
Arlen wakes with a start, her heavy snoring suddenly interrupted. Joints creaking, she lifts herself up and heads out of her tent.
She blinks through the heavy rain and the lightning and spots the huge creature with great surprise.
"Incredible!"
It is a shambling mound! Arlen recalls that they love electricity. Probably why the creature is out during a lightning storm!
Brokk'r misses!
No!
The shambling mound swings again, battering at Brokk'r's shield.
proceed
The mound misses again! The dwarf is too good with his shield.
EVERYONE ATTACK!!!!
Sigurd runs up to the Mound and connects, damaging it! But he did not approach it with caution, and it half-heartedly swings its arm and clips him in the head.
Arlen cackles madly and encourages Brokk'r. "Get it! HEEEHEEHAAAHAAAHOOO!"
Rai rolls out of his tent eyes wide grabbing his bomb kit and quickly imbuing an acid and tossing a precise frost bomb at the mound.
As the lightning flashes Rai gets a good look at the plant made foe.
Feeling lucky thanks to Arlene's magic, Brokk'r leads with his shield again and follows with a strong right .
Diceros calls, "Pyg! Charge!"
Pygmy also flanks with Sigurd. He hits for 5 damage! Diceros moves to the south of the creature, so he can flank with Ike once Ike approaches. The darkness is affecting Diceros badly though, and he can't get a bead on the enemy.
standard Gore attack
Gore damage
fumble card: Attack the darkness. Enemy has concealment against Diceros for rounds
Just IKE needs to go.
