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Seeing the rest of the group has the lady controlled, Blockpug will double move on top of the nearest platform and keep and eye out for the missing Humans.
neat, frightened for the full 5 rounds.
Emboldened by the noose tightening about the bandit Yighuk steps up and continues his assault.
Again his strikes fly wide or fail to find a gap in the womans defenses.
Blokpug reaches the top of the platform.
You look around from the platform, and see no sign of other humans. Not them, neither lights a part the 2 in the platforms and the fire camp itself.
You also noticed that the male human is still dying but not already dead.
Yighuk tries to strike the female, but maybe a mix of her panic and her luck allowed her to dodge all the hits.
In her turn the woman had only one thing in her mind, escaping the source of her fear, in this case: Fyrenmar.
So she starts moving away from the red kobold, but doing so she provokes a lot of attack of opportunity from Yighuk, Szlaaxx and Oozulla too.
Szlaax, remembering Fyrenmar words, goes for a non-lethal attack, hitting her for 8 non-lethal damage
Once the woman turns her back Yighuk takes the chance to sweep in with his axe.
This time the blow connects solidly, sending a spray of blood into the air.
Oozulla tried to reach runaway with her sickle, but missed.
The woman is wounded but able to moves away. In her escape route she founds a lot of obstacles, so she is not able to go away so far.
Group B: Oozulla, Fyrenmar, Ryzztyl and Szlaax
Ryzztyl moves following her, and throwing a jolt.
This time the electricity hit her, dealing 4 damage
The female humans falls down.
End of Combat
Yighuk sneers when the woman falls.
"Szlaax bind her and bring her for questioning."
Looking up he sees Blokpug already keeping watch and so turns his attention to the rest of the group.
"Fyrenmar when she comes back to her senses extract what we need to know from her. The rest should search the camp for signs of our young or other valuables. There are more warm bloods about we must be quick and careful."
With that he moves to the center of the camp and smothers the fire sending most of the area back into welcoming blackness. Once that's complete he inspects the wagon and large logs to see if anything has been hidden there.
Under less interesting supplies like food, firewood, and tents, Yighuk (and anyone who want to help him in his search) is able to find 321 sp, 90 gp, a pair of silver earring, a wooden music box, three crates of furs and hides and at the end 2 bags with the missing 14 eggs.
Also Blokpug found upon the platform a rope, anchored. Once the rope is unrolled anyone can easily use it to go up and down from the platform without needing a Climb check.
Probably there is a twin rope in the other platform too.
Szlaax is currently fatigued by his rage effects, and so for the next instants the barbarian simply sits to recover.
There are 13 sits around the campfire, and this confirms the version of the prisoner you previously captured.
But since there were 5 humans here, counting the ones you already met, there are still 4 humans missing.
Probably they are out in some other kind mission, but they could be already be on their way back here, starting from tomorrow during daytime.
Did he just give me an order? Fyrenmar gives Yighuk a raised eyebrow before both drop into an angry scowl. No. I will show him his place later. Though he hardly touched the female he did do more than I. I shall bide my time...for now. From the outside, anyone watching the red-scaled kobold would only get an inkling of what was going on in his mind.
"Never bothered to learn their atrocious language. Oozulla, however is rather fluent. We shall both find out what she knows. Just make sure to keep watch for the other humans. There should be 5 more if my count on the beds here and the number killed is accurate. And it is." He then turns to Oozulla. [b]"Shall we. This should be enlightening. Once we have what we need. Let's set another trap with here as the bait for the others."
Yighuk gives a toothy smile upon finding the eggs.
"Our young are safe!" he tells his tribe mates. "There is but one more task for us here. We must bring low the rest of the warm bloods so they know the Sootscale are not to be trifled with! Fyrenmar, Oozulla see if that one knows when the rest will return and what they were doing. Then leave her bound and gagged by the fire pit as if sleeping. We should set the camp as if nothing happened. Blokpug can lay traps and those who fight best at range can take shelter in the towers. The rest of us will take hidden positions on the ground. Once the humans are drawn in and at ease we will strike!"
The warriors tail flicks in excitement at the thought of more bloodshed and his tongue darts in and out tasting the air. After a moment he finishes...
"Once they stand defeated we will leave the heads of the dead on stakes as warning and take any that live back to serve the tribe."
Fyrenmar gives Yighuk an annoyed look before walking over to the unconscious woman. He has Szzlax drag her back to the point she was laying down earlier. When she is properly bound and he and Oozulla are in position he commands, "Wake her. When she comes awake and sees him lets two puffs of fire escape his nostrils and momentarily illuminate his face.
She gets a brief look at his menacing face before he speaks to Oozulla, all the while staring at her. "I want to know who sent her, where they are and why they stole the eggs."
Oozulla is more than glad to do, what she can. She asks someone more strong to tie female and then she gives her several slaps.
"Speak, warm blooded, with me and I can promise you clean death without tortures. Who are you? Why do you need our eggs? When will others of your tribe return?"
Kobold took her sickle and showed that to girl. She send her snake to coil around woman's throat.
The woman awakes and looks at Oozulla silently before saying something:
Those not speaking common can recognize the world "Staglord" twice.
After speaking the female human starts laughing in an hysterical way.
"She is fanatical and wants that hard way", said Oozulla and snapped her fingers. That was a sign and Myrrky bite her neck.
Oozulla came to woman and look into her eyes:
"Bring the sleeping one from western platform. We can execute her in front of him and he will be willing to talk then"
Even bitten from the snake, the prisoner continues to laugh
As far as you can tell, she could have been tortured and broken, so she really doesn't seem to care more about her own life.
"That one fell and is broken. Perhaps the other. Blokpug does that one yet breath?" While they await an answer Yighuk asks, "The warm blood spoke of a Staglord. We have heard this before from humans we captured outside of a fort during our own patrol. He is the leader of their tribe and they would tell us little of him."
"We must prepare for the rest of the humans. Did she say anything of them?"
"Yes he is still alive, if just barely"
Blokpug will then tie the rope around the human and lower him down to the ground.
Blokpug easily lowers the man to the ground.
The man is in a very bad health condition, still alive but so close to death.
Yighuk drags the man over for his fellows "gentle" ministrations.
"It may be this one is more willing to talk."
Oozulla checks his knot and then shares some of her shadow. It seems like he feels betters.
Oozulla's hex is barely sufficient to bring back the man to consciousness.
As soon as he opened eyes, Oozulla said:
Than she turned to woman and asked something.
After she heard bandit's answer, kobold walked behind woman's back and pointed her throat with a sickle, making brigand cackle because of blood slowly filling her lungs.
Oozulla stepped forward to a captive and started speaking to him:
As Oozulla assumed, the woman doesn't want to speak, preferring death... so she starts chocking and dying slowly in her own blood.
The man instead seems very frightened and talkative...
Of course you are sure that he is not lying to you, but you never heard of another nest, neither of another kobold tribe in this lands.
Yighuk gazes on indifferently as Oozulle sentences the bandit fanatic to death. He cocks his head to the side a bit to listen as the man beings babbling. Though he can't understand the warm bloods words the sound of a captive spilling all he knows is easily recognizable.
"What says the slave?" he inquires.
Fyrenmar was rather impressed at Oozulla's technique. It was the same one he would have used. Killing another prisoner before the others usually loosened their tongue a bit. And it got the prisoner talking. A lot. He didn't know what but she would translate. He really needed to learn their language, if he wanted to realize the plans formulating in his mind.
Assuming she translates. "Now we know where the others are. Time to do what we do best," he smiles at the prisoner. "So...prop them up and make it look like the camp is in order or make this place as gruesome as possible?" He smiles revealing his preferred plan.
Yighuk considers a moment. "As if all is in order. They will be tired and seeking rest. Let them enter with weapons sheathed and minds drifting. Leave the woman by a low fire, enough light only to grow the shadows. The other prop in his tower. They will suffer for their audacity!"
Oozulla translated, skipping all the whining part.
"He tells that he is proud to be my slave, so he will tell us everything. Four of their people, should return in the morning or in the afternoon. They went north-east, because there is another lair of kobolds, under ruins of the old temple."
She spoke more words to a prisoner.
As he answered and started sobbing again, she shouted:
He stopped crying and she turned to her friends:
"I like idea of making ambush, but we lack of living humans. They might be cautious, if they don't see a watchmen, when approaching. Might be it worth to make it look like there was a fight: dead humans will impersonate living and living kobolds will act like dead bodies. I promised him, he will stay alive while he follows orders and I think, he is too scarred"
She thought about something and finished:
"I'm out of magic power for now, but I could regain them if I get some sleep. 8 or 9 hours should be fine. Can we allow that now, so I be prepared when the battle comes?
"Don't get too attached to your pet. He will die soon." That thought gave Fyrenmar a plan. "I have an idea. Lets confuse them. We gather the bodies and have them all sitting around the living one who will be bound and gagged and laying in a strange cicle of runes. When they come to investigate what is going on, we hit them hard."
The man replies to the first Oozulla's question.
"No magic item, mine lady, all of them must be brought to the Staglord. We have the weapons you can find upon us, not other weapons . And no traps, we use to place those big tree logs in the pathway for ambushes, but nothing mechanical
After Oozulla talked to him again, the man seems to say something in Draconic... more or less this is what you all understand:
"Hi Ham oOzullA Slaiv"
he also adds few words in Common.
Szlaax comes near to Oozulla asking if is possible to have some healing for him too.
Yighuk is perplexed at the mention of another kobold tribe. None of the war councils he had attended had ever made mention of such a thing.
"Blokpug do you know anything of these ruins? Never have I heard of another clan in the area."
Yighuk give the kobold equivalent of a chuckle when Oozullas new slave brokenly declares his affiliation.
Turning to the larger group he says, "If we wait here then the humans will return under daylight. However if we instead set out and travel up the road we can catch them during their travels during the darkness. Oozulla ask your slave if his clan will take the road, or if he knows of the path they will take."
Oozulla calculated something in her mind, but than she heard that friends are talking to her: "Oh, Szzlax, let me see". She checked his condition, trying to treat deadly wounds left by human weapons. His condition was far from optimal and she said "Let my shadow heat you from inside", made some ritual gestures and said some words, touching his chest. Small potion of shadow run to warriors body, but that was enough to close edges of a nasty wound he had.
"If there is another tribe of kobolds nearby, where did they come from? I think we should report about them, when we return to tribe. Slave said that Staglord was taking all their magic stuff and they had only weapons and armour to perform assigned missions. Not to much to help us. I will ask him about road and others. He mentioned, that they will return in afternoon, probably they are camping somewhere near and we can strike them before sunrise. I'll ask him more."
She turned to her slave and started talking in Common:
"Your friends, will they be travel during night or they will camp? Do you know, which way they will go so you could lead us to meet them?"
After he answered, she said to Fyrenmar: "He is useful for now, so I will keep him. If you want to have yours, capture one in next fight. It took me several hours to form a bond with Myrrka, I think, having enough time I can have this one trained as well."
Szlaax is cured by Oozulla's hex, and he is almost fine now.
But, I'm so sorry, mine lady, we avoid using paths or road, and fixed places for the night too. When we go out or came back to the camp we go through the forest, but not twice in the same way. This is to prevent outsiders to find our camp. I've no idea where the others could be camping by now."
"Good"
She translated to a party his speech.
"He says, they rarely travel in the night, but they are not using any road or path twice, for strangers do not find this place. He has no help to offer, to get us where other warmbloods are travelling or camping. Probably, we should prepare an ambush here."
Yighuk nods "We don't know where they are but we know where they will be. We should set traps and prop the bodies as if at their stations. Then we can rest in hiding, some in the tower, others in the woods until they arrive. Those who have spent much time under the sun can take watch. They should return from the Northeast...either by road or by the woodland trail"
Yighuk takes the eggs and carefully hides them within the woods to the West of the stream. He makse small marks in Draconic on trees near them to aid any kobolds who might follow in the event the battle goes against them. Once he feels they are secure he takes time to hide in the eastern woodline and settles in for a long wait. Keeping his weapon in hand he drifts in and out of a light sleep.
Oozulla's preparations were small.
First, she wrote short note, which she fastened to her familiar.
Tribe! We found out that there is human camp located northeast from our camp. They have our eggs, and we hide those in secret place, which you will find using Yighuk marks. If you read that, we probably fallen during fight. More important, northeast from human camp, is old temple. Kobold-intruders are rumoured to live there.
Second, she took one of the fighters with her, untied slave's hands and made his comrades bodies to camp. Than, he was told to sit near the fire and make camp to glow a bit in the dark.
As last thing, she made was she put her small bedroll into bushes under the trees. She sets her familiar to warn her is other warm blooded will appear and went to sleep.
Fyrenmar looks disguted by the protect of a human pet let alone one bound to him like Oozulla's snake. But when he turns away and thinks about it more it doesn't sound as vile as he originally thought. He couldn't let the clans social conventions get the way of the future. He was destined for bigger things as his birthmark foretold. Knowing the humans well and their language would be of great benefit. With so many human kingdoms nearby it would be important to know how to flatter them and get along until the day they could conquer them.
"As Oozulla mentioned we do not have enough alive or dead for either plan but have the right amount for mine. And while this one," he says indicating the one live prisoner, "is submissive enough, we cannot trust him. When they come they will most likely expect someone to hail them. They may even have code words. Maybe even one to warn the other that the camp has been compromised. So lets go with something they won't expect. Their confusion will be to our advantage."
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Ryzztyl's tongue flicks out of his mouth. "You think humans, seeing their fellows sacrificing another of their own, just come in without a care? Strange actions of fellows may breed suscpicion."
"Better to make this place look normal, or even as if at the conclusion of a great battle where they prevailed or are prevailing. Then the others would come calmly or rush in to assist, ignoring potential traps and amushes."