Walking along, uncharacteristically silently, Dareon observes the kobolds, first and foremost. Their every movement, gesture, their building habits (what a traps:other structures ratio!), their words. Their leader seemed oddly fawning. Given the capricious reputation of kobolds, Dareon had to wonder...why. Was it trying to get under Felix's skin, only to butcher and steal from him later? Was it really and truly impressed with the man? Was it out of gratitude, or out of fear?
Dareon had no idea how to find out.
"Aye, that’s good" says Bej to Sanita "plenty of the stuff is left. I would have preferred iron over silver – we’d need to build tools, not shiny jewelry. Still, folks at Restov would love to buy it, I bet."
Then he turns to Rowan “Say, did you strike a military alliance with the little fellas last time?” he asks “Do we plan on asking for some scouts? These guys are renowned for their sneakiness, if I recall correctly.”
As Fhârn overhears the details of the mine (or was it so that Munin heard it and whispered in his ear?) he lets out an impressed whistle. [i]That reminds me of something the old blacksmith used to say...[/] He walks over towards the group conversing about the mine.
'Gold is for the mistress — silver for the maid —
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.
"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
"But Iron — Cold Iron — is master of them all."'
He pauses and blushes
"I am usually not this poetic - but I have to agree with Bej. It is a shame the mine isn't iron. But there is always trade. And I'm sure whatever patron that sponsors this expedition will be pleased."
Dante keeps quite as the party brings down the elk, he rides stern faced and watchful near the head of the colunm.
Taking the tour with a modicom of interest, he notes the silver and glances over the treaty as Felix drafts it.
As the watch of Anastacia and Sanita begins, they can hear the former pair of guards sit down and get ready for bed. Though another sound can be heard across the camp, Lanya seems to squirm around in her bedroll and can't quite get to sleep.
Furiously and with a burning desire to get up and about again, she paces around the campsite. She keeps touching her forehead as though she has an incredible headache as well as having too much energy all of a sudden.
She approaches Anastacia muttering soemthing under her breath.
"It's too warm... too warm...something's up..."
When she stands in full view of Anastacia, she just says: "I'm going for a small walk, get something out of my system. I feel nervous somehow, a short stroll would do me wonders I believe. I'm going...that way, I'll be back in a short while."
She says to her as she points out a direction slightly south and west from the camp, going through brush and trees alike.
It's almost like instinct, something draws me that way, though I don't know what. I need to go there... but what will I find?
She brusquely marches off in the direction she pointed out. Every step on the way making her feel lighter and relaxed, but also a bit more nervous of what lies beyond.
After a while, longer than probably both, Lanya, Anastacia and Sanita would have felt comfortable about, Lanya comes back into view. Stepping gracefully and almost without making a sound she approaches the campsite again. As Anastacia looks her in her eyes, she looks different somehow, her eyes shifted to a more bright-green with yellow spots in them. When looked into her eyes, a small snake comes into view from under her collar, it slithers around her neck and she easily picks it up upon which it wraps around her wrist and looks up with somewhat intelligent eyes at both the two women standing guard.
Sanita was about to march out when Lanya came back. When she sees the odd activity, and the odd behavour of the snake, she puts a hand on her rapier, and closely examines the snake.
Sanita puts a hand on Anastacia's shoulder, keeping her from getting too close to the snake. "Nice snake..." She says conversationally.
Dareon stands, more than a little bit surprised at Lanya's mysterious return and sharing some of Sanita's suspicion.
Realizing what the little creature was, and Lanya's connection to it, Dareon breaks out in a wide smile, with Molly running in similar happy circles around his feet. "Lanya! I see that you've bonded with a new friend. I'm happy for you. The connection is a lifelong and important one."
"It's OK, Sanita. I would trust Lanya with my life." Anastacia regards Lanya and her new friend with a serious expression on her face. '"Is this part of that destiny, or fate, you are troubled about?"
Sanita shakes her head. "I didn't say I distrusted her. She was acting strangely earlier, and now she returns calmly with a snake and holds it up rather than saying anything. That is not normal behaviour. It may be a familiar, but until we know, it could also be a local species of naga that's good at mind control and hiding it's nature."
Wilhelm stays close to Felix and listens carefully to everything that is going on. As he focuses on understanding the terms that Felix is drawing up in the Sootscale treaty, he nearly misses the news about the silver in the mine. With a slow, impressed whistle, he says quietly to Felix, "Trade could indeed be good but It seems that the silver is rightly the kobold's to use and prosper from."
Groggily, Wilhelm listens to the conversation as he forces himself awake. Yawning, he focuses on the snake twined around Lanya's forearm as he mutters a quiet prayer to Iomedae. Content that there is little to be alarmed about, he quietly calls to the group, "The creature doesn't appear to be evil to me. Congratulations Lanya on the acquisition of your companion. Good.... nearly dawn... to all of you." Without further ado, the young man turns over in his bedroll and goes back to sleep.
Lanya pats the snake on its head as it watches the others.
"Oh I'm sorry, I was still mulling things over in my head. I want to introduce you to Draekh, a little viper if I'm not mistaken, though he is far more intelligent than you would give him credit for."
She looks solemnly at Anastacia and Sanita, then a bit cheery at Dareon.
"Dareon has it at the right end, the bond between Draekh and I seems similar to you and Molly's. Though it seems my fate or destiny pulled me to the Greenbelt, I met someone of my blood apparently, an ancestor that I did not expect. She gave me this beautiful gift and a warning about these lands. She serves a Lady that lives here and that spies on us, she knows my name. We should beware the Son, but the Father is the one under her Lady's servant."
She looks around and sighs, then continues on a softer tone.
"I don't believe any of you have heard of Yarkali?"
Lanya or anyone else you give the name Yarkali to can make a K/History DC 30, and/or trained Per/Acting or Per/Sing or Per/Oratory DC 25. Speaking and/or being Ossiran will add 2 cumulative.
Fhârn is sound asleep in the hammock he strung between two threes on the campsite. Thus he doesn't notice the commotion Lanyas acquisition has made. His raven, Munin, however is more attentive. The soft spoken conversation and the paladin stirring is enough to wake the vigilant bird and capture his curiosity. Munin flies down from the branch where he was slumbering and lands close to the campfire - studying the exchange with his black eyes. Maybe Master would be interested in this when he wakes *squack* The lazy sod. Munin the Raven has not heard anything about anyone named Yarkali - but he places the name in his memory. Might be important later.
Sanita looks on suspiciously for a few seconds, then shrugs. "Yes, he's a viper, you can tell by the little pits on his nose." She looks at the hour glass as the sands finish dribbling out. "Anyway, seems like my watches is over now." She goes to putter about.
Sanita (politely) kicks Felix and Rowan awake, and then drops into a pile of blankets and is snoring in less than 30 seconds.
Rowan wakes up smartly and quickly packs away his belongings for the day. He then stretches and walks about the camp to get his blood moving before settling in for the last watch.
"Did you find anything interesting?" he asks Sanita before she drops onto her pile of blankets.
Sanita yawns. "Only that Lanya's into having pit vipers in her clothes. I'd keep my hands out of her bodice if I were you." She comments before dropping off.
Rowan resists the urge to make a comment about having traps in certain anatomical places.
"I wasn't interested in getting my hands anywhere near her bodice, but I appreciate the warning anyways. Thank you." He watches Sanita quickly fall asleep before scanning the area for any threats.
Felix rolls over and begins his morning prayers. At the mention of the new found booby trap he solemnly comments. "Not much worry of me trying something like that." Without any further explanation he returns to his prayers.
All the talking rouses Dante from his sleep and he sits up in his bedroll. With a yawn he stands and walks over to the fire, poking it with a stick and adding a log or two. Before sitting, he walks to the edge of the ring of sleeping mounds and peers into the darkness, listening, smelling and enjoying the night under the now fading stars in the hour before predawn.
Returning to the fire, he speaks in a low voice as to avoid waking the others. "Felix, do you suppose we will encounter the bandits tomorrow?" he asks with a blank look as he stares into the fire,
Rowan keeps the watch while Felix devotes himself to his prayers. He lights a pipe of tobacco and puffs away contently. He watches as Dante stirs and moves about but doesn't join in their conversation about bandits unless spoken to.
Once Felix finishes he puts the pipe away and pulls out his religious items and begins his own prayers to Erastil.
Felix rolls over and begins his morning prayers. At the mention of the new found booby trap he solemnly comments. "Not much worry of me trying something like that." Without any further explanation he returns to his prayers.
Felix will watch diligently as Rowan performs his own prayers. At Dante's return and question he will smile and speak without turning from his vigil. "With any luck we will arrive with the sun to our back and catch them by surprise. I am hoping they do not expect such a large force to assault them, that and the almost ridiculous accumulation of magical power we have ready will be more than enough to carry the day. It will be interesting to see how the squads function when they are caught in the thick of combat together."
Dareon cocks his head at Felix, turning his head around from his open spellbook.
"Might I ask, Dear Leader, what role I am expected to fulfill in combat? I have several useful utilities, but as I'm sure you're expecting, I need to know what to prepare beforehand."
Masamura wakes up and sneak away to an out of the way spot then returns looking relieved and goes to the fire after a quick look around.
Lanya snickers a bit at Sanita's comment and then tries to exlain to Rowan.
"I've gotten myself a trusty companion this night, a bit unexpected, but now this little snake, called Draekh, is my friend in our travels." She then glances back towards Sanita and nods her head in her direction.
"That one has her heart on her tongue, don't you agree?"
She says before she too, will go to bed again, slipping inside her bedroll once more. Draekh taking a perch next to Lanya's head, rolling himself up and watching the new surroundings with interest.
"Might I ask, Dear Leader, what role I am expected to fulfill in combat? I have several useful utilities, but as I'm sure you're expecting, I need to know what to prepare beforehand."
"That’s a good question, m’lord.” says Bej to Felix ”Myself, I just dream of the versatility and power m’lord Lebeda here has, but I’m no beginner either. Most of my stuff is for me own enhancement, but I have a question for our group who plans on going into melee." he specifically addresses Vors, Dante, Wilhelm and Fhârn. "Say, one of the first tricks the enhancers learn is how to play with size. Make this bigger, that smaller. Do you reckon you can use a spell that turns you and your weapon quite large – say, the size of one of them hill giants there’s down here? You might get clumsier, but big guys like you usually like the tradeoff.”
"If you can get me the components, I can brew potions that do that. But I need the formula." Sanita says sleepily from her blankets, snuggling up against her pillow, hearing Bej's question. "Which reminds me, when we have time and resources, I can brew potions of lots of things, but would need anyone with spell books to let me go poking through them to transcribe formulae." She yawns heavily. "And no, I don't wear my heart on my tongue... I keep it in a jar on a shelf so I can see it..." There's a definite smile in her voice.
"What is the current battle plan? Single Spear Point, Two-Pronged Attack, or Three-Pronged?"When he reliezes what Sanita says he can't help, but chuckle for remembering an old haiku.
Felix listens to Bej's description of his magics."I do believe such things will come in handy when dealing with our frontline fighters. I sadly have no use of an increased size as it will only make me a larger target." Felix then turns to Masamura as he asks about battle strategy. "Oh it is quite simple really, attempt diplomacy. If that does not work, destroy with all due prejudice... surprised you are awake again so soon after your watch Masamura, does sleep escape you this close to battle? Do you need council on your battle anticipation?"
Masamura is clearly visibly tired but seems like he could fall asleep any second."When Nature calls one must answer. Though war isn't my forte as I tend to be sent in to cut the head off the snake before it becomes a problem."
"I told you to keep your hands out of her bodice, Ma'see. You cut her viper's head off and she's gonna put something red hot up your arse." Sanita says tiredly from her palate. "Could you lot please stop talking and go to sleep? Or else go grope Lanya and let her pit viper put you to sleep permanently? I'm trying to sleep over here." Sanita says in an annoyed and groggy voice.
Pharast 11 Most everyone sleept well the night before, bellies full of elk, radishes and some sort of fermented mushroom drink the kobolds call 'juice'. Lord Mayor Sootscale informs you that just a few miles south you will run into the Shrike River that eventually flows into Tuskwater Lake. During the night the skies got cloudy but the temperature is still unseasonably warm and windy.
Following his instructions, sure enough you come upon the river. Following the river, as you stop for lunch, Lanya suddenly tenses.
Anastacia wakes from a pleasant enough nights sleep and has some of the leftover elk for breakfast.
"Morning everyone."
The cleric notes the weather change, but doesn't really give it further thought. Her mind is occupied with thoughts of the encounter with the bandits.
Sanita yawns, get's up, and looks to see if anyone tried to grope Lanya during the night by checking to see if there are any fresh corpses. Assuming there are none, she looks a bit disappointed, and then shrugs and gathers up her belongings. "God, I'll be glad to be able to take a bath again sometime soon, I wonder if the bandits will have a tub and fire pit to heat up water?" She says idly, stretching all her joints, lots of popping sounds being made as she bends nearly as far backwards as she does forwards.
Masamura wakes and gets him a little bit of Elk. He sees the sky and thinks that the shadow will aid him well though it is horrible for a Full Frontal Strike. He then speaks aloud."Perhaps we should make a show of force to make them consider our position in diplomacy..."He then speaks in Draconic.
"Though I doubt these people would be willing to carry favors to create a sufficient show."
Sanita listens to Masamura hiss and grumble in a language she doesn't speak. Then she replies to him in a different language.
"Random words. Random Numbers. 14. 28. 4.135. I want Pie."
Then she glares at Masamura. "And if you ever say anything like that to me again, I'll fully execute that threat, with no hesitation and no regrets. You see if I don't." She snorts and goes back to eating her breakfast.
"Good morning Anastacia, hope you slept well." he greets the priestess as he examines the sky. "The weather is going to change… There will be a cold rain this afternoon. Might be wise to sit it out here, but if we go the guards may be miserable and less likely to notice us approach."
He watches Sanita flex as he cuts himself a piece of elk and a few radishes to break his fast. "A warm bath would be a luxury out here. I'll settle for a cold splash in the river to heighten the senses." he says with a short laugh.
Sanita nods politely at Rowan. "And good morning to you as well, Rowan. And thank you for not cursing at me in an evil foreign sounding language first thing on a day I may die." She tells him, giving Masamura an evil glare.
Yawning, Wilhelm rises from his bedroll and stretches, still half asleep. He acknowledges Anastacia's pleasantry with a half-bow, but it's sloppy and off-balance. It's only after washing his face with cold water that the young man seems to be fully aware of the world. He glances at Sanita and remarks, "Judging by their smell when we fought them last, I wouldn't bet on them having a tub, Sanita."
Chuckling, he glances at the sky as he continues his morning preparations and frowns before saying, "That sounds about right to me Rowan. I suppose it depends on what Felix wants, but it'd be hard to have this show of force Masamura is talking about with it raining. I think I look rather less intimidating when I'm trying to not look half-drowned."
Eyes twinking in amusement, he sees through Sanita's half-hearted ruse and asks in mock solemnity, "What's this about evil sounding languages? I'm a paladin you know, and I shall be having words with anyone who goes walking around being evil-sounding."
Sanita looks up. "Rain? Oh good! It's ever so much easier to be sneaky in the rain than it is in broad sunlight. Maybe if we're lucky it'll be a big nasty thunderstorm. You can cover all sorts of mischief in a thunderstorm. If you time it right, people won't even hear the body falling..." She trails off, and then holds out some elk to Wilhelm. "Elk?" She smiles brightly.
Masamura notices a hint of playfulness from Sanita and chuckles while thinking to himself how much she reminds him of a performer he knew back home."I wasn't cursing at you. I was cursing how few we truly are. We don't have enough men to give a proper show of force."Hearing her talk about a thunderstorm causes him to break out in a childish grin."Oh how wonderful that would be if only our group wasn't so squeamish on taking advantage of such fortunes."
Sanita shrugs. "They're bandits, they prey on travelers, they steal from families, they kill innocent people. I see no reason to offer them quarter until they ask for it." She says with a shrug. "They offered their victims no quarter. If I were in charge, I'd send in anyone who could sneak to take out the guards and begin killing them in their sleep and drunken stupors, and as soon as alarm was raised, have everyone else charge in making as big a noise as possible to confuse them." She looks thoughtful for a second. "Or for that matter, just sneak in and put arsenic in their ale and let them kill themselves drinking. Murderers have no special right to life above and beyond those they kill."
"The only other language I know is Druidic. It's more of a nonverbal way of communicating anyways. Not that I would ever threaten you in an evil language if I could. Personally I think I'd prefer to threaten someone in Celestial. Nothing like the voice of angels promising a cruel fate." he says jokingly. "As for diplomacy, I say we attach a note to an arrow or maybe lots of notes to lots of arrows and fire them into the camp demanding surrender. They won't know exactly where we are in case they decide to refuse."
Anastacia ignores the light hearted banter that is going on around the breakfast table. There are decisions to be made, policy to be decided on.
Horses tend to be skittish around loud noises. If it thunders it could be a problem for those of us who ride uneasy."
Anastacia has gotten fairly good at riding over the last several days, but still finds riding in her heavy armor to be awkward.
"It might be best to scout ahead. I don't believe that the Staglord will be open to negotiations. I don't think we should negotiate with him. He is a criminal, not a legitimate ruler."
Anastacia takes a breath then continues. "If we show up, just the thirteen of us, we could find ourselves in way over our heads if the bandits number more than twenty five or so. Sure we have magic and divine blessing, but numbers carry weight. Some of them have proven to be able fighters as well. One of them is an alchemist, so they do have some force multipliers of their own as well."
Sanita perks up at hearing there is an alchemist in the enemy party. "Really? Then I would seriously suggest that we not ride up and knock on their palisade and ask them to surrender. I don't use them, I'm more of a researcher and healer. However, I know of several alchemists who can throw some pretty nasty bombs, and those are nothing to sneeze at. If nothing else, you should concentrate ranged fire on this alchemist upon identifying him, make him a pincushion." Sanita seems very serious for a change. Not that it lasts long. "If for no other reason than to keep him from wasting raw materials I could put to better use."
Fhârn stirs from his slumber and awakes, seemingly well rested, just in time to hear Sanita's mumblings in Giant. He follows the tactical conversation with interest as he sits up in his hammock. Munin flies down to perch on his right shoulder - filling him in with what he missed during the night. With a pleasant yawn he adds