Kiki gives chase to the gnolls and trows one of her stakes(after giving it a good lick) at the neares fleeing gnoll.
Simon casts his entangle in the area which slows the gnolls down, possibly Xanya too.
After knocking the head of another Gnoll (the one she previously charged), Xanya discover that the rest of the gnolls are all caught up in the tall grass, courtesy of Simon. She rides over and tries to communicate to the gnolls on her broken new common. "Surrender and we no harm you. " She starts gathering them up in a group, disarming them and binding them together with a mixture of the heavy grass and the various camping gear they brought with them. Cryxial tries to look menacing even though he's clearly fatigued from all the action and emotions over the last minute. Xanya looks equally tired if one knows what to look for, though they both recover quickly. "How close is the nearest other group. When will the hellhound return?"
The gnolls surrender and drop their weaponry. They seem quite cowardly unless they have the upper hand, which they clearly do not. In response to Xanya's broken common, one of the gnolls replies in equally broken common, "Don't hurt, we no fight." When asked about another group, they say "Army north, dog goes there to tell. Many days." He seems to be trying to do math, but just says "One week."
Kiki turns to her companions "so what do we do with them now that they have surrendered? We can interrogate them, but if we take them back to the dwarfs, that will be a bother and they would probably just execute them anyway and we can't let them go, they would just return to their army"
The spiderling scratches her head and starts to walk up and down on the dead giant and sudenly snapes her fingers. "You remember the storys about fey and other (lesser) spirits and how they are bound by their word. and how they can extend those bindings to others, well I can't do that, but they don't know that, so lets make a big show of a ritual and let them promise that they will leave the homans and dwarfs and goatlings alone and no longer prey on the helpless." She finishes with a grin that remind everyone of her pranks, when they all still lived with Goodwin.
Quassine helps bind the living Gnolls than searches all of the fallen (Gnolls, Centaur, Giant, and even the Wyvern) for treasure and documentation. Quassine makes sure the Wyvern is dead and then looks at the stinger. "I am thinking if we can harvest the poison to sale or whatever? In addition, is there any use for Wyvern parts? If there are, can anyone preserve them?"
Goliath paces and listens to his allies speak.
"I will not be their executioner, but I understand the risk of letting the go free. I will stand with the groups decision, but my sword will not strike them down outside of combat. It is more important we find out what they can tell us of the army and decide what to do with them after. Perhaps they can be swayed to join our side. I doubt they were with the giant of their own choice."
Quassine stops working on he is going to harvest the Wyvern Poison and searching the fallen to respond.
Quassine shrugs, "Sure but I believe the only way to get the Gnolls to stand by us is by fear? Can you be scary Brother Goliath?" Quassine laughs. Quassine uses both broken up New Common and Old Common, "I am sure we can get them to work for us but as soon as they can backstab us, they will. Not like they wouldn't do that with their current employer. But why not, it's worth asking? Ask them to work with us, they can share in the spoils we win from their current leaders or masters. If they double cross us, their life is forfeited. Or they are free to go but if we see them again and it matters to them, their life will probably not be spared a second time."
"I believe we owe it to the through the teachings of Goodwin to give them a chance. Perhaps they have others they wish to see free from the giants grasp. Everything we know is of the old world. We ask others not to judge so we should give the same courtesy."
Goliath approaches the gnolls.
"Is there one among you that you call chief or leader?"
Quassine nods, "I agree brother but I still stand by what I say. Work with us or they are free to go. If they raise arms against us now or the future, their lives are forfeited. And if I am not mistaken, didn't I see one Gnoll with a larger sword than the others while we were fighting? I am guessing that to be either the leader or the strongest in the pack?"
Quassine you can harvest the poison/glands with a DC 15 heal check. Success/failure will reduce or increase salvageable components.
Goliath, when you question the gnolls, they just respond "no chief. chief dead." pointing at the giant.
In terms of valuables, the following is a list of the weaponry:
centaur: Medium breastplate, masterwork lance, longbow, 40 arrows
fire giant: large half plate, large greatsword, large composite strength longbow (+10 bonus), 40 large arrows
gnolls: longbows, leather armor, greatswords, 40 arrows
They all have bedrolls, flint n steel, waterskins, mess kits, sacks
The giant is carrying a long special box with a large scepter like object packed in a padded interior with furs and wool to keep it safe. Made of precious metals like gold, silver and platinum, the scepter is set atop with a large gem like orb, with many smaller gems circling it. The scepter has a base that looks like it could stand on its own if set on a stable level surface. Something crafted this finely and with such valuable components is surely worth a lot.
Goliath looks to the one that speaks.
"What was your mission here? What did chief say the plan was?"
Goliath eyes over at the stuff Quassine has piled up.
"I may be able to put that bow to use. Something with more range then a javelin could be useful if they have more wyverns."
"Lets get these prisoners tied up. We should take them back with us and let the dwarves decide their fate. We destroyed this band as that was the mission assigned. We should report back and check on other developments and receive a new mission. What do the rest of you think? We can continue to ask questions along the way back."
Quassine carefully reviews the Scepter with read magic and spellcraft first while Goliath claims the bow without any challenge from himself since he can not use the huge bow. He hears Goliath, nods his head, and will respond with both an answer and question after he carefully studies the scepter.
The gnoll replies haltingly to Goliath, [/b]"Plan attack dwarf place. Use gold stick magic."[/b]
Quassine is able to confirm that the scepter is magic. With some additional concentration he relies that it contains evocation, conjuration and necromantic magic. No spells are active, and he notes that the item appears to be ritualistic in purpose. It is not a magical wand, staff or rod in the classical sense, but a focus for something. There may have been some custom spell researched for use with this. Clearly based on the gnoll's reply it is some sort of weapon to be used in their attack on the fort. You may require more examination and time to ferret out the secrets, possibly more powerful divinatory magic, such as Legend Lore.
Quassine looks to Goliath, Xanya, and the others "By what I have examined thus far and what the Gnoll has stated, this is some sort of magical siege device and I am only scratching the surface ... no ... scratching the dirt off of what this thing can do! We definitely need to bring this back and since it is ritualistic, I do not think it will automatically activate upon our arrival at Cliffort? So that probably answers your question Brother but the citizens of Cliffort will probably torture the Gnolls to extract information of what this thing can do. Can you live with that Brother? Also, anyone have skills in healing so we can easily extract the poison from the wyvern? Perhaps we can sale it back to the fort for a anti-venom or something since that looks like our next stop?"
"What did the giants promise for you aid? What would you do if we let you go free?"
At the answer and with Quassine confining the staff to be magic Goliath is quite pleased at the result of stopping this force.
"If we can divine the secrets to that thing perhaps we could turn it against our enemy. We could ask the dwarves for aid in identifying it on our return."
Looking to Quassine
"I am a knight of vengeance brother. Do not think me soft. I admire the will of those Goodwin told me tales of. I hold them high and base some of my ideals on those hero's of virtue, but my path lay in the blood of those that do wrong upon me and those I hold dear. These beast attacked and would see us dead and feast upon our remains. Let them take up blade now and I will best each one in combat if that is what they choose. I hold no concern for what the dwarves do to them. A war is not won upon virtue my brother. Both sides will see themselves do things they not thought possible. I know my path and that is all I need to concern myself with."
Quassine bows low to Goliath's Oath ...
Quassine smiles and continues, "There is a lot we can do brother. Maybe Cliffort will reward us nicely for it and/or like you said, perhaps we can realign it for our use? The enemy would not be pleased having to face its own weapon which equals great psychological warfare. And most importantly, perhaps it has scrying powers that we can tap into to help locate father?"
The gnoll responds again "Giants make fight, get food, gold, and not hurt. Let us free, we go hide, far away. No trouble." They all nod in agreement fervently, giggling and cackling like hyenas which doesn't really help their cause, but you suspect they are nervous.
Simon looks to the rest of the group.
"They seem sincere to me. I don't think we should take them to the dwarves. Gnolls aren't known for being the brightest, and they were probably just following along so they didn't get killed. I think if we let them go, they won't do much. Besides, they're gnolls. Every adventurer with a sword would take a swing at them just for fun. It sucks, and it's racist, but thats just how it is. If we just let them go, I don't think they'd be any problem."
He takes a look at the magic thing.
"Hm. I notice it has a way to stand on its own. If I had to guess, these would be way points for a summoning or binding circle. We have this one, but I'm not sure how many they can still pull it off with..."
He thinks for a moment.
"If there's nothing else to do here, we better start heading back. We have to guard this thing. They're gonna try to get it back. But still! We accomplished our mission! We should celebrate!"
"I'll extract the venom, I'm fairly certain I know how to do it. We learned a lot about poison back at home. That's not the most pressing issue though, dealing with the gnolls are. I don't care what our mission or law says, we should do what's right. As Goliath says, just as Goodwin gave us a chance, we should give these gnolls a chance. That said he is also correct in that this is war and that anything could happen. We also won't have the time or patience Goodwin had to bring us into the light. Still, I think it's best if they are free. Send them to travel far away, so they can't contribute on one side or another." She turns towards the gnolls. "I want you to be free, but we are still discussing. Tell us what you know. Of the invasion. Of the giants. Of this scepter, the gold stick magic. How can we make sure you don't join up back with the giants?"
Xanya expertly cuts the organ out with skill and precision, her vivisectionist techniques coming in handy.
Some additional alchemy will be required to stabilize and keep the poison useful, but you have a start.
In the meanwhile you discuss the fate of the gnolls and you look at them huddled fearful nearby, their eyes darting around. You recall Goodwin took in other gnolls and you remember four gnoll brothers, Howl, Yowl, Prowl and Growl, that Goodwin brought it. They were not all that different from these, constantly 'giggling' and 'cackling' which you know had nothing to do with humor but was more of an emotional communication. These four gnolls you have could become the same, useful trackers, and productive loyal friends. Well, you doubt it, but there are some who would take the chance.
Xanya asks the gnolls for information. They have a hard time understanding some of the larger words, but they get the gist. "Attack dwarf place. Giants use magic gold stick. Big magic happen? Giants kill dwarves get big prize. Now we hide. Giants never see us. We hunt and don't go near dwarves. "
They seems curious, afraid, but also puzzled since clearly you are also monsters and while you were vicious in battle, they are perhaps wondering why you are hesitating killing them or torturing them as they probably might do if they had the upper hand.
At least Simon's suspicion after Quassine's review of the odd scepter is confirmed, and you realize it is part of some dread plan of the giants and their leader.
Quassine nods to Xanya, "Thank you sister for extracting the poison, I will stabilize it next time we get a chance. Unless that time is now?"
Quassine then looks in the direction of Gnolls and points to the one doing the most talking, "You all know ritual for magic gold stick?"
The gnolls giggle and reply "No, we don't know magic."
"Actually now that I think about it, we had some gnolls with Goodwin too, Howl, Yowl, Prowl and Growl. Maybe we could send these ones to the village where the others have settled and they'll fit in somehow?" Not one to wait for confirmation Xanya immeadiately turns towards the gnolls. "We got gnoll friends. You could join them? Learn our ways. No need to go far away then, safer too." Xanya then turns towards the others. "If we are going back to the dwarves, we could bring these with us then send them to the the others, I'm sure there are some who would love to teach them our ways rather than go out and fight like us. So, are we going back to the dwarves? It sounds like the closest other group is at least a week away. And if we face them, they might be warned by the hellhound. I kinda want to go out and fight, but it would be kinda aimless. What do the rest of you think? Either way, first we should rest up, I think we can just do it here. We can discuss while we do that. Kiki, the way you always crawl over our enemies got me thinking, maybe we'll be able to take even greater advantage of our enemies being distracted if we practice and train a bit? I'm sure you could join too Goliath and Quassine." Xanya continues the gory task of extracting the poison from the Wyvern after saying her piece, listening to the others while she works.
Quassine turns his attention away from the Gnolls to focus on stabilizing the poison. He grabs some reagents from the portable lab and pours into the poison vial(s) as Xanya extracts it.
Quassine takes 10 with Xanya's Guidance to stabilize the poison vial(s) 10 + 12 (Craft Alchemy) = 23.
After stabilizing the poison, he looks up at Xanya and nods his head, "Sure do, I remember them and they turned out to be good brothers. I hope they are ok? Haven't seen them? And I am willing to see if we can do the same with them. Father would be proud of us if we succeed! We can't send them to the village on their own, we have to make sure both sides get a long before we left them on their own accord. Or, we can simply keep them in our group and they can eventually scent track for us? Lastly, I think we need to return to Cliffort to advise them of this siege weapon and maybe they will reward us and/or retune the device for us or we can research how to do that?"
"let me help you a bit, I am good with poisons" Kiki says with a grin.
the spiderling nods at Xanya's suggestion "being able to better use the distractions you provide would be nice"
" I think going back would be the best course of action right now, reporting what we found, get some more equipment, show them the golden thingy. I think those gnoll would be good for those four too, I remember hyenas being pack animals, gnolls should be similar"
"Our mission is done. We were tasked to destroy one of these advanced groups. We should report back with what we found. If this staff is just part of a grand plan the dwarfs may have further insight. My vote is we take the gnolls and train them as Goodwin taught us or we let them go free. They are natural scavengers and would most likely not report back to the army where they are kept as slaves. I do agree that we rest a couple hours. I will be praying over my blade. I will spar a bit after."
Quassine nods, "I agree, let's head back to report and turn in the staff. And I say we let the Gnolls decide what they want to do? It would be nice if one or more takes a risk by staying with us. Before we do anything with the Gnolls, brother Goliath, do you mind watching over the scepter?" Quassine walks over to Goliath and hands him the scepter then walks over to the Gnolls and begins to speak in New Common, "We like you join our pack. We will share with you better than pack. Or, you free to go, never attack us or bad things will happen to you."
Quassine looks to Goliath, still speaking in New Common, "You cut rope brother and let our new pack members or brothers join us or leave they can leave. Then we can all eat hardy and rest."
Goliath takes the scepter and stores it away. He waits on the others to cast their vote on the gnolls before he frees them.
"Fine then, let's head back. If the gnolls are to be free, let them chose for themselves, we can't force freedom on anyone. Still, I think it's a good opportunity for them to learn from someone like us. They'll stand a much better chance to find a good place for themselves doing that instead of hiding out in the wilderness." Xanya studies the Scepter before Goliath puts it away, doubtful about learning anything more, but it doesn't hurt.
Once the more pressing concerns are dealt with Xanya quickly channels, letting a wave of healing wash over them all before getting down to make a healing extract for herself.
Simon seems uneasy.
"I'm not sure if taking them to the dwarves is a good idea. They'd probably have them killed. As much as I'd like to help bring them to our side, trying to do so might mean their death. They seem alright enough, maybe if we just let them go they'd turn out alright..."
He turns back towards the others.
"We should be on good lookout. If the hell hounds sent for reinforcements, they're probably going to try to get this staff back with everything they have. We have to get it back to the mountain safely."
Goliath frees the gnolls.
"You have your freedom. Go now and scavenge for what you need. Stay if you wish. You will need to earn your stay by hunting and providing for the group, but you will be rewarded and protected for your service. The choice is yours."
Goliath speaks to them before going to pray over his blade and contemplate all that he has learned for the new few hours.
"Sister Xanya, what has your review of the device revealed. Anything that I haven't relayed to the group? Also, I would agree with you to keep moving but I think this siege weapon is something the Dwarves and the Marshall should know about sooner than later and if we can retune the magical device when we are back in garrison, perhaps we can use it against any enemy? Too bad, we did not have a way to call the Marshall out here? Didn't he say there are base camps or fortresses out here? If so, I wonder where they are?"
Quassine looks around, then responds to Simon, "The Gnolls would be both under our protection and our responsibility to correct them like pack members at first and then transition them into family. If the Dwarves and the Marshall saw that we were correcting them and we told them they are our responsibility, they wouldn't kill them unless they did something heinous. And I agree, but we need to rest and focus first before moving on. Anyone want to practice new common and keep watch while those who need to pray or meditate, can?"
As Goliath cuts the ropes, Quassine speaks in new common, "You pick up weapons, see what centaur has remaining or your fallen, then hunt, we hunt, we all share like pack but better, no alphas so no fighting in our pack. But must listen to us in human and human-like village. Bad to humans or human-likes, they be bad to us. Or pick up weapons and be gone forever unless you want to join pack and be like us. We need scouts, rangers, good archers and trackers."
The gnolls listen to everything you say, but when given the option of freedom they choose that. When cut free and given a choice they reply "We go. Dwarves kill us. You can't stop." They grab their weapons and begin loping off to the east spreading out slightly as the move.
Xanya examines the scepter further, using the information gained by Quassine and Simon to see if she can figure anything out or remember anything in her training that may cover any gaps the others missed. It is clear that the scepter will focus magical energy in some way, and that there is some ritual involved, and not having any information about that is the biggest inhibitor. No matter how much she studies the scepter, without that information, much of its function will remain unknown. The ritual and commands words and so forth will be tied to the ritual, and the scepter is merely a magical focus. She does suspect that there is a remote component to the scepters. She recalls something of this nature created by the Drow in eons passed. Once the focal items were in place, an intro ritual would activate and signal to the remote base that the full ritual could begin. This is part of something very much more elaborate. While none of you are skilled appraisers, the content of precious metals and gems makes this scepter extremely valuable. The level of resources involved in this would not be for something small scale.
Xanya studies the scepter and relays her thoughts while she looks and touches it. "I've heard some stories of such items used by drows. Sure it's used as a focus for a magical ritual, but it's probably only part of the picture. Likely it's just used to start something off so someone else can continue a larger ritual. Maybe there are multiple such pieces all working together for a grand scheme. Looking at how expensive this is makes me wonder about the scope of the whole thing. It could be terrifying. Though it does give me one hope. If they have the means to make such powerful items, maybe we'll be able to acquire leads to someone else using even more powerful magic against our mentor. Anyway, without knowing more about the ritual itself what further I can learn would just be guesswork. If it is indeed just a part of a larger setup, then using it against our enemies would be quite hard. Either way, the dwarves likely have more knowledge than us on the topic, so heading there might be a good idea."
When the gnolls sets of Xanya waves and say. "May you do better in your travels than you have so far. Good Luck!" Xanya looks weirdly thoughtful and she strokes her chin. "Actually, seeing the gnolls run free have made me think about the true value of freedom. After being shown the way by Goodwin I've always revered Desna, but I think I'll pray a bit and see if I can find some new relevation. The deity of freedom, luck and travel seem like a perfect patron for aiding us in our travels to free Goodwin. We'll certainly need a great deal of luck." She promptly jumps off Cryxial and sits down in the grass cross-legged and just stare out at the horizon while turning her thoughts inwards to the turmoil that is her mind.
In addition to sparring with everyone else Xanya spends some time mixing various alchemical ingredients together, drinking some of what she makes herself and feeding some to Cryxial. After some time she exclaims "I got it! I've figured out how to share my extracts with others!"
Something is slowly happening to Cryxial as well. It's hard to see because the change is so slow, but some of the scales on his forehead are slowly hardening, changing and sharpening. The protrusions on his head seem more deadly than they have before.
"maybe it would be a good idea to bring the scepter thingy into the walls of the city, someone should guard it and the rest of us should get a lead box. That should prevent it being remote activated or scrying on it."
"that sounds like a good patron for our journey, my personal patron will still be The Lantern King, god of Laughter, Mischief and Transformation." says Kiki with a grin.
While sparing Kiki's eyes start glow in a baleful red, her already remarkable speed and grace increasing further. After the bout ended the spiderling does a little victory dance "I did it. I managed to to tap into the wild side of my nature."
When they are sparring Xanya comments to Kiki. "I saw that you drew your weapons during our last battle against the giants. If you travel with them drawn you won't have to waste time on having to do that and can attack immediately instead."
Simon takes up a place in the sun, splaying out his wings as he get in touch with nature.
He gives a low contented growl as he lays in the scrubby grass, his green vine tattoos sort of blending him into the background.
At some point Xanya approaches Quassine and touches him briefly. "I've been inconsiderate. I should have thought about your vulnerability to sunlight and made sure you were protected in case we split up somehow. I'll make sure to keep darkness up to shield you going forward."
Day 9 - Afternoon/Evening
The group settles down at their camp, resting, reflecting, sparring and discussing what they learned in the battle. They ponder their next plan of action and where to go and what to do. You learned much and the scepter recovered from the enemies and the information from the gnolls guides you in deciding to return to Cliffort to report in with your findings.
Having rested and recovered, you can decide to press on now and gain a few hours of travel and perhaps go into the night, or wait until morning. The group's propensity for darkness makes night travel easy, however even darkvision is limited and traveling without landmarks and the ability to see into the distances is somewhat annoying, even backtracking.
"Let us get a few hours of travel in and rest. We can resume our normal movement tomorrow. It would be best not to rest here. The gnolls may run into another scouting party and lead it here. It is a long shot but a possible threat. Lets make use of the light we still have for the day."
Xanya spent some of her time resting examining the dead bodies, learning the ins and outs of the various species. "Yeah, let's not linger her, there are bound to be scavengers here at some point. We can travel a few hours then rest and then do a full day tomorrow."