Sees watches the others frantically gesture over the corpse. "Easier to move a rock onto the corpse and move on. We need to get between the advanced parties."
Sees is still listening to the sounds and signals of the orc parties, trying to discern how close any of them were to their trail or the fork in it. Her hand has not left her horn, but her teeth grit and grind. All of it will be for nothing if I sound at the wrong time.
Sees turns the setting on the scent bottle to rancid meat and checks to see how much is left in the vial.
What this do? Maybe help? Thunk shows the bottle that he won from the crab to Sees.
It is filled with smoke, perhaps it can turn the warg into a gas, which we an disperse.
I'll give you this one.
Legends tell of a wealthy human nobleman that donned a costume by night to make himself appear as a bat. One of this "Bat Man's" enemies had a sick sense of humor, to say the least, and employed a greenish gas in his attacks that matches this description. It's laughing gas, causing uncontrollable laughter in its victims. When used in sufficient doses, victims literally asphyxiate from lack of oxygen from over-laughter. They die with a rictus smile spread across their waxy faces.
You listen and carefully look around, and your fine-tuned Bardic ears listen carefully, trying to determine the approach vectors of the slaver band. You run a few quick mental calculations, factoring in the echoing effect of the surrounding rocks. Swiftly, you realize that the nearest horn - the horn that sounded brassy and metallic - will crest the nearby rise and be able to see the Avengers within two minutes, at the most.
You could try to pull it in with you, but it's quite heavy and it would be difficult to hide it all. Eyeballing the corpse vs the rocky overhang tells you that you could fit it in there, but it'd be a very tight squeeze, especially with all the kobolds hiding in there as well.
Leaving Steamer inside in case Sees needs to use it, Smoog scrambles out of the hiding place and jambs both arms into the bloody mess that was the wargs head and neck.
-
He then wipes some of it on himself and any others that want to look dead and gory.
-
Finally, he takes up a position near the hole looking in the direction of the approaching orcs and assumes a 'dead' position on the ground.
Sees blinks blankly at Smoog until his actions start making sense. "Possum's gambit! Very nice. [b]Pork, out front! No, you know why. Shut up and act more dead than usual.[/b]" The dirge starts spritzing her companions with rotten meat smell before sliding into the cave, shuffling somewhat into the gravel and trying to find a natural-looking pose that puts Gorlaug's Wrath at her lips and ready. Looking at the strange device Smoog has left her, she dips a few drops of rancid oil into the reservoir for good measure.
If we survive this, Smoog, I'll have to clean this thing out for you.
Thunk does his own smearing and he slumps down with his club at his side
He hops up again and rushes to Sees
Fix this cut? he asks for a little more healing.
No sooner had Thunk laid down next to the corpse of the Warg than the sound of tromping feet and approaching canines can be heard. Pork had tapped into the bitterness of his ruined swamp, casting rotten and dead animals here and there to add to the effect. In addition, the smelling jar that was spread all over the area causes a great rank smell that makes it difficult to maintain your composure. It's so bad that even Sees-Death, with her experience poopsmithing for a Black Dragon, has to suppress an involuntary gag. The Warg's recently-dead corpse is a messy pile of gore after the kobolds have used its dead and bloody flesh to simulate their own "injuries."
All of you have your eyes closed due to your posturing as dead victims, but you can hear a rough voice calling out. "There! Ruffsputin is dead! And there - the kobolds!" you recognize the voice from your earlier fight with the other slavers - it's the mancatcher-wielding orc that had run off to notify his friends in the first place. He led the rest of them straight here.
"Augh, what's that foulness in the air?" you hear another voice, deeper, more authoritative, complain. "Smells like whatever killed these creatures and our Warg is not far off. Be alert, boys!"
As he speaks, Sees, you hear the padding footsteps of an enormous quadriped approaching you. It's joined by another. They stride closer and closer to you until you can feel their hot breath on your scales. They take an enormous noseful of you and growl, shaking their heads at the stench. The force of the intake and exhalation of the two Wargs' breath is enough to rock your face slightly back and forth from the wind of it.
Smoog holds his breath laying as still as possible.
When she hears the approach of the orcs and their astute observations, she sounds the horn and squeezes some moving part on the ancient contraption, hoping her brief experience observing Smoog is enough to operate the machine.
When Smoog hears Gorlaug's Wrath echo out its call, he whispers into the minds of the Wargs and any orcs nearby, "Flee!, FLEE!"
-
Since he is actually projecting his voice directly into their minds, Smoog makes no actual sound but he imagines his voice to be as big and boomy as possible to scare them witless.
-
Hegh lies on the ground motionless, cradling Tanard who is concealed beneath the bloodguard's bulky body.
Be still.
The orcs jump back in surprise and the wargs snarl and growl at the cave opening, their fur standing on end. "Something makes me uneasy about this place," one of the orc voices comments. "C'mon, you probably just saw the kobold's pet lizard, you idiot. Let's go find the rest of your squad. I don't want to mess with whatever stinks up the place that badly." with a sharp whistle, the speaker calls off the wargs from their close examination of Smoog's "corpse," and you hear the orc slaver band moving off. They should discover the dead bodies that you left behind from your battle within a few moments. What do you do?
Smoog peeks open one eye when he hears them back off. When they are out of sight he hops up and grabs all his gear and makes ready to escape.
-
Sees-Death packs her twine and belts her horns, spitting on the ground to clear the scent from her mouth. It hangs in the air now, a reminder of how far she has truly come since the fall of Moontower Mountain. The orcs are moving on, and the seeds of doubt have been sewn. If hearsay of a red dragon whelp spread, it would likely only become a smaller part of Tanard's grand story.
"That was only one of three bands. In that number, the greater victory will be escaping with our lives." The bard has to stop to spit again, and cover her snout with one of her voluminous sleeves. "We still smell strongly of rot. I don't know if they'll try and track us after that, but it won't be hard. It has been much harder than I expected to keep track of their locations, so other than continuing to run and laying false trails, I know not what else to do. Hegh, I know this run has been especially hard on you, but I don't think we have much option, unless you'd like to spend the day hiding here." She said this last with a slight sneer as if it were a ridiculous option. This was intended to goad the other Kobold to action, but a part of her wanted desperately to lay down wait for the danger to pass. She cursed herself silently for running away again.
aid
Be calm 'fore you make spell. Thunk says as Sees begins to cast.
Hegh snorts as he stands, and then adjusts Tanard to a more secure position around his shoulders. He flexes his foot and nods to himself.
Do try to keep up, Scoops.
Thunk moves to Hegh's side and moves.
The female Kobold's throat flushes with indignation, but she doesn't respond. Instead she checks the sun, the wind, and the sounds of the slaver bands in the distance one more time before striking out in the direction they were headed before.
Thunk, you successfully aid Sees in her healing attempts on Hegh, causing his foot to feel normal once again. However, because Sees' spell required your input, the spell affects you as well. If you had rolled a partial success on your Aid, you would deal -2d4 damage forward. Instead, your barbarian stubbornness shakes off the worst of the effects. You deal -1d4 damage on your next swing.
You can tell that the Mancatcher orc that ran off to fetch the slaver tribe in the first place has led them back to where you did battle with the orcs in the first place. If you headed back to the path you were taking before, you'll surely encounter them again.
The slavers are investigating the scene of the battle, west of you. Their camp was further east. The gorge is south. Where do you go?
go thump camp?
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"Their campsite seems to be left unguarded.
Let's sweep thru and grab anything valuable on our way east."
"Let's approach with caution. They may have left someone behind to mind the cookpot." The dirge moves ahead to scout the way.
She is bold. Follow her, but do not hesitate to take flight if necessary.
Hegh follows cautiously, no longer favoring his foot.
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Thunk follows quickly
defy danger sex
Foolish bard. If she is caught alone, how long does she think she will last.
Fine Thunk go make sure bard not get thump
The kobolds leave the body of the Warg behind and gather up their supplies quickly, listening over their shoulders every so often to the distant shouting of the slavers, not far off.
In haste, the small scaly creatures run along the rocks, sometimes allowing their hands to touch the ground to get higher levels of speed, hearkening back to their quadruped lineage. The kobolds round a corner and find the orc's camp without much difficulty - the orcs that had left the camp moments before had left a trail that a blind bat could follow.
Approaching cautiously, leading the others, Sees and Thunk draw nearer. They see a lazy orc "sentry" who is barely able to keep his eyes open, nodding off near a fire. The orc is completely unaware of his surroundings and the two kobolds ambush him and have him bound and gagged in the time it takes you to wink. He's at your mercy from his ill-attention, so you can slay him without needing to roll if you wish, or merely leave him captured.
That done, the kobolds take stock of what the orcs left behind. Looking around the camp, you see some traveling supplies and orcish possessions that the slavers didn't carry with them on their Wargs, along with trinkets and odds and ends that presumably were taken from the slaves the orcs have been taking. Roll Loot+1. You also see a small cave at the top of a narrow path, several meters above where the rest of the camp is laid out. There's a metal grate with holes about 8 inches wide, shoved into the rock surrounding the cave entrance to block it off. You see a fleshy, human-looking arm hanging outside the grate, but whomever it belongs to is inside the cave and not visible. You're too far away from your original battleground to hear the investigating slavers anymore.
Smoog scavenges for food mostly but keeps his eyes open for anything useful...
-
-
"I really do not care if the captives up there live or die but the more quarry these nasty orcs have to chase the less they may follow after us.
Let's give the captives a chance to escape and be on our way as well.
Not the key mind you but tools they can use to pry open their cage perhaps?"
Thunk stands with his club ready to splatter the Orc at sees's command
loot
Sees looks down at the Orc. "I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying, but you're already dead. I'm sure you've heard this speech, delivered, perhaps, by a more competent Orc. In the eyes of your former comrades, you are a walking corpse, worse than useless. Your only purpose left in this world is to prove your worth to me." The Dragontongue grabs a crude cup from a nearby crate, slams it in the center of the stool the orc was waiting on, and spits in it, then gathers and deposits Thunk's blood into the cup. "An oath of fealty, bound by blood in the name of Death itself. So, all that's left to you to decide is whether you die here, a prisoner, or serve a Red Dragon and her minions, and fight for the chance of a more spectacular death. So, how can I get you to pledge a binding oath of fealty to The End of All Roads, heiress to The All-Eater?" The air swells with magic threads that weave themselves over the area and the cup of fluids. It was a ceremony Sees had witnessed a thousand times, and she would have no idea if there was a magical component to the oath, but she's also never encountered someone who could lie to her. The dirge watches the Orc, ready to signal Thunk to cave in his skull.
When the Orc has chosen his definition of honor, Sees-Death will then join Fssst in scouring the camp, looking for some rations fit for a Kobold as well as a slaver's whip. She and Fssst are not particularly delicate about their search, dumping out chests and bags and tossing junk and surplus rations into the nearest fire with the intent to get the tents to catch fire.
Thunk follows quickly
2d6+1+1 defy danger sex
Hegh stands near the Orc as Sees speaks, rising to his full height as Tanard perches on his helm.
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Thunk kicks over a bunch of sleeping furs, smothering the fire beneath them until they begin to burn smokily. He finds a collection of orcish paints and a tattoo needle that seem to glow faintly with some kind of mystic power.
Sees-Death finds the slavers' cache of rations and supplies, and after burning the rations that would only be fit for orcs, she scavenges up to 11 rations that can be distributed as she likes among the kobolds. Additionally, she finds a mundane cane that can be collapsed into a pocket sized object through some mechanism, and ale. Lots and lots of ale. They're in mini-barrels - each one 1 Weight, and each one with enough to keep a party of kobolds drunk for a full nights' revelry.
Hegh discovers a spellbook. Many of the pages have been ripped out - maybe the orcs needed toilet paper - but 8 pages remain within, with 5 different spells recorded. The fifth and final spell takes up three pages of explanation, whereas the other 4 only took a page each. The book is written in Draconic script, so you can understand it.
Smoog, you find some discarded knives that could be used to break a simple lock like the one on the cage-cave on the hill. When you approach, the arm retracts inside fearfully, and you see about a half-dozen prisoners inside, all humans and one elf. One of the humans is a young one. You're bad at estimating human ages, but it looks like it can't be older than ten. She clings to another human woman fearfully when you look at her. The other slaves look at you with deep-sunken, empty eyes. You hear muttering among them as you look inside... "Kobold? What's a scaly..." "Could they have driven off the orcs?..." "We're still in trouble..." "No love lost for humans.." "Never see home again..." This is all in Common, but you understand it well enough. The elf doesn't speak; he remains in his seated position at the far back of the cave, staring out at you.
Back down in the camp, Thunk impassively watches as Sees-Death opens a trivial wound in the scales underneath his arm, where they are softest, allowing the scales to close back up over the cut when she finishes. Take 1 damage, ignores armor, Thunk. The cup fills with the barbarian's blood and the bard's spit. The imprisoned orc's eyes glance from Sees to Hegh and up to look at Tanard. Then he glances at Thunk, who is practically wiggling in anticipation of caving in the orc's skull.
When you pull the gag out of his mouth (awkward, with the tusks) the orc licks his lips. His voice is deep and gravelly, typical of an orc. "Let me live and give me a weapon, and I will serve you kobolds the rest of my days," he responds. He glances nervously at Thunk's club again. "The, ah...the other orcs are dirt anyway. They are nothing to me."
Though his hands are still bound behind him, he struggles to his knees. Thunk and Hegh brace themselves for a sudden hostile leap, but he stops moving once he's on his knees before Sees-Death. He lowers his chin to his chest submissively. "I do not lead. I follow. I kill. I scout. I capture. I care not for whom, only that they are the strongest. Tell me what you would ask of me."
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Hegh catches the Orc's eyes, and suddenly gleaming white wings spring from Hegh's back, framing the red dragon sitting on the ancient drakerider's helm.
We are the strongest. Hegh points to Sees. Drink Bloodguard and arm yourself. You will protect the Bloodmother. If she dies, you die.
The orc's nostrils flare and his eyes widen at the sight of the wings. At his commanding words, the orc can only nod, his eyes moving to the Cup of Blood Fealty.
"I will serve you loyally, Dragon-lords. Give me the cup and release my bonds. We must leave here before my brothers return."
Thunk frowns.
Fine no thump.
Sees-Death offers the cup, letting the orc drink, then cuts the rest of the bindings holding him. She makes sure he gets himself equipped with the finest flea-ridden hides the camp has to offer, and whatever weapon he's comfortable wielding. When the fires start to smoke, she gestures in whatever direction the smoke is heading. She makes sure to speak out of earshot of the cave-cage. "Unless anyone else has a better idea, I think we should head down-wind, we're a beacon in the night to those wargs otherwise. The escaped slaves will make for easier targets."
As they are about to leave, Smoog throws the handful of scavenged knives at the base of the cave door.
-
"I do not care if you get out or where you go; just don't follow us."
-
He then trods off to follow the group of kobolds in the direction of the smoke.
Smoog, the prisoners fall over each other scrambling for the knives, and one of the humans begins to stab frantically at the lock, jamming the blade around inside the locking mechanism and jiggling it around as much as possible. "Thank you, nice kobolds!" the human child calls out to you as you walk away.
The orc warrior gets to his feet after chugging down Thunk's blood. When the cup is taken away, his tusks are red and bloody. Some of it has flowed over his chin and down his chest. The orc arms himself with a pair of heavy one-handed axes and an overcoat made from the fur of a Warg.
The wind is from the north today, driving the smoke southward, toward the gorge you noticed earlier. Hastening off in that direction, you find yourselves standing on the lip of a cliff about 80 to 90 feet high. The chasm has a river at the bottom of it, and there are numerous rocky buttes that make columns up and down the riverbank.
The orc had been saying nothing as he journeyed with you all, seeming to be more concerned with escape than conversation. He glanced repeatedly over his shoulder to watch for onrushing Warg scouts. Now, as you reach the cliff edge, he sits down on the rocky lip, and turns around to lower himself down, preparing to climb down.
Hegh glances down the cliff, stretches his neck and draws his sword. He slices across his palm and begins anointing each kobold in turn.
Bloodmother.
Dragon’s Gift
When you grant the power of dragons to another by spilling your blood upon them, take 1 damage (ignoring armor) and roll +STR.
10+: They hold 2 Ice
7-9: They hold 1 Ice but they are overcome with your dragon’s desire. If they do not give in to this desire before spending all of their held Ice, they take 1d6 damage, ignoring armor, as the blood burns them.
6-: They hold 1 Ice anyway, but they are overcome with your Dragon’s desire and take -1 ongoing until they fulfill it. If they spend their point of Ice before fulfilling this desire, they are no longer overcome with desire, but the transformation has side effects – the GM will tell you what.
Thumpbrother.
Grand Tinker.
Shieldbearer.
Halt Orc! Hegh lets a drop of his blood fall on the Orc.
When he is finished, Hegh addresses the group. Fight the desire to harm your friends. Let the fire cleanse you.
Hold fast, my Queen.
Wings sprout from Hegh's back. Follow.
Hegh leaps over the edge, aiming to reach high ground on the far side of the gorge.