When things start appearing because people are drawing cards, Chrysa hands the deck to Isabella. She looks at it strangely, very confused. She pulls two cards out and waits to see elven warriors swearing fealty to her.
The first card Isabella draws has an image of three hooded women standing back to back in a triangle appear. The image rotates slowly in place, allowing each one to face the front of the card once. Then the surface flows and the magic washes over Isabella in a wave before vanishing.
The second card shows another hooded figure, this time a man, kneeling in prayer. Beautiful, heavenly music can be heard by everyone as the surface again glows and radiates over Isabella.
Sophie twitches when the cards are drawn, and her hand shakes. ”Cards? This is just an awful idea. Nobody should draw anything. We should put this box back where we found it.” Meanwhile, her hands creep over and snatch three cards from the deck, ”Ahhh b&$@+%*s.” She grumbles, and twitches again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Another Knight appears, this time kneeling and pledging fealty to Lady Sophiel Medvyed.
Then, the next card shows a sagely vizier leaning in giving council to a queen on a throne, that as the image comes into focus, looks strangely like Sophiel. The magic again vanishes and washes over Sophiel before fading away.
The third card appears to be a Qadiran style oil lamp, with crimson smoke flowing from the spout. It materializes into the form of a beautiful genie before red smoke comes from the card and washes over Sophiel. When it fades from sight, Sophiel still stands there, but the number 3 that had appeared on her hand when she drew the first card is now replaced with a 2.
Sophie twitches, and for a moment, the sound of the natural world is wrong, to everyone assembled. It appears as if the birds are chirping too loudly, and that the wind blows too hard. She grits her teeth, ”N... no. this isn’t...” Almost as if compelled to do so, she draws another card.
The fourth card shows another hooded figure, this time a fey-like being, kneeling in prayer. Beautiful, heavenly music can be heard by everyone as the surface again glows and radiates over Sophiel. The number on her hand shifts to a 1.
The sounds grow louder, there is discord in the natural world. The bleed of the first world surrounds Sophie again, but this time it is darker, wilder, and horrifying, not like the green plants you saw before. A chorus of voices can be heard, whispering in a strange tongue.
”this is the time for CHOoOsING.”
Sophiel’s final card seems to erupt in flames in her hand! The fires wash over and engulf her completely in a flash of unearthly heat, before vanishing entirely, while she remains unscathed! The number is gone from her hand.
Sophie, though apparently unscathed, collapses on her hands and knees, shuddering. Her eyes are closed. She is breathing heavily, and muttering to herself in a language nobody understands. Her breathing slows and then stops, and she takes one large breath, shuddering again. She laboriously finishes, then stands up, brushing herself off, and appearing more centered. The scars of the Ayer’s torture have vanished. She says, quietly ”we should not have found this thing. We should hide it as soon as we can. It is wrong.” She says this as if she believes it completely. ”We never should have gotten it. It was a mistake.”
Chief Sootscale quietly observes what happens to all of his companions who try drawing the card. The worst thing that happens seems to inflict Sophiel, but everyone else seems great! "No, no hiding! Chief will try now!" He snatches up the deck and greedily draws five cards.
The first card appears to be a set of golden scales. As the image forms on the screen, the scales tip and drop completely to one side before vanishing in a golden mist, washing over Ipmeek!
The second card materializes an image of a court jester. Once it appears, the image jumps and dances around, a high pitched giggling emanating from the card, before if vanishes in a flash!
The third card creates an image of a radiant gem. It seems to sparkle and glitter in the sunlight as Ipmeek Sootscale moves it from side to side. Then, the gem gleams brightly and suddenly vanishes, as his pack feels slightly heavier.
The fourth card conjures forth the image of a stylized heart. It beats cartoonishly on the surface of the card before the card erupts into a flutter of smaller hearts that flit around Ipmeek a moment before vanishing into the wind!
The fifth card appears entirely black at first. Then a gleaming white light of streaks across it's surface, off the edge of the card, and circles around Ipmeek like a high speed insect before hitting him in the chest and vanishing!
When it is all said and done, Ipmeek can see a 2 on the back of his claw.
As Chief Sootscale draws five cards, it's not obvious anything lasting has happened to him directly. Except, seemingly subconsciously, Chief's hand reaches for the deck once more and draws two more cards, his greed not yet sated!
The sixth card Ipmeek draws is also black at first. But this time, a hooded face peeks out from the surface, it's facial features covered. It glares at the chief a moment before the kobold drops the card as if it hurt him! A small drop of blood can be seen on his fingers as if they were poked by something!
The seventh card is a light blue, with clouds rolling lazily along its surface. Then, one of the clouds casually floats away, revealing the gleaming sun from beneath it. The light of the sun washes over Ipmeek, and grows in intensity, blinding everyone else but Ipmeek for a moment, before vanishing entirely!
Isabella draws two cards, the first of which seems to leave her blinking and looking all around her, confused. The second card elicits a much different reaction however. As she looks at the card, she draws a breath in sharply and then closes her eyes, exhaling a long breath, letting her head sag to her chest. When she lifts it up again, she sees that the scar that had defiled her belly has vanished, her skin unblemished and smooth once again.
She pulls at her belly, tugging and rubbing in disbelief, her eyes wide with amazement. She hoots out loudly before running up to Sophie and Chrysa shouting "LOOK! LOOK! IT'S GONE!". Not only does her phsyical markings appear to be gone, but she's smiling and leaping as she moves, her voice fully of energy as she talks rapidly "It's gone! It's gone!" It would appear that the old Isabella has returned!
As the blinding light of the sun fades, the Chief that stands before everyone stands straight and proud. His dark scales grow a new lustre, shining like black opal. The vestigial wings that were on his back have grown in size. The ridges on his head grow larger, until they seem to almost resemble a crown. What stands before you is a shining example of kobold royalty. He draws one of his signature bombs from his pouch--and swallows it! When he opens his mouth again, fire engulfs the area in front of him, the heat far more intense than anything he has generated before. He lets out a shrill roar!
Chief Sootscale is still clutching the cards greedily at this point. He seems to be eyeing them, contemplating whether to draw even more.
Sophiel frowns, and says to Pervilash and Orri, ”please, do not meddle with this. It promises a great deal, but it is cursed. It is wrong. It shouldn’t be. This thing, these cards. They are not for us. We have borrowed a fraction of the power, and someone will come for payment.” She looks scared.
Chief holds the cards at bay from Perlivash and Tyg. "Sophiel right. Cards not for fairies, too much for your little bodies!"
"Liar!" Tyg replies! "Look! I'm fine! All of you are fine! You're just being greedy!"
Tyg's knight steps forward and clenches his hands tight around the hilt of his curved sword...
"You think silly armored man a match for me now?" Chief Sootscale stares down the warrior threateningly for a moment, then breaks out into laughter. "Hahaha, you faeries so funny. Here, take one. If you strong, maybe you get bigginses slave too." He holds out the cards to Pervilash.
Perlivash and Tyg glare at Ipmeek Sootscale. ”No,” Perlivash says looking to Tyg. ”We leaving. We don’t wanna spend time around meanie kobold anymore.”
The two creatures of the wilds land on the knight’s shoulders as he turns to walk them out of the front gate.
Before he drew the cards, it was clear that Ipmeek felt a great debt to the fey who saved them from death. Now though? Something seems to have changed.
"Just a joke, just a joke! You guys like jokes, right?" Chief doesn't sound particularly apologetic, and shrugs as he watches them head off into the woods.
Sophie follows, after grabbing the cards. ”Pervilash, you can draw. I’m not stopping you. You’re both strong enough... though with the others... honestly I don’t think anyone else appreciates you. If it were up to me, I’d say you should stay with me. I love you both. But with these others, they don’t understand fey very well.” She looks heartbroken, ”I won’t stop you from leaving, but I know is that you saw what happened to me. What was given came at a price. If I could give it back, I would... I can’t explain it...” She smiles wanly at them ”but I believe in freedom. You should be free to choose.” She holds out the cards.
"Stay, and don't kill ANYONE!" she tells the elf in elvish. Then chaos happens, some good, some insane, with Chyrsa dumpstruck through it all. As the fae leave, she follows quickly. Stopping in front of them, "please one moment... I have no idea what is going on, and why... it doesn't matter... whenever you need me, no matter where or when, let me know and I'll be there." she says with complete sincerity. "I have to go figure out what is going on..."
Going back inside she'll try and grab the cards from the newly power mad.
Once back inside she is faced with a giddy Bella, and brooding Sophie, and a down right drunk on testosterone Chief. Looking around she decides each of them took what they could, flaws and benefits being what they were. And decides "We are moving out, are we not, off to the trading post to rid ourselves of the prisoners. Let me rephrase that. I am moving out, and any who wish to join me may. Topper and Akiros, we will hopefully be back soon. Stay safe, and if people come for this stuff, run instead of die." Then she starts gathering up her stuff with a elf following behind her.
Isabella grabs everything she cant, even to the point of being over burdened and moving slowly. Easy enough to drop a heavy pack and fight, right? Once loaded, she accompanies Chrysa and inquires about her new "friend". She also moves over to Chief and asks, "Sootscale, tell me about what cards you saw? What's different?" before moving to Sophie last. "What's a matter Sophie? Was your card not special?"
"She's an elf, an archer, and doesn't seem to like chatting or humans actually. She's beautiful, I feel like a troll around her. And she seems to want to do anything at all to please me, It is a little creepy" she whispers to her friend, having the elf take up rear guard.
She looks up as the bearded, helmed man in armor with a handful of weapons approaches through the open palisade. He's tall, and seemingly very strong.
The man says "my lady, I swear my fealty to you." He bows to Sophie and approaches her, standing next to her, apparently guarding her from threats. When Isabella approaches, he raises his weapon towards her, and grimaces aggressively, until Sophie says, "No, Bjorn, please." Sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose, Bjorn nods at her and Isabella, saying nothing else.
Sophie looks at Bella, darkly, "nothing about this is right, Isabella. We made a mistake." She points at Bjorn and everyone else, seemingly happy with their rewards.
"We all feel better now, but I didn't want any of this. It was as if I was possessed, for a moment, when I drew. And the results were wrong. Isabella, you do realize that I'm ... not completely a half-elf, right?" She points at Chrysa. "Okay, wait, let me back up. I'm a bit like Chrysa."
"It's hard to explain - I have a connection to the First World. The progenitor plane, the first draft of the universe. Ancient beings of incalculable intelligent and plans that we cannot understand live there. Some of the regular residents 'leak' over to here, the material plane, they're the fey, and feytouched creatures." She puts her hands on her hips. "Savvy on that, so far?" she asks, before moving on.
"So, I can pick up on leaks from there, spirit creatures and the like. I also have an intuitive sense of a lot of things related to The First World. Fey like me, and I like them." She pointed at where Tyg and Pervilash ran off, "we think similarly, sort of..." She then points at the deck, "a drawback of tapping into this power is that, I sometimes have compulsions. The compulsions have, so far, served me well: it got me here, found me a new family, allowed me to change my fate." She says this last part low and breathlessly, "I got another compulsion again, or I thought it was, to grab three cards. Three. It's an important number for me, right? But I didn't grab three, Bella. I had to grab five. It was wrong... we shouldn't have meddled. Did you hear the voices? I heard the voices... Bella, something made that deck" She gestures at herself, and the others. "and now, we all are all in that thing's debt." She says this last part darkly and bitterly.
XP 800
Male human (Ulfen) fighter (viking) 4 (Ultimate Wilderness 51)
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 (+7 armor, +2 Dex, +5 shield)
hp 34 (4d10+8)
Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +4
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee mwk greatsword +8 (2d6+5/19-20) or
. . mwk silver warhammer +8 (1d8+4/×3)
Ranged paueliel composite longbow +7 (1d8+4/×3) or
. . throwing axe +6 (1d6+4)
Special Attacks fearsome, rage (6 rounds/day)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +4; CMB +7; CMD 19
Feats Additional Traits, Bodyguard[APG], Combat Reflexes, Missile Shield[APG], Power Attack, Shield Focus
Traits helpful, weapon training
Skills Acrobatics -1 (-5 to jump), Climb +9, Handle Animal +4, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (engineering) +6, Linguistics +1, Perception +5, Survival +7, Swim +4
Languages Aklo, Common, Skald, Sylvan
SQ shield defense
Other Gear +1 agile breastplate[APG], +1 shield spikes paueliel heavy wooden shield, arrows (40), mwk greatsword, mwk silver warhammer, paueliel composite longbow (+3 Str), throwing axe (5), cloak of resistance +1, cracked pink and green sphere ioun stone, ioun torch ioun stone[APG], bandolier[UE], basic maps (major landmarks only), bedroll, blanket[APG], canteen[UE], climber's kit, crowbar, explorer's outfit, flint and steel, knife, utility (0.5 lb), masterwork backpack[APG], mess kit[UE], silk rope (100 ft.), 105 gp, 9 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Bodyguard Use an AoO to use aid another to improve an ally's AC.
Combat Reflexes (3 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Fearsome (move action) (Ex) More quickly make Intimidate checks to demoralize foes.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Missile Shield (1/round) 1/round, when hit by a ranged weapon, take no damage.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rage (6 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Shield Defense +1 Additional shield bonus when wielding shield and not wearing heavy armor.
"That's KING Sootscale, Bella," corrects the kobold. "King Sootscale is new kobold now." Chief thinks about all the cards he drew, many of which he didn't understand. He digs into his bag and pulls out a stone, which he sets into orbit around his head.
"King Sootscale not understand all cards he sees. Scales, jesters, gems, hearts, hooded faces. But the light, the light is strong!"
As Chrysa leads the way on to the fort, the Sootscale formerly known as Chief interrupts. "We go to kobold home first! Is not far. King Sootscale must show new powers to the Sootscales and claim his kingdom."
"Yes, that's fine, Chi-, King Sootscale" Chrysa works through what she is supposed to call the former chief, king being a bit odd, not out of disrespect, but that he wasn't her king. But she'll try, to make her friend happy. "Are you coming with us to the trading post after?" while she's grown fond of the kobold, she doesn't know if he intends to stay now that the stag lord is dead.
Then back to Sophie, her eyes narrowing to find out Sophie was fey, but then pushing that aside, knowing prejudices does not hold to someone she's almost died for a few times. "Debt?!? That would imply a contract we were not given the full details on. My elven companion there, Elloth Vaiwa if you need to talk to her, would be loyal to IT, when push comes to shove then?"
Elloth Vaiwa "a single flower's breeze"
Elf fighter (archer) 4 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 104)
N Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 32 (4d10+4)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1; +2 vs. enchantments
Immune sleep
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk cold iron elven thornblade +6 (1d6+1/18-20)
Ranged darkwood composite longbow +10 (1d8+3/×3)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 19
Feats Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow), Weapon Specialization (longbow)
Skills Climb +5, Craft (bows) +6, Handle Animal +6, Perception +7, Ride +9, Stealth +13, Survival +7, Swim +5; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan
SQ elven magic, trick shot (trick shot: disarm[APG])
Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds (4), silver arrows (50); Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, arrows (20), darkwood composite longbow (+1 Str), mwk cold iron elven thornblade, cloak of elvenkind, bedroll, belt pouch, elven trail rations[UE] (7), flint and steel, grappling arrow[UE], grappling arrow[UE], masterwork backpack[APG], mess kit[UE], nature climbing harness[UW], silk rope (50 ft.), soap, waterskin, 1 gp, 1 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Trick Shot: Disarm Disarm with a bow at 30' and -4 CMB.
Isabella eyes Sophie's servant curiously. "That's a little creepy."
Bella shakes her head no and lifts her shirt so you can see her belly. "Do you see Sophie, do you see? It's all gone. All of it! I did NOT make a mistake. And my head, I feel clear, I feel light and free and the hurt is all gone. I didn't draw three or five cards Sophie, I drew two. It was just the right amount of me, for it cleared my head and wiped me clear. I feel like a newbord babe, not a worry in the world."
She clasps Sophie on the shoulders and shakes her once, "We're better then ever Sophie! We have ridden this land of a scourge and come out on top. We are champions who are going to be handsomely rewarded. We are not soaking in the glory of our deeds and well, you worry too much. Enjoy the moment while it is our. for glory and victory are ours this day!"
Turning to Sootscale, she frowns. "Chief, King, whatever, it's all the same to me Sooty."
"The contract was signed the moment we let our greed get the better of our heads, Chrysa. And yes, you can expect that our new 'friends' are ultimately loyal to something else." She glances at Bjorn and Elloth, "no offense, lady and gent."
She seems to be ignoring Sootscale, until she says, in Draconic,"Rendben, ha a neve most király, akkor királynak hívunk. De érted, nem mi vagyunk a szolgád, ugye?"
She returns the squeeze to Isabella's shoulder, and looks her in the eyes, "Enjoy it now, Bella, but nothing is free." She shakes her head. "Let's go..."
Sophie will do an ant haul onto her horse if possible, and load up a lot of stuff.
"I owe no debt." Chrysa says simply, then adds when Sophie turns to correct her "Yes I know something out there might think otherwise and may have the strength to not care what I think, but My thoughts on the matter are still mine." obstinate or not, she thinks how she thinks.
"King Sootscale is king now, you'll see Bella. You are new human too, because you are strong. You all can call me King Ipmeek if you want. Ipmeek is King Sootscale's birth name. Sootscale tribe like to call me Sootscale, but that is silly tradition."
As Chrysa talks about future plans, Ipmeek has to think it over a bit, before settling on a conclusion. "King Ipmeek has killed Stag Lord and taken Stag Lord trophy." He gestures toward the Stag Lord helm. "He has kingdom to rule now and will stay with subjects. Come, we have big feast to celebrate."
Ipmeek is quite startled as Sophiel addresses him in draconic. "Ah! Beszéled a sárkány nyelvét! Mindig tudta, vagy csak gyorsan tanul? Nem számít. Természetesen nem a szolgáim vagy - nem kobold. De mégis, neked nincs a sárkányok vére a vénákban, mint én."
Ipmeek puffs out his chest, his scales flaring with pride.
The group rides for the Sootscale Warrens, per King Sootscale's demands.
As you approach, you see that the area in front of the mine entrance is trampled heavily. Something...several things...of giant proportions with clawed feet have raided the Sootscale tribe! The caverns are littered with kobold dead, both warriors, females, and hatchlings. Several nests have been plundered, some eggs lay broken open.
It takes some time, but deep within the cavern, where Ipmeek knows is the final fall back point. The caverns narrow to the size that only something kobold size could squeeze through easily. There are claw marks evident along the walls where something tried to dig through, but the stone walls would have taken too long. Crawling through, Ipmeek can see the small number of surviving Sootscale kobolds, holed up in their final defensible position, with a wounded Mikmek standing guard with just a handful of warriors to guard the small number of females, eggs, and hatchlings that remain.
Isabella grows more paniced the further they push into the Warrens. Pulling out her blade, she prepares herself in case the enemy is still around. With the signs of battle evident, it does not look like it went well for the kobolds. It isn't her place to speak, so she waits for the "King" to talk to his people and figure out what happened before she reacts.
"No! What happened?" he cries in Draconic, though it's easy enough for everyone to understand that the kobold king is in shock. King Sootscale's hoped-for glorious return to his kingdom is shattered as he sees the broken bodies of his people everywhere. He goes up to one body. Draahzin! No, not you." Pushing further into the warrens, he sees another. "Yrallik! Oh Yrallik!"
Arriving upon the final bastion, he sees a wounded Mikmek standing guard with the small remnants of their people. "Mikmek, what happened?" He starts handing out curative elixirs to Mikmek and the other wounded. "Who attacked us? When? Why did all of our traps fail? Are they still here?" He looks around for immediate threats. Enraged at the disaster, he then cries out in common.
Chrysa takes the move into the warrens slower, trying to catch signs of what the attackers could be.
"Elloth, do you see where the tracks of the attackers originated?"
If found they won't try and follow, instead they'll catch up to the others. Not wanting to face something that took on an entire clan of kobolds herself, and in case whatever it was, was still in the tunnels.
Chrysa studies the tracks and markings carefully as they advance in the kobold holdings. As Mikmek leads the survivors out and Ipmeek demands answers, he states just as Chrysa makes the connection herself...
”Trolls.”
He then goes on to explain that a strange troll with two heads led the attack, with four more trolls in tow. Whenever one of the fire traps wounded one, the two headed one made that one pull back until it could heal itself again. It wasn’t that he was smart, but he was smart enough...
Chrysa gets back to see the others already know. "A few of us could ride ahead to the trading post, pick up as much alchemist fire the hermit has..." Bandits are one thing, trolls are another, she wants to yell at them, suggesting maybe they should just run. But these are the chief's people, Sophie wouldn't abandon a wounded predator in a pit much less thinking little ones in eggs, and the gleam in Bella's eyes Screams Let's Be Heroes!!!
"... and then we can hunt them down." the semi horned one sighs
As Ipmeek realizes that there would be no immediate enemy to slay, he is left looking defeated. Looking only upon the broken remnants of what he had wanted to be his "kingdom." Could they ever recover from this calamity? Ipmeek went into the den and picked up one of the eggs therein, cradling it.
Sophiel said there was a price to pay for power. Was this part of the price? The destruction of the Sootscale tribe?
He shakes the thought from his mind. No, it was the trolls. Vile creatures who had chosen to raid kobold lands for their own satisfaction. Still, as long as the next generation survived, there was hope for recovery. As Chrysa talks of hunting down these trolls, Ipmeek gives a speech (in Draconic). "These vile trolls have violated our homes, just as the vile bandits of the Stag Lord before them. But I tell you this. The Stag Lord is dead! And these trolls, they will be next. We will fight until our dead are avenged, and our children are safe!" He holds up the kobold egg into the air, a symbol of what was at stake.
Chief looks to his warmblood companions. "Tonight, we build pyre for dead kobolds and sing songs to remember." Once he has ensured that the surviving kobolds are healed as best he can, he will do the grim work of gathering the fallen, whispering the name of each kobold he knew.
Chrysa softly translates the speech to the others, that don't speak draconic.
Isabella slaps Chrysa on the back and nods, stating "Great plan Chrysa. I'm with you."
Once she translate, Bella eagerly agrees to help Sootscale with the construction of the pyre as well as the cleanup of the fallen, dragging and carrying bodies of his people, friends and families to the pyre. Between the Stag Lord battle and what has befallen his people, the days leave very little time for celebration.
Sophiel looks grimly at the devastation, but stays back, waiting to follow Sootscale's lead. She spends time, as Chrysa's simulacrum does, examining the tracks and attack pattern, trying to figure out what happened.
She wasn't able to figure out much, though.
"I don't know much about trolls, but I'll follow your leads. We can't go hunting with all this stuff, though."
"I agree" she says to Sophie's suggestion "We can't hunt trolls with prisoners in line... unless..." she thinks about using them somehow as bait but decides logistically that would be a nightmare. They had no idea where the trolls were. "No. We'll need supplies no matter what, so the trading post needs to be first.
After the funeral, we'll need to go."
She'll find a place to keep a lookout, with her grumpy elf.
The funeral pyre is held without any threats. The mood is somber within the Sootscale tribe, with mutterings that had the warmbloods not come along, they'd still be fine and safe.
Eventually, you all set out for Oleg's to hand over your prisoners and see if he can broker a deal with your gathered prizes. They are overwhelmed with joy at the return of Svetlana's wedding ring, and Oleg is excited at the presentation of a minimally damaged tatzylwyrm head. For the two of those, he promises you all 1,600 gp in trading post credit, as he doesn't have that kind of coin on hand ever since your multiple recent dealings with him.
Kesten approaches as you conclude your business with Oleg, glowering at Falgrim Sneeg as he closes the gap.
”Kesten, hold on. Falgrim may be a bandit; send him to prison for theft. But he deserves a fair hearing, at a court. He led us to the thing he stole from you, fairly, and we’re returning them to you now. He’s trying to make amends, as was in his power, and I do not believe he is an evil man. Before we turn him to you, you must agree that he be given a fair hearing. We detected some magic on what was in the package - it may have meddled with his mind.”
She looks at Kesten, seriously, her eyes pleading, ”you don’t know what we went through to stop the Stag Lord. Falgrim did nothing to us in this time. Nor did Jex. They aren’t monsters, they’re people. They can change. And whatever disgrace you experience, if I have any power at the end of this process, I will use what I can to return you to honor. This is swear. But do not execute or hurt these men, now. Give them a chance to say their peace. I’m begging you.” Her small form interposes itself between Kesten and Falgrim.
Isabella steps up in front of Falgrim, between the man and Kesten. "It is as Sophiel speaks, Kesten. We would not be returning anything to you would it not have been for your help. Do not be so quick to judge as the fates may have brought us back without Falgrim or your possession, or perhaps not at all. Fortituous are we to be in this position. I cannot stress enough the horrors that were undertaken with our battle with the Stag Lord."
Chrysa leaves the others with bigger hearts than hers to negotiate the not killing of the former bandit, and sees instead to the selling of their goods to the trading post. Hoping their dealings with Oleg might sway his merchant mind with his own heart, she chats with the man and his wife about nothings and prices.
Kesten's angered expression softens a bit as the two women make their subtle assumed accusations, turning to confusion and embarrassment. "My Ladies, I had no intention of exacting justice myself. Despite what dishonor I may have fallen to in my life, I do still hold some shred of integrity. I fully intended all along to see him delivered to Restov for trial. And when the guilty verdict is given, I shall request the right to act as executioner at that time."
Hearing Chrysa's request, as well as Sophiel's regarding magical supplies and their need of a wagon, Oleg rubs his chin in frustration. "I'm afraid I don't have anything that extravagant, m'Lord and Ladies. If you are lookin' for that kind of stuff, your best chance would be in Restov. And even then, there's no guarantee."
Hearing this, Kesten adds "You are welcome to accompany me to Restov, if you would like. I could then let you provide your request of the blacksmith friend of mine in regards to the promised four weapons for the return of this filth," with a rough nudge to Falgrim's back.