"Why would they know we were here? The demon went off to do whatever it is that demons do and it hasn't come back yet," Pril says with a shrug. "We just need to drag it off with us and cover our tracks."
She looks the woman up and down.
"You look like that's something right in your wheelhouse," she adds with a grin.
If that was a slight, Illyiana doesn't perceive it as such. She simply nods, turning to move towards it and grab a hold of it and start to drag it. She looks back over her shoulder to Pril and says "Are you just going to stand there and look pretty or are you going to come put those muscles to work and help me drag this thing?"
"No, I can help you drag it and still look pretty," Pril says with a grin. When she grabs and begins pulling the demon through the woods, she looks up at the ranger. "Wait, do you think I'm pretty?"
The wizard's mustache trembles as the two argue over ... over what exactly?! "Stop squabbling over meaningless trivialities and just do it. We beat him, we won, now don't make me feel like we lost."
Despite the demon's size, its bones are hollow, and it only weighs 400 pounds. It doesn't take too much effort to drag it out of sight and conceal it in the jungle undergrowth.
|
The wizard's mustache trembles as the two argue over ... over what exactly?! "Stop squabbling over meaningless trivialities and just do it. We beat him, we won, now don't make me feel like we lost."
"They are flirting Ervan." Lucius explains in a resigned tone. "No doubt they will be sharing a bedroll in short order."
Illyiana opens her mouth to respond to Pril "Why, yes, I think-", but the master of electricity's comments hush her up. So instead of talking, she just winks at Pril with a smirk before turning back to pulling the demon.
When the strength work is completely, she sets about covering the tracks.
Pril's head snaps around at the cardinal's comment, anger evident on her face. She doesn't say anything, though, and the anger transforms to hurt before she turns back to continue to pull the dead demon in silence.
Once they've found a place to rest for the night, the gnome rolls out her bedroll and makes a point to have it quite a ways away from anyone one else's. She retires to it without having said a word.
You find a safe place to camp in the jungle overnight, Renali brining you fresh food and water. Fortunately, your rest goes undisturbed, and the next day, you prepare for your second foray into the mining camp.
Illyiana is up early, before first light. She cleans her gear, her face and neatly packs up everything into her pack before venturing out to scout around the perimeter just to make sure there wasn't any untoward animals nearby.
The perimeter of the camp remains clear. It seems like the vrock's absence has not changed the situation in the camp, as they do not appear to be on alert.
Before her morning stretches, Pril approaches Lucius. She stands in a very formal pose.
"Your words yesterday created anger in me, Cardinal," she says in a very calm voice. "That you would imply that I would be so casual with my relationship with Allandír hurt me, deeply."
"But my master has taught me that we cannot control what others do or what others say. We can only control how we respond. My anger and my pain should not be inflicted on those around me."
She pauses for a moment.
"So I apologize for any distress my actions may have caused you." With that said, she bows and waits for a response.
|
|
"May apologies be as well delivered as yours." The Cardinal replies. "I hope mine can be equally eloquent. I do owe you an apology Pril. I am old, old enough that I had not expected to spend my days traipsing through jungles and even less to be eviscerated by angry demons. I was out of temper and spoke hastily, without forethought or due consideration. It was a failing on my part and I am sorry for it, and for the offense that I caused you. You do not deserve it and never have done." He bows in response, "If you will accept my apology then you will also have my word that I will not repeat such incidents again. I am, if nothing else, old enough to know better." He smiles slightly, attempting to lighten the mood a little.
"Apology accepted," Pril says, her face breaking out in a wide smile. "Now get down here and give me a hug," she adds, spreading her arms.
~~~~
"So shall we move counter-clockwise around the camp?" Pril asks as they survey the area again. "Hit the monkey-boys at the charcoal pit first?"
Illyiana nods and sets out, bow readied for trouble as she quietly moves along in front of the others, leading the way.
You creep up on the three charau-kas by the fire pit, catching them off guard!
Pril leads the charge, dashing up to the nearest charau-ka and attempting to punch them.
Ervan bends reality to his will and causes Pril's skin to turn to stone. This somehow does not slow her down nor does it hamper the gnome's offense.
Illyiana was perfectly fine letting Pril lead a foolish charge into the fray while she stayed in the back, protecting their mages and healers, far from the danger. She quickly fired off three shots from her composite longbow.
Pril pummels a charau-ka and Illyiana shoots it twice. All three fly into a rage, two of them moving to flank Pril as they stab her repeatedly with their tridents. Their loud shrieks echo across the camp!
Yep. Exactly that. She can have [i]all of that she wants. Foolish thing, she probably likes it too.[/i]
"Keep it up!" Illyiana shouts as encouragement, firing three more arrows.
The tridents are a lot more painful than the fists and feet Pril is accustomed to, but she doesn't relent as she moves her mind into its calm place and just ... exists.
Illyiana lands two hits on the wounded charau-ka, then Pril pummels it and Ervan finishes it off with a blast of pressurized water. Lucius heals Pril's wounds.
The raging charau-kas fly into a shrieking frenzy, swiftly assaulting the gnome. One scores both a critical hit and a normal hit, while the other misses. From the nearby bunk house, seven more charau-kas rush out sans armor. They hang back 20 feet from the melee, hurling rocks and other debris at Pril. Two of them get past the monk's defenses.
Rather than shriek or cry out like her foes, Pril goes deadly silent as she gathers all her focus to avoid the attacks and finish her enemies as soon as she can.
Illyiana may like Pril up front taking the hits, but she knows she can't take too many more hits like that before she goes down. She focuses and fires three more arrows in rapid succession.
While Pril misses her foe, Illyiana scores three hits, one of which is a critical strike! Lucius heals Pril and shoots the wounded charau-ka, then Ervan unleashes a crackling lightning bolt that slays the butcher and two of the lesser charau-kas!
The remianing butcher continues to attack Pril with his trident, scoring several more devastating strikes, while the others hurl rocks in an attempt to take her out! Luckily, none of the debris strikes the gnome.
"Keep it up Pril, we've almost got it!" the ranger shouts as encouragement. She yanks three more arrows from her quiver and looses them towards her target.
Her focus narrowed down to the simple rhythm of parry, kick, move, punch, Pril doesn't even hear Illyiana's words.
Once more, you focus your attacks on the burly charau-ka, Ervan finishing it off with a blast of pressurized water. The lesser warriors rush into melee, but they are no match for your might, and you quickly lay waste to them.
As the last one falls, though, a black-scaled kobold approaches from the direction of the eastern hut. She clutches a staff that glows with flames in one hand and a bubbling alchemical concoction in the other. "You'll pay for your trespass here!" she snarls.
This must be Hezle, the chieftain the sickly kobolds you met before told you about. They said to tell her the secret name of their tribe, the Thornscales, so signal that you are friends to be trusted.
Her awareness reduced to watching for the next strike and responding in kind, it takes Pril a moment to remember the members of the kobold tribe that they'd met.
"Thornscales!" she calls out. "We're friends of the Thornscales!" She stays guarded and ready to charge the approaching at the first sign of hostility.
Hezle's eyes widen and her nostrils flare. She hesitates a moment, then quietly says, "Make it look good." She hurls the bomb a few feet short of you, where it detonates in a burst of flame. she shouts.
Assuming you take her hint, she pretends to chase you into the jungle until you are a fair distance from the camp. Then, she drops the ruse. "You have spoken to members of my tribe! Only they would have told you our secret name. Where did you see them? Are they safe?"
When the bomb intentionally misses the group, Pril comprehends Hezle's ruse. She turns and gestures for the others to precede her back to the jungle.
~~~
Once they're out of sight of the camp, the gnome turns to face their fellow conspirator. She counts the days back in her head and passes that bit of information along. "Probably three or four days journey in that direction." She gestures westward. "They were pretty sick. Something about working here isn't healthy."
Hezle seems relieved. "I am glad that they are alive, at least. I have been contemplating abandoning my post here at the mine for some time. This settles it--I shall seek out the rest of my tribe and see to their needs.
"I originally joined the Cinderclaws out of reverence for the mighty Dahak and their figurehead, a young red dragon named Kyrion. They assigned me to work at the mine to examine the Ekujae gold they are unearthing and determine its divine purity before sending it off to the main Cinderclaw camp. The gold has a unique resonance with ancient draconic magic, and the Cinderclaws are shipping off to a foreign consortium called the Scarlet Triad.
"When the other kobolds got sick and left, I stayed to maintain my position of power, but the conditions at the mine have gotten worse and worse. Her continued loyalty to the Cinderclaws was mainly based on my fear of the Ekujae elves and worries about Kyrion’s fate. The dragon is in the main Cinderclaw fortress, south of here. I would ask that you try to ascertain what has become of him, and spare him if you can. He is far too majestic to die! But before you go to the fortress, you'll want to destroy the dragon pillars that protect it. There is one in the mining camp, and I can show you on a map where the others stand."
"Where's the one in the camp?" Pril asks. "And who's left there to defend it?"
”The violet dragon pillar is right near the mine itself. The boggards and charau-kas working there will likely rush to defend it. There are also weird snake like creatures that appeared one day that like to circle in the air around the pillar, but I do not know if they are hostile or not.”
Lucius recognizes the description as voidworms, the least form of the chaotic outsiders known as proteans. Voidworms on the Material Plane are mesmerized by the principle of object permanence; many latch onto specific features of a region (such as a hillside or pond) and flit through the air around it for months or even years as they wait for the object of their curiosity to change. Minor changes— such as a tree’s change of color in the fall, a corpse’s slow decay, or periodic venting of steam from a geyser—all fascinate voidworms.
Illyiana looks to Pril and asks "You're a gnome, are you not? Where is your pink or green hair? Can you change it? Red would look good on you, I think, it is the color you are always wearing on your clothes anyway."
A small side-smile slides over her lips.
Pril's mouth falls open at Illyiana's question. She reaches up to touch her golden locks and her eyes fall. Turning away, she says in a small voice, "Hair color is a very personal thing. It doesn't work that way."
"Besides, why do we need to distract them?" she asks, her question clearly addressed to the ranger. "You're a human, are you not? Don't you people just butcher anything that gets in your way?"
Illyiana shrugs off Pril's comment "If that's what is required and what ought to be done, yes. I do not think trying to compare human morality to hair color is quite the same thing, however."
"They're both racial assumptions and consequently only utilized by the truly ignorant," Pril snaps back. "But that probably doesn't mean anything to you either."
She raises her hands in frustration. "Why do I even bother? You're not interested in learning anything other than how to kill better. Let's go do this."
Without another word, she begins moving back through the jungle to the edge of the clearing. Stopping there to look out over the mine camp again.
Illyiana was prepared to respond to Pril's comment, but doesn't when she walks away. As she does so, she says to herself "Well that was rude. It would appear I've offended her, I suppose."
|
|
"Calm down both of you!" The Cardinal says sternly. "Illyiana, you have offended Pril. Simply because she is a gnome does not mean you can automatically assume things about her. We are all people and individuals, not a racial stereotype. I'm sure you can appreciate that it is unpleasant to be judged as something other than who you are."
With that the Cardinal gives the huntress a nod of respect and follows Pril, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You owe her an apology as well Pril. Someone very wise demonstrated to me recently how we should not be making assumptions or speaking in anger and I'd like to repeat their words to you. 'We can only control how we respond'." He leaves the lecture there.