Sprig eyes the two men, wondering if they're going to follow him. His mind wanders towards the coming journey and wants everything to be ready for their journey to Kildain.
"I suppose instead of the offer we could find the law, have them decide how to best handle this, odds are, the outcome won't be as favorable."
He shrugged but just rolled his shoulders back and cricked his head to the side popping his neck a little.
"Wait, so you're NOT offering to be Pounds-the-Dust's new two-walker?"
"Oh uh I was, but if these two fools are going to argue over their good fortune. Not sure what else to do."
He paused and tilted his head..
"Pounds the who?"
The questioning by Saraon finally setting in, Pounds-the-Dust nudges towards Jeeth.
Seeing that, Korred grumbles before studying the coin in his hand, "Seems the horse has decided. I'll be seein' you all around." Unless someone stops him, the dwarf hustles off.
Jeeth sighs, "If you really want the horse, I don't want to fight you for it. I worked for this horse though, with sweat and tears, and I don't want to sell what's mine. If this ain't gonna come to blows, I'll be on my way."
"Pounds-the-Dust. That's his name," Saraon replies.
He turns back to the horse.
"What would you want, Pounds-the-Dust?"
"Well if yer so attached t' 'im, why didn't yew say so? Ah got no problem leavin' 'im in yer care, though it ain't up t' me. It's up t' Bas. We can take our money 'n go, but ah think yew still owe him a favor keepin' that dwarf off yer back." The lizard looks up to Bas, awaiting his response.
Pounds-the-Dust ponders, ”Would want grass to chew.”
Jeeth says indignantly, ”I...I did say so! I just reckoned y’all would take the horse and leave me in the dust without a second thought.”
He sighs and slumps his shoulders, ”Well, I guess if you need a favor you can find me around town.”
"Well, come with me then."
He leads Pounds-the-Dust over to Jeeth.
"Very well. Treat Pounds-the-Dust well, and I'm sure he'll give you many more years of good work."
"Farewell, Pounds-the-Dust. It was nice to meet you."
Sprig crosses his tiny arms. "Well Ah suppose that's that. Are we all ready t' head out then?" The thought of energy weapons interested the tinkerer in Sprig, though he wasn't certain of where he'd find the tools or know-how to work on them. Maybe there are other useful devices out there, ones that could solve the damage the land had suffered.
He shrugged and gave a little grin to Sprig and Saraon.
"Oh no worries about the horse. It just seemed strange to me that two men would be arguing over the same horse. Thought i could solve the problem. Where to boss?"
He asked non concernced about the horse going off with its owner.
Ralrae smiles and relaxes, now that Korred is gone and Jeeth seems... appeased. "I think we're ready, yes. I see a few folks cleaned up a bit - we're turning into a regular patrol now, eh?"
"Well, you certainly solved it better than I was, Bas," Saraon replies. "Sometimes I forget that animals care about different things than people do, which is...less than helpful."
He chuckles at Ralrae's joke.
"I'll admit to being a little vain. I get it from my father."
The party sets out of Exchange, leaving behind the comforts of town.
The party settles down for the first night, camped by a deep fissure. It's a nice enough evening, the wind isn't too strong and dusk provides a welcome reprieve from the heat of the day.
The calm is broken by the sound of howling and barking from not too far off, and within a few minutes five wolves, each of them fairly mutated, can be seen across the rift in the earth.
"Darnit, and I wasted my animal speech spell on that horse!" Saraon whispers as he spots the wolves.
Sprig peered at the mutated wolves, glad for the sun's absence. He didn't like the look of them. "Shoot! Ah'll t-try to even th' odds... cover me!"
The kobold draws a circle into the earth and begins chanting. From what the others remember of his magic, he's probably casting Summon Monster.
Acid Dart Ability [6/6]
Level 0
Open/Close
Prestidigitation
Mage hand
Ray of Frost
Level 1
Expeditious Excavation (2x)
Reduce Person
Snowball
Level 2
Summon Monster 2 (2x)
Stone call
The wolves seem ready to strike but Saraon with his deep knowledge of animals manages to get the drop on them.
Saraon calls forth the scrub to grow and entangle the approaching wolves!
Only one wolf is stuck in the brush, and it growls in anger. The rest of the wolves sprint around the party, getting in the faces of the group. One of them even tries to bite at Saraon, though the druid is able to dodge out of the way.
Not having time to complete Summon Monster, Sprig jumps backward as the wolves approach and tosses a hardened lump of ice.
His nerve failed him as the wolves close the distance, his spell flying wildly.
"Blasted dogs."
He began though he was a bit taken back by how quickly they closed with the party. He saw Sprig have to dart back and he cracked his neck and took a grip on his Bardiche hefting it and bringing it down hard torwards the wolf threatening him.
"be with you in a moment."
Ralrae steps back from the oncoming melee, and with a quick chant and gesture flames wreath his musket as he aims and fires at one of the wolves.
Brindle yelps back at her opponent , and proceeds to swing her club back and forth with wild abandon...
[+4 BAB, +3 Str, +1 enhancement - 2 furious blows] [+4 THF, +1 enhancement]
"Yeah! Push 'em back! T-these mutts ain't seen nothin' like us!" Sprig shouts as the crew puts the hurt on the hounds.
Sprig's ball of ice slams into the wolf but the beast stays standing. Bas gets a mighty swing on the wolf, but it too remains in the fight. Brindle's attack has a similar result, though this one at least looks very badly wounded. Ralrae's shot goes wide, pinging against a rock in the distance.
One wolf steps to the side and latches onto Saraon's leg with it's jaws for 6 damage, bringing him to the ground as well. The wolf on the other side of Saraon tries to go in for a bite, but the druid rolls out of the way.
The wolf that Bas had attacked bites at him, dealing 5 damage. Bas is able to keep his stance, and the beast isn't able to knock him over. The second one by Bas tries to get the warrior, but it's distracted by both the pain and the angry hyena-woman bearing down on it.
The entangled wolf is unable to break out of the hold of the dry brush.
Hacking at the wolf to the north of him. He growled out at the pain from the wolfs bite.
"I'll turn you into a rug for that!"
He added into his swing.
With the feel of his bardiche slicing through flesh reverberating through his grip he spun and took a step to flank the wolf Brindle was bashing on.
Saraon tries to roll away from the wolves so he can get to his feet without being mauled.
Brindle answers Bas in her primal fashion: by unleashing her club again...
[+4 BAB, +3 Str, +1 enhancement, +2 flank, - 2 furious blows] [+4 THF, +1 enhancement]
Sprig grunts in concentration and casts Expeditious Excavation. The earth below Saraon shifts and moves, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Bas swings, and there's so little left of that wolf that making a rug would be impossible. Brindle, too, unleashes a mighty series of blows and finishes off another. Ralrae's rifle booms like thunder, and takes out a third.
The lone wolf still struggles futilely with the plants. The last wolf standing takes a bite at Saraon for 5 damage before running as fast as it can away from the party.
With the wolves on the run, Sprig walks over to Saraon and helps him up to his feet. "Phew, yew alright there Saraon? They were really swarmin' yew. Thanks fer stand-in' up t' 'em, Me 'n Ralrae would've been jerky by now."
He turns to his guards, "Shot, Lefty, let's get this place set up fer campin'. It's late, we're staying' here for th' night. Bills, yer tasked with' patrolling' th' area, make sure nothin' else sneaks up on us."
Brindle eyes the wolf corpses hungrily, assessing their culinary viability.
Something primal, post-battle rises within her.
”Wolf soup?” she asks very carefully, unsure how to navigate her group’s strange dietary morés.
"Nothing a bit of the Land's power can't heal, Sprig," Saraon replies.
He punctuates the statement by laying a hand on the bite, his hand glowing in a haze of green and gold that causes the wound to close and seemingly vanish. When Brindle asks about making a meal of their former assailants, Saraon cocks his head.
"Don't think it'll taste very good, but why not?"
Ralrae sights down the barrel of his musket at the fleeing wolf, but doesn't fire. "Why not? I'll try most anything once. Within reason.. or until necessity calls.."
"Well, er- lend me a claw then, Brindle."Sprig says as he takes his dagger to the wolf's corpse. He tries his best to cut out any of the particularly mutate-y bits, but is an amateur butcher.
The pot is prepared and soon enough a soup is made, once again using cheese from the caravan's goods. It's thick, more of a fondue than soup, but it goes well with the hard bread they packed as rations. The leftover meat is kept in a waterproof bag Sprig prepared and stored on the wagon.
The party sets to work on a stew, and despite the off-putting tanginess of the wolf meat, the night passes without incident.
With a small hammer and a couple wooden stakes, Sprig sets up a game. "How about a game of Horseshoes? Whoever wins can take th' night off watch!"
Sprig's smile seems a little more devilish as he expertly tosses his horseshoes, catching a few on the farthest peg before settling for the closer ones. "Twenny one! Guess Ah'm in good form tonight!"
The kobold finds the gnoll after the game and starts to ask her questions. "Say Brindle, do yew know how t' read? Ah'd be willing' t' teach yew, iff'n yer innerested. Heck, ah could teach yew th' True Tongue too!" Sprig looks rather proud of his literary knowledge and holds out a few books.
"Hmm...stew's not bad, Brindle," Saraon comments. "Thanks for the suggestion."
He doesn't participate in the game of horseshoes, but watches quietly.
Brindle slurps up her wolfsoup and grunts an echoing approval.
Brindle proves an adroit thrower, but still takes her turn of watch duty. She sniffs the “books” doubtfully, and clearly doesn’t understand what they are or what reading is.
”All speech is true to those who know it, but people can lie.” she says mystically
"Wise words, Brindle," Saraon comments.
Ralrae raises his eyes at Brindle's amazing throw. "Very well done! I doubt I could beat that even on my best day... But I will give it a shot!"
Laughing at his throw, Ralrae returns to his bowl of stew. "The stew is better than many things I've eaten on the road. I'll remember the recipe!" The last is said with a wink towards Brindle.
Sprig picks up a stick and starts tracing patterns in the earth. "Hrmm, lessee here. Well, most languages hava set of runes, like these, that when strung together have a buncha diff'rent meanings. Like this one 'ere, that's my name!"
On the ground is a set of symbols that look like this:
"It also means 'branch' 'r 'little tree'. Now most th' time my people don't use th' proper runes, since a lot of them still got power in it, s'why we call it th' True Tongue, or the language of magic. Can be kinda dangerous if yew jes' throw together any ol' thing. Lemme run yew through th' simplified set and we can take things for there." The kobold spends a good while excitedly scrawling out various simplified Draconic runes and explaining their meanings.
"Most Tallfolk languages has their own set o' runes, so you'd have t' learn each one separately. The dwarves in particular really like their runes, got 'em on everythin'." Sprig points out a small rune carved into a barrel.
Saraon chuckles a bit.
"The story goes that it is only called "the true tongue" because of of the self-importance of dragons. For me, the truest language is the oldest: Druidic it is called by most. And it carries power just as great, which is why we druids do not speak nor read it to those outside our Circles. To learn it is to learn to be a druid...to understand one you must understand the other. With Draconic at least, you do not have to learn magic in order to understand it."
Brindle nods, not really getting it.
”Sh...Sprig?!” she says pointing at the scratching on the ground .
"Yup, that's me! The first one means 'little' an th' second one means 'branch'." The little lizard traces another pattern into the dirt:
"This one here is yer name, Brindle. 'Spots' and 'pattern'. Then we can use some of these to make new words, like 'small spot' or 'spotted plant'. Once you know a good number of th' parts, yew can write all kinds of stuff." Sprig flips open one of the books he has and shows her all the symbols written inside.
"Lemee give yew an example." The kobold begins to read from a rather tattered book.
Wit' a touch o' th' earth magic Ah bet Ah could hold a cart in place long enough t' take what's needed. Jes' sink th' wheels a little 'n they ain't going nowhere till Ah dig 'em out. Better t' let 'em leave then have 'em start searchin' for th' cause though."
Once he was done, Sprig breaks into laughter thinking of the old memories. "Been a long time since then. But that whole thing was jes' one o' these pages, less actually. With readin' and writin' yew can fit th' entire life of a person in summit th' size of a hearty steak."
The little lizard shrugs at Saraon's sentiment. "Ah suppose, though th' Mountain ain't seen a dragon in a long while. Can't say Ah've ever met one t' ask th' truth. Druidic, though, that's somethin' I'd love t' learn, but I doubt Ah'll get th' chance. Not going t' join a Circle when there's so much t' be done outside of one."