As the last of our current enemies run off, Alvis looks around and comments, "Messy but successful. That will do for now but we must assume they will rally soon enough." As Teela begins to start treat people Alvis will join in. "Twice the hands half the work. I'll help. Choose those you wish to work on and I''ll help the others."
As he works he defers to Lady Quintessa to handle the interaction with the nearly dead kobold.
Quintessa tests her weight, winces once, then smooths what’s left of her torn sleeve and crosses to the chained kobold. She stops a few paces off, palms open, voice low and even. Switching to the creature's native tongue, she starts a dialogue.
** spoiler omitted **
Between Teela's magical & mundane healing, and help from Alvis and Quintessa, the reminder of Velas' painful trip down the tree roots is his hole-filled and stained shirt.
"I suppose it's time to see where the fleeing mites went off to. Maybe someone else should go first this time."
Faen stretches and smiles at Teela, feeling the sting of the Mite's scratches fade, commenting off-hand to the wounded kobold prison, "Yeah, we're friends...enemy of your enemy , and all that."
She approaches the entrance to where the Mites ran off, smiling back as Velas, "I'll go this time"
Once she's sure everyone is ready, she quietly moves forward, checking the Mite's tracks , seeing if they avoid any particular areas.
After finishing the medical kind of stitching, Teela makes a few quick fixes to whatever Vela considers a shirt these days. "Sorry, Velas. Rest will have to wait." She looks at the rags formerly recognised as clothing, then a smirk starts curling up on one side of her face. "Then again, showing some skin can't hurt. Wounds should breathe sometimes. Yours are cleaned up, so it should be fine. Just don't break a long bone. That's trouble."
It takes the better part of an hour, but the team is healed, mostly. Refocusing and meditation for those who use it is also done, restoring some abilities.
Meepo the kobold nods his head as Quintessa speaks in his own tongue, assenting to some form of healing and freedom from the chains. He also hungrily wolfs down any food or drink offered to him. He says, again in mostly understandable Common. "Mites bad. Fight Sootscales many times. Sootscales win some, mites win some. Meepo captured. Not good. Not good at all. Yes leader. There." He points the way the survivors of this fight fled, which leads down and to the east. You notice he makes no mention of the silver ring. "You let Meepo go now? Back to Sootscales. No trouble."
The Scarlet Knight looks over at Quintessa.
"The party's healthy now /
With many resources spent.
Dare we continue?"
To Meepo, the champion asks:
"Can you help us climb out, if we go with you?"
Velas looks down at his shirt and shrugs. "I only lost a shirt. I'll need to buy one when we get back to Oleg's. I'm good to continue searching for mites, but I defer to the group."
Teela raises an eyebrow towards Bucky. "What do you mean? We're here for a ring, man. Focus! I'm-" she pauses to consider what she is about to say. "I mean we're here for like two hours? I'm not tired or anything. Anyone else?", she looks around, then looks at the kobold.
"Why do you fight them? Is this a generational thing?" Teela looks at the group. "Hey, if they've been fighting for YEARS, one side would have gotten the upper hand already, no? Must be recent."
Bucky shakes his head at Teela.
"I need but minutes to commune with my god to progress.
But don't those of you who learn spells need sleep to decompress?
I've not lost sight of our goal; I just want our safe success."
Quintessa’s eyes narrow, assessing, not hostile, but her demeanor suddenly changes. She switches to smooth, court-perfect Draconic. In a soft, measure tone she begins:
"Sootscale, then. Good. We’ve met your Greenback neighbors. They claim a new hand is driving your tribe to raid. We also found one of your black-scales slain beneath this very tree, peppered with darts and stabbed in the back. We hunt the mite-thieves here for a woman’s silver ring...and because their poison and cruelty offend us."
She glances to her companions, then back to Meepo.
"People have told us that there is a conflict amidst the Sootscales and we want to help resolve it. I prefer peacefully. Tell your chief to expect us as friendly visitors, just like we saved you here today. We’ll come to speak rather than spill blood. But I’ll have truth in return. Who leads you now besides Chief Sootscale? Name them for us, if you would."
Alvis takes a few seconds to bandage his minor scratch, giving it no further thought.
Alvis responds to our new Knight, "My defensive spell is used, and I believe the Lord of Justice will bless me with healing twice more. Then I will be using only mundane healing which does take time. And on that note that our generous hosts have given us much time to heal ourselves. So, they have likely spent that time to make sure that we will get a most attentive reception once we venture forth. If their numbers are low, we can press on but otherwise withdrawal makes sense for now."
Responding to Teela, Meepo says, puffing his chest out rather comically. "We Sootscales, we always have upper hand! Many mites die! Pay for taking Old Sharptooth!"
She shifts to common for the party. "Useful information here. Name in hand and motive in sight. We help find this Old Sharptooth to win the Sootscales, and with it, likely recover Svetlana’s ring from the same stash. Pacify over purge stays on the table."
"You say that, 'pacify over purge'. We'll see." Teela gestures towards the rust-coloured staining on Velas' shirt. "Kobolds, maybe. Mites... Eeeh, I'm not feeling too merciful there. Not anymore."
"Fair. They’re nasty little wretches... and we’ve the bites to prove it. But let’s not forget, Teela - we climbed into their warren and have been room-to-room clearing it. Our goal was the ring and now possibly Old Sharptooth, not a tally of corpses."
She nods toward Meepo. "And the Sootscales? We just cut one of theirs loose and kept him breathing. That buys us a hearing. Pacify doesn’t mean pardon, it means end the raids with the least blood that gets the job done. If Tartuk’s the rot, we pull the root. If the tribe will parley, we talk. Hope isn’t naive, it's our leverage unless you want to clear every sycamore in the Greenbelt the hardway."
The Scarlet Knight clears his throat.
"Forgive me, Lady Orlovsky. It's true that we have invaded their space, but our doing so was not the cause of their torture of Meepo here." He indicates some of the scarring on the poor kobold's body. "Several of these are days old; the mites have been engaging in torture of living creatures for some days and likely far longer than that."
He crosses his arms over his chest. "My primary concern is whether we strategically retreat now and return to complete this bloody task ... or move on despite the casters having limited ability remaining today."
"This sort of behavior -- torture -- is inexcusable. I am honorbound to put a stop to these mites now. If they can be convinced to stop through diplomacy or intimidation, so be it." His voice runs low, and there's a chill in the air as a few maple leaves whirl about him and smack into walls.
"But I will put a stop to it."
"There's also the reward offered to 'slay or pacify the Sootscale kobolds.'" Velas clears his throat before continuing. "Perhaps, our opinion on these kobolds has changed now that we've encountered them. Perhaps this Tartuk is the true issue, along with these nasty and thieving mites."
Velas eases his sword a few inches from its sheath before stowing it properly again. "If Teela, Quintessa, and Alvis can continue, I'm ready to continue. Preferably without getting stabbed too many times, but that might just be my lot in life!"
Velas translates the conversation between the kobold and Quintessa.
Then, he replies in Draconic.
Tartuk is the nascent leader of the kobolds, and is in their warren, not here where the mites live under the Old Sycamore, Meepo tells you rolling his eyes a bit. Meepo explains he was not conscious when they brought him underground and has been chained to this wall ever since. He does not know what else is in the mite's lair, but he wants to find out, and possibly kill some in the process.
"Right..." Teela mutters after Velas translates the conversation. She moves around the party, dusting everyone off to clean them up (and casting Prestidigitation on EVERYONE - yes, even Bucky - throughout the process).
"I'm not giving the kobold anything. I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling comfortable moving around unknown territory with a potential problem trailing us."
"We saved, rescued him.
Meepo wants the mites' blood more -
And he can help lead."
Bucky grins from behind his cowl, his eyes burning with a dark energy.
"Revenge is not always a dish best served cold.
It can make a wronged man strong, determined, and bold."
"Goddamnit. A damn frost giant problem every other day with you guys. We can put it to a vote."
"I think Teela is right. We don't have a quarrel with Meepo and these kobolds, at least not yet. But I don't feel comfortable with freeing him until we are done exploring these root-filled caves."
For important matters, Bucky dispenses with rhyming temporarily. "If the party is not comfortable with Meepo's assistance, that is fine. But continued captivity is not acceptable, Velas. He should be allowed to continue on his way back home, then. We can even ask him to help secure a line for us to get up to the next level, on his way out the front entrance."
Hearing what others think Alvis tosses his opinion in, "These tribes appear to be at war and for some time. While some of my brethren would see Meepo's poor state the natural consequence of war, not a good place for justice to prevail, I would not. This torment exceeds what he should have to bear, and he having done no harm to us, it would be unjust to leave him in perilous captivity. It would not be that unlikely that some mite would slip by us and murder him."
Alvis frowns, a bit uncertain as to what to say, "As to the matter of vengeance, of course I support justice over it. But in these wild lands, for many, justice is only what you can make for yourself. We do not need to accede to Meepo's wish but it would not be unreasonable to do so. I understand the trust issue but given what we have seen with our own eyes, I think the risk of him turning on us here is low enough to be acceptable. But I will accept the choice we make here."
From where she leaned against the earthen wall waiting for the discussions to end, Faen opines, "I say, give the critter a blade and see what comes of it. He seems pretty bloodthirsty for these mites..."
Quintessa’s smile thins "The choices we make now will affect what happens with the Sootscales later. Should you show anything less than full support of Meepo's endeavors, it will make life down the road harder for us."
"G%$!$#nit. A damn frost giant problem every other day with you guys. We can put it to a vote."
She turns to address Teela directly "Teela, call it a frost giant situation if you like, but that situation kept all of us alive and moving and with enough resources to save others. I didn’t bargain for sport, I did it because a dozen corpses said steel wasn’t the smart answer."
She exhales, steady but cool, trying her best to not lose her patience. "You sing when blades aren’t enough. I parley when fighting isn’t wise. That’s teamwork. Save the little jabs for the foes, not your allies if you don't mind."
She turns her back on the seamstress and walks to the other side of the room, frustrated.