We'll miss ya Cap'n. But it's been a really fun adventure, and I look forward to seeing you around when you find your able to participate on the boards again!
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Cappi steps back from the second chamber, hearing Rufus' warning. He backs up toward the sword that anchors their lifeline, twirling his daggers in his hand and continuing to watch the second hole for any ascending 'mites'.
Cappi creeps toward the other side of the tunnel. He tries to pad slowly through the soft earth, and avoid any of the caltrops that have lodged themselves there. If he can get close enought to the passageway down on the other side to see down it, he will kick the glowing stick that served as his temporary light-source down the next drop.
Cappi's quite grateful that Rufus volunteered to descend, although he's still quite overcome with curiousity of what resides beneath them. He knods and prepares to cross back to the other side of the cave-in. "Castor, can you cross over to there as well? I know it's a rather low ceiling..."
"Is this all they've been doing while I was gone?" Cappi whispers, with a puzzled expression. "Maybe they aren't as ferocious as we heard..." He quickly hands the rope to Rufus. "Do we have enough to try and reach them? Or anything to tie off to?"
Cappi spits in his palms, and rubs them together vigorously until they seem a bit tacky to the touch--then he takes a deep breath and clutches onto the side of the tunnel again in hopes of making it across.
It's not easy to find the rope in Capella's saddle bags. Cappi tries to inspect the contents from his own tippy-toes, to no avail, and eventually finds the most effecient position to be draped over the horse's saddle, with legs dangling opposite the saddle bags. Capella seems uninterested in such an unatural riding position, however, and makes her distaste known. Having finally found the coiled rope, Cappi slings it over one arm, winks at the black mare, then rushes back toward the small entrance to the tunnels.
No worries at all. I'm unavailable on weekends anyway, so it gave me a chance to catch up too.
"Well I haven't done well at landing on my feet yet... but if you can get me to the far side, who cares what I land on right? Just not the face, that's the money-maker..." An eyebrow slowly raises as he hears Rufus' other plan, the sounds of gathering forces growing closer and time clearly running out. "Aye. I could try edging by." He digs one of his hands into the soil the walls are composed of, testing to see how easily he could make some holds as well as how well they grip or simply fall away. "Fingers, don't fail me now." He mutters to himself as he begins to slide along the length of the chasm, pressed against the dirt.
Cappi recalls the previous attempts at 'tossing' him, with mixed emotions. None of the attempts had gone well so far, and the drop was quite an extensive one. Rarely, however, do things work well until they need to work well. "Sure?" Cappi squeeks, his voice cracking as he voices the affirmation like a question. "I don't suppose you've tried this before..."
"They're coming." Cappi whispers, pressing himself against the soft walls of the tunnel. Dirt begins to rain down on him from above, but he tries to burrow backwards a bit... hoping to press himself far enough into the soil to mask his presence. "I'm not skipping out..." he tries to assure Castor and Rufus, as he appears to be acting rather selfishly, "but I wouldn't mind a jump on whatever's coming. I have a feeling we're not getting past that cave-in."
Cappi nods at Rufus' command and tosses the enchanted stick toward the end of the tunnel where the original hole is, trying to get it close to the hole but not so close that it descends. He then replaces it with his second dagger, still trying to maintain as defensive a posture as is possible in these tight quarters. If anything comes out of that hole, he'll be ready...
Once back at the light, Cappi crouches low and readies a dagger in one hand and the enchanted stick in the other. He tries to stand as defensively as possible, anticipating another bolt from the darkness ahead.
Cappi tries to quickly scurry back, head filled with screaming curses. He needs to get back to the light, then likely pursue if they can in order to keep the entire hive from being informed. "They're quite perceptive!" Cappi whispers as he scrambles back to the glowing sticks. "And not as interested in chatting as the kobolds were."
Cappi holds up a single hand to indicate that the others should stop. His curiosity piqued, he almost itches at the opportunity to finally see what a 'mite' is. He can't make out any words of the conversation, so he isn't even certain if he can understand anything that they say, but he desperately wants to see them. Stealthily he creeps toward the hole, testing his footing with each step as not to cause a cave in if he can help it. He leaves his own light-source behind, however, as he progresses slightly, not wanting to give away their presence.
"Well I'm not about to jump down there solo." He reminds himself, as if he needed the convincing. "It's seems clear." Cappi whispers as he returns to the others. "Still not sure what a mite is, but I don't think I saw one? But I did find a tunnel that seems to lead beneath the tree. That's our best bet I think, though there's no way I can see down it."
I'm one of those that has slowed down their posting, but I would like to remain and step up to a greater capacity. Cappi would like to keep going ;)
"So does anyone actually know what a mite is?" Cappi chuckles as they travel. [/b]"It sounds like a bug to me... which I can't say I'm too fond of. Things creep me out a bit, they do."[/b] ----------------------- As they approach the giant sycamore, a slow whistle escapes the halfling's lips. "Let me scout a bit, eh?" He whispers, trying to quietly creep into the surrounding brush. To be honest, he's not sure what he's looking for. If he sees some bugs, should he report it back?
"We can be sneaky too, I do believe." Cappi states with a smirk. "But I'm wagering this 'Old Sharptooth' might be worth more to you than simply 'sparing our lives.' I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm quite attached to me life. It's comfortable, like a good pair of slacks... but the promise to try and retrieve your bauble should be worth that, as you grant us that the moment we walk out of here, right? You ought to sweeten the pot a bit by offering something on our return."
"Pinch stuff from filchers, I like it!" Cappi beams, eyes wandering all about the room to inspect the banners and decor. "So by 'tribe', you mean quite a lot though, eh? Since you haven't just flexed your muscles and taken it back. And from experience I must say it might be worth noting what's so special about this 'Old Sharptooth." He looks to the others, trying to gauge if this sort of thing meshes with their own expectations of 'diplomacay'. "So why'd they take it, and why do you need it back?"
Cappi is excessively suspicious of this situation. He flips both daggers from their sheathes and follows from the rear of the group. Every few paces he takes a quick glance behind him to make sure that nothing is coming from behind. Should something come from the front, however, he assumes that he'll hear the cries of agony before it reaches him.
Cappi turns back to the night, his eyes wide with shock. A bow was one of the last things he had anticipated as an openning move.
Eyebrows raised, Cappi lifts his open palms and slowly begins to walk away from the mining hole. He may not understand the words, but the tone sounds forceful.
"I'm always up for exploration." Cappi beams. "Though i'm not much of an 'outdoorsman'. Anyone see any tracks or scat that might indicate a severe lack of wisdom in taking the plunge?" Then moving to inspect the makeshift cage... "Or any idea what might have once occupied this?"
Cappi pauses, a bit taken with Winifred's wit. The question was clearly rhetorical, but intriguing. Indeed, he hadn't tried it. He hasn't even had a significant conversation with anyone who has. So it seems a bit presumptuous to have such a negative view. Then with a shrug, he figures he's bound to try it eventually, and should it be better than expected then he'll have plenty of time to enjoy it. But for now, even if uninformed he chooses to postpone it.
"Yeah," Cappi replies, with a grim look crossing his face as he contemplates his own demise, "death doesn't look good me. Which is hard to believe, but trust me."
"I say we call his bluff." Cappi shrugs. "We're looking t remove this Stag Lord anyway, right? We may not get his body, but if this thing was capable of making our lives that horrible, why's he sending us after the Stag Lord, eh?"
Cappi quickly finds himself in the shadow of Rufus as the decaying creature speaks with the group. As the conversation progresses, however, Cappi shifts from the knights dignified shadow to the one thrown by Castor. "I've got to get me one of those." He mutters to himself, watching the way the abomination seems to be held back by the holy symbol. "So, that's a 'no' then, on letting us cross the waters? Or can we just promise you we're working on it?"
Indeed, but no worries. Smaller creatures make the best weapons, attention to detail and all, so I wouldn't want that one anyway ;)
Ahh, good point. I forget about the size restrictions/penalties. Thanks for the heads up.
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"I can try it on." He states looking at the remains of the footbridge, features pressed in a confident smirk as he spits on his hands, then rubs them together. "If the thing can hold me, that is. Give me an end or two of rope and we can tighten this thing up a bit, eh?"
"It would seem you need to get the proper passwords, and be ready to scuttle from there, takin' the culls before they smoke it. You can snag all the words you want, but try it on a week later and you're pinched. And you'll need to make sure the buff is true, cause you'll queer it with a spoiled password." Cappi takes a drag from his pipe, which he spent the past 10 minutes preparing while the group discussed, seeming falsely detached. "All I'm saying is be ready to act quick once you've got the words. You don't lift a man's keys then wait a week to hit the house."
While the break has been nice, giving Cappi time to drink, to smoke, to meet some new people and fabricate some new stories... the walls of the fort are beginning to feel a bit confining. "I'll go anywhere!" he bursts, as the groups begin to discuss different courses of action. "I mean, either group would probably like the opportunity for me to join them. And I don't like playing favorites. Not that I don't have favorites. I do. But I'll keep them secret for now."
Taking PFS standard HP: +7 (5 +1con +1fc) +1 BAB = 1 BAB (Can draw weapons while moving now!) +1 Ref Skills 8 + 2int
Rogue Talent (Finesse Rogue): Weapon Finesse wrapped up in a talent instead of a feat. Quicker than the Eye: When using Sleight of Hand, creatures take a penalty on their Perception checks to notice the attempt equal to half the filcher's class level. The filcher also subtracts her class level from the normal –20 penalty when attempting to make a Sleight of Hand check as a move action instead of as a standard action. Lastly, the filcher can withdraw an object hidden on her person, including a weapon, as a move action instead of the usual standard action. This ability replaces evasion.
Cappi suspected that Oleg's concern may be with the recruits. And he has to admit that the thought of bringing them right into their fort seems a bit foolish. None of this concerns the halfling though, who's still quite confident in the group's decision. "They're bene hunters, Oleg. Look at the bows, eh? Certainly they could track down some swish-tails for themselves and a few others." If the intention is to lay claim to this land, then recruiting men and women seems a much easier way of doing so than killing them all. And perhaps slightly more humane.
Hmmm, very valid concerns. It would certainly create a lot of fighting...
You haven't led us astray so far, in fact I've been enjoying this campaign quite a bit. So I trust whatever you think might help. I'm noticing a similar struggle with a Skull and Shackles campaign I'm running: the daily tasks become really cumbersome in a PbP setting, where it feels like we wait forever between "significant events" while they simply roll to make sure they're doing their jobs right. So taking some liberties sounds like a great idea if you're game for the extra work that creates.
"Well, Hadin," Cappi wonders aloud as he returns from the empty cave. "I'm not sure what the priest saw, but we've got nothing but a vacant cave down there. Might be good to know should we need shelter in the area again though, provided it remains vacant."
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