Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

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ian_scho
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Re: Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

Post by ian_scho »

"You've already made a hole in the chest of one of them, so you're still not satisfied?" Thiy replied to Artaxes. "Just remember that there are more of them than us. That we need them to get us out of here. And that you may receive payment upon reaching the city with this group of invertebrates."

The 'invertebrates' comment was plainly incorrect, but for some reason the small clique of kobolds she studied with used the phrase in a defamatory way and she picked it up out of sheer familiarity. When she finally asked why they used the word they replied to her that the kobolds were natural enemies to the molluscs but as she had never seen that particular race of humanoids...

Thiy naturally fell in behind Artaxes, with her Sai in hand if only to swat the flies away.

OOC - Forgot the spot and a listen (1d20+3=20, 1d20+3=15)
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raixel
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Re: Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

Post by raixel »

The partying lizar cheer briefly when Artaxes takes a swig and flare thier nostrils at his thanks.. One of them unties a small leather wrapped glass liquor flask from his belt and tosses to the mercenary as the group turns to leave. "For the road, human!" the lizar rumbles in a gravelly voice as he waves goodbye.

Thraxxiss nods at Artaxes. "I will be able to usssse my magic to fell the tree, but the axesss may come in handy asss well. But I do think we have enough, so for you to carry one isss un-needed. Your sssword ssshall sssuficsse"

The trek on the path to the West Road is peaceful, although the sounds of the animals in the swamp is like nothing Thiy and Artaxes have ever heard. Liss walks out front, seemingly comfortable on point, but also alert. The tall lizar occasionally stops to point out a helpful swamp plant, such as an odd bright blue yellow streaked moss growing on the shady side of a log. Liss raises his hand in a fist then pulls out a small leather pouch and begins to gather it up.A s he works he mentions to Artaxes taht it has natural curative properties and should always be ground up and placed in a wound unless there is healing magic available, as it keeps bad mana away and speeds healing. After it is gathered, he gives the fighter the pouch with a nod.

Thraxxiss and Olisshan walk up to see why the fighters have stopped. "Bloodsstop moss, eh?" remarks Thraxxiss as he looks at the remains of the moss clinging to the rock. "That iss good."

Thiy walks through the swamp, her pig trotting dutifully at her side. THe swine seemingly enjoys the walk and being out of the caravan camp and stops oat random intervals to sniff at ground-covering plants, probably looking for food.

Hssilaa, who is walking nearby points at the pig. "What is that thing? Some kind of pet? Does it fight?" the lizar asks curiously.

After about one half-bells time of walking through the narrow trail to the camping area, the party suddenly enters a 30 foot wide muddy road clear of vegitstion, although the tall, thin swamp trees still tower above the roadside causing the path to be mostly in shadow.

"The West Road." announces Liss to the humans. He points East down the path. "That way is Makan, about 3 travels of the RA orb away. The West Road leads right to the gates of the greatest city of Zaangaard." Thraxxiss snorts at that, but says nothing.

"Well of course a serpentus wouldn't think so." the tall tracker reamrks in amusement. "Anyway, and if you head West, this road eventually leads to your lands and to the city called Vi-bohrg. Although I think the name of the road changes. I'm not sure. So, lets just cross here . We dont want to fell a tree to close to the road way, in case it falls wrong. Lets go."

Thiy notices movement out of the corner of her eye as the group moves into the tree line on the opposite sid of the West Road. Although it is hard to make out, many hours of meditation allows her to clearly see the shape of two very thin lizar dressed in loincloths keeping pace with the party, about 10 feet behind. There is also a short stocky male human with short black hair and a heavy beard wearing nicely tooled studded leather dyed in acamo pattern. They must have tried to dart across the road as soon as they saw the party was back undercover, not counting on he monk's sharp eyes.

K, Ian, I rolled your spot for you. And it was a crit. So they have no idea you are watching them and you can ask for more details if you want. You could also alert the prest of the group somehow.
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ian_scho
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Re: Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

Post by ian_scho »

OOC - lol I rolled the spot and hidden in my second post! :) Still got a 20 though, just not a nat.

Thiy cocks a raised eyebrow to Hssilaa. The gesture is probably lost on the lizar yet she returns a smile. "This is a pig. A most versatile animal[1]. It possesses an intelligence of sorts[2], can alert you in case of an emergency[3], doesn't smell too bad[4]. And in a real ration emergency..." she kicks the swine accordingly "... A tasty feast." Then she puts her mind to it's fighting properties. "Some of the wisest generals avoid fights until the odds are truly in their favour. This pig would be about half a good a general I can assure you. You will not see many on the battlefield, however."

With the new geographical information she prods Artaxes to remember it. The knowledge could save their lives, she suggested, and makes them less reliant on the wagon trail should things go mental. She would even ensure the map she was making was up to date with her travelling experience. 3 Days to Makan... A human could survive that on the trail with just a quart of water.

Upon spotting the group she was adamant that there would be more around them. (Spot hidden again! (1d20+3=6)) Upon not really noticing anything she immediately alerts Artaxes in front of her, and passes on the information about the three individuals especially about the weapons they were carrying. Pass it on up the line!, she hisses to him. Thiy had little hope for Artaxes as she had played the game of Chinese Whispers before with non-humans, and the message always ended up distorted in intriguing ways. She would then do the same to the lizar (Hssilaa?) behind her.

--
[1] Versatile as in moves out of the way quickly.
[2] The bugger is always with a full stomach, and will give you a look with eyes like gimlets when he thinks you're mistreating him.
[3] I'm on fire!
[4] A lie!... Especially if you're human, halfling or elf.
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raixel
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Re: Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

Post by raixel »

Dur. Missed that. Oh well. I was real tired when I wrote that post. Im surprised it doesnt say gtttttttttttt 666666666666666666666666666666666666666666111111111111111111 from me face planting my keyboard.

Hssilaa frowns at the pig. "Your sense of smell must be weaker than mine, that creature smells worse then a grahhssk." He holds his scaled hand out to the swine, who obligingly sniffs it while grunting quietly. "Hm. Perhaps it may come in handy." the huge guard remarks.

Thiy sees the stalkers and quietly passes word to Olisshan and Thraxxiss in front of her and Hssilaa behind her. Hsssilaa subtly quickens his pace so he is walking in a small knot with the monk, drover, and Thraxxiss. "Keep walking, but be ready. As long as they dont know we are aware of them, we have the advantage. Let Liss and Artaxes know." the big lizar whispers.

Artaxes is walking along when he hears Olisshan stumble behind him and begin cursing, seemingly being pulled along by the grahhssk on its short leash. "The female human has seen we are being followed. Do not turn around or make any sign that you know, but get ready" the drover says quietly in his ear, before cursing his beast again as the creature seemingly takes off towards Liss. Although the fighter doesnt have much experience with animals, he notices that Olisshan is giving the grahhssk subtle signals to make it look as if it is running amok. Presumably, he gives the same message to Liss, then "regains" control of the grahhssk and leads it back to his place in the group.

Thiy keeps her eye on the three taht she knows are there. The swamp lizars move like ghosts through the swamp, much quieter and smoother than the human male. Although judging by the way the human walks, he has some wilderness training, the swamp lizars, with their natural brownish-green blotchy scales and whipcord thin bodies are born to this environment. The monk strains to keep her eye on them. She notices they are perfectly pacing the party, keeping just enough of a distance that they would be out of sight, but close enough that they could charge up at a moments notice.

"I see the human." Hssilaa whispers. "I hope we aren't walking right into an ambush."

Artaxes hears the noise of a brook ahead, and as the party crashes through the swamp, encounters a small stream about 6 feet wide. Liss raises his fist in the sign for "stop" and the small group gathers at the bank of the stream.

"Lets take a brief stop, break for some food. Hssilaa, Artaxes, could you stand guard? Lots of animals out here. We dont need some lasstiir deropping down out of the trees on us." Liss says loudly, obviously for the benefit of their pursuers.

He reaches into his pouch, and pulls out some kind of waxed packages that that looks like a bunch of round eggs, handing one to each member of the party. Hssilaa takes his and wolfs it down quickly, then stands with his back to the small group., but close enough that everyone can whisper without being overheard.

The egg thing appears to be some kind of smooth dough filled with bits of meat and gravy. It has a spicy and peppery flavor and is studded with some kind of small green seed.

Thiy notices the three stalkers have stopped, and are crouched watching the group about 15 feet away, screened by heavy bushes from casual sight. Olisshan pretends to be absorbed in checking his grahhssk's harness and feet, but whispers "So, taht female wasn't lying. She *was* being watched. Wonder if theres others watching the caravan? Should we take them out?" The last question is said with a slight nervous tone, although the drover seems ready to defend himself, or even attack if need be.

Hssilaa pretends to be scanning the treetops as he speaks without moving his mouth. "Well, tactics seem to dictate taht we should find favorable ground and lead them into an ambush. But, again, there is always the chance that we are being led into an abmbush, as well. Doesnt really seem likely though. Seems more like they want to see what we are doing, as if they wanted to ambush us, they had plenty of chances."

Liss pulls out a waterskin and takes a long drink. "Well, as one of the head guards, my responsibility is to Kassah and the caravan. But I do think they pose a threat, and theres no way we could work safely with them out there." he whispers.

The tall thin tracker glances at the humans. "Any ideas?"
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ian_scho
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Re: Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

Post by ian_scho »

Thiy smiled at Hssilaa. So, they have a better sense of smell after all. "If you think a pig smells bad, then you should never visit a human city." She smiles at the thought, almost proud that she is able to cast her own race in a negative light. Most humans and other races don't seem able to contemplate this fact. Only those who have travelled and truly seen these things through an open mind can think in such a way.

@Liss Part of Thiy's training was to accustom her to think of the collective. Put her own ego aside and apply her will to the good of the community, and apply herself to their ideals at all time.

"Whatever happens... It would be bad for us to lead them back to the caravan. We don't know if they followed us from there, or if they picked us up on the way here. It is my suggestion that we work quickly and when the task is finished route them near where we first spotted them. Perhaps try to outflank them near where we crossed the swamp road." She thought for a moment. It was impossible, she realised, to escape from the fact that they would leave tracks through the swamp upon their return. The caravan should move as soon as they return whatever happens now. She communicates that last thought, adding the phrase forced march as a kind of 'condiment' to the idea.

"Yes, I think it would be advantageous to ignore them right now and finish our work here."
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Re: Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

Post by oh_brother »

When Thiy pointed out that it would be bad to lead them back to the caravan Artaxes nodded. "Agreed. We need to deal with them. And if there is a chance there are others watching the caravan I say we deal with them sooner rather than later."

He sat down, hungrily tucking into the surprisingly tasty dough balls, while some gravy dribbled down his chin. "I could try to take one out with an arrow" he said, with his mouth full. "But then the others could run, and we would never find out what they wanted."

"How closely are they watching us?" he asked the group in general. "Any chance one of us could break off from the group and lie in wait? Then the rest move off, and we can surround them. Hmmm...maybe the stream is a good option. When we are crossing someone drops below the water and swims quietly out of sight. Then waits on the far bank until our pursuers have crossed."

He shrugged his shoulders, and looked at his scaly companions. "I don't know, are any of you...fish people? Or something like that? Can you breath under water? That would make things much easier."

Sorry for the delay, both past and to come (no weekend update)!
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