Kingmaker: Here Comes the Cavalry! (IC)

[Tsumeken]

Fae'l moves to help with the search as well, hoping to make it faster so that they can escape from this hole in the ground of a place.

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(1d20+11)[15] Perception. that or +2 to Morsbeh's roll for assisting I think it's works that way still.

[Lost Demiurge]

Brin and Fae'l find quite a lot of junk. Most of it is randomly grabbed trash, clearly stolen from travelers and Bokken's little farm. There are, however, a fair amount of coins strewn throughout the boxes, bags, and random goods. In all, it totals maybe 300 GP of assorted coinage.

There is also a dirty horn statue of some unpleasant looking horned humanoid beast, squatting over and leering at the world. Its teeth are quite sharp, and it looks like dried blood is clotted to it here and there.

APPRAISE

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Worth maybe 50 GP if it is cleaned off. Rather disturbing.

DETECT MAGIC

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Nope. None whatsoever.

KNOWLEDGE - RELIGION DC 15

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That statue is crafted in the shape of a type of minor devil. Kind of like an imp, only weaker. You've never heard of anyone worshipping this type of creature... They're really not impressive.

At the sight of it, Micmac cheers! "Ha! Now Tartuk can bite my tail!" He immediately claps his hands over his mouth, and looks guilty. "Uh, Micmac didn't say that. Please forget." He gives a little bow toward the statue.

[Sithis]

Alistar

After the last of the Mites are dispatched, Alistar takes a moment to lick his wounds before returning to human shape. Immediately after he retrieves his waterskiing and does the best he can to get the taste out of his mouth.

That done, he takes a seat next to the hole and waits for the others to come back.

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Alistar is going to be keeping an eye out while he waits, so Perception check.
(1d20+7)[21]

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"A statue of your god? Let me see if it's magical." Roqoan says. He uses his abilities to try and find a magical aura on the thing.
"No magic in the statue, must have some weird divine power or something like that."

"Say Micmac, who's this Tartuk you mentioned?"

[Morbis Meh]

Bring quietly makes a mental inventory of the navigable materials then begins to carry it out of the hole carefully, making sure to avoid any traps or debris. Upon exiting she nods at Alistair "You need some medical attention... Make sure Fervor sees you before he comes down to help carry all of this out. If you wouldn't mind. There is a fair amount of usable items down there that we could barter to bhakkon." Bring sets down her load close to Alistair and goes back down the hole for another load.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Tartuk -who, uh, Micmac did NOT say could bite his tail by the way- is shaman. New shaman. Said no can worship Lammashtu anymore."

KNOWLEDGE - RELIGION DC 16

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Lammashtu is the mother of monsters. She's an evil goddess popular with savage tribes, and her doctrine instructs her followers to spread, grow, and push out the "civilized" races. On the plus side, she's fairly kind to those who worship her. The sacrifices are things precious to the civilized races, rather than those of the tribe. And she's pragmatic rather than demanding. Still Neutral Evil, but good to her friends.

"Said new god was old Sharptooth. New god said that we couldn't sneakses against biggins who drove mites out of tree. Said we had to face them in brave battle."

KNOWLEDGE - RELIGION DC 15

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You have never, ever heard of any kind of god or fiend or other worshippable outsider called Old Sharptooth. You are pretty sure that there are none.

His ears droop. "So many dead. Chief not happy. But words of god, what can you do? If we say no, Sharptooth demands blood on rock. Kobold blood on rock. Lots of us gone to rock already..." He whimpers, remembering.

"Then mites come back and raid and steal Old Sharptooth! Tartuk so ANGRY! Chief send his best warriors to get back."

"Chief say, "take your time," but Tartuk promise horrible things if Sharptooth not come back! Everyones scales would turn yellow, and then we die! Is true! Is how old shaman died!"
Meanwhile, Brin continues to bring out the junk. After about the third scoop, she finds four chitin-covered gooey eggs, each about the size of her fist.

KNOWLEDGE - NATURE DC 16

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These are giant centipede eggs. Not worth much for trade purposes, sadly.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin stops to examine the eggs as she listens to the kobolds misfortunes, bringing her head close enough to get a thorough look but not touch them.

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knowledge religion (1d20)[2]
knowledge nature (1d20)[18]

Not knowing or caring about the kobold's religious issues she makes a disgusted face as realization dawns upon her... insect eggs, large centipedes to be exact, the ones her companions had just finished killing. Debating whether to inform the others or just destroy them she calmly takes her load and meanders toward Roqan. As she walks besides him she whispers her discovery then promptly undloads the junk and informs Alistair as well.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple has never been too familiar with other deities, and the new one isn't ringing any bells.

"I wish I knew if this god was malign or not... Anyways, we promise to help you to your Kobold lands, if you can allow us safety and maybe an audience with your leader. Unless Roquan, the one who speaks your tongue, has already asked."

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Diplomacy: (1d20+8)[18]

[Lost Demiurge]

"He did! He did!" Mikmak nods vigorously, feathers bouncing.

And the group finally emerges from the hole, followed by a squinting-tarred-and-feathered-kobold and a tired, tortured, turkey.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar gave a grunt of affirmation to Brin as she went by, but he continued to just sit and wait for the rest of the group to get finished in the hole.

When the rest finally come back up, Alistar's only reaction is, "Why does the kobold have feathers?"

When Brin tells Alistar about the eggs, he just shrugs. "If they have some of the things, makes sense they'd have some eggs. Don't know what you'd do with them though. Doesn't seem like they're smart enough to train properly. Probably best to just dispose of them."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Giant centipede eggs? Well, well, well, that's an interesting find. Thanks Brin, i'm sure we can do something with these. And i'm not disposing of them Alistar, they might still be usefull to us or somebody else. We could trade them or something like that.
Do you have an idea when these will hatch?"
Roqoan looks at the eggs, his mind already filling with ideas on how to use them. Selling them to Oleg wont work, the man wouldn't want to have bugs around the trading post. Lady Revekah will probably be disgusted by the things as well.
But they were going to meet the Kobold tribe. The Kobolds might like giant centipedes. They could train them to do some work in their caves.
Yes, this could work. The statue of their little god is the icebreaker, and the eggs can be the dealmaker.
"I've got it. We give these eggs to the Kobold tribe. If it helps them, they might help us. I'll ask Micmac."

"Micmac, do you think your tribe could use these things? They're the eggs of Giant Centipedes. You can hatch these and train them. They'll be the spoils of war for your tribe. Definite proof that you've defeated your enemies, those little blue bastards.
We'll drop off this turkey at the crazy man, Bokken and you can lead us to your tribe."

[Tsumeken]

Fae'l was glad to be out of the underground, that and to have the turkey and kobold safe and sound. So far she had been doing well no fowl ups. She sighed inwardly preparing herself to return to the man in the shack. She wondered what he had in store for the bird, knowing most likely it was a oven.

[Lost Demiurge]

You return to the hut and knock on the door.

When it opens, you see that Bokken is FESTOONED with cheap silverware tied onto his clothes, and has silver coins glued onto his face. "Is the werewolf gone?" He asks. Then his weak eyes alight on the turkey. And the feathery form of Micmac...

"You brought them back! YES! I'm eatin' good this week! Alright birds, back to the pen with you!" He grabs Micmac and the fowl, and starts heading toward the pen.

Micmac panics.

TWO MINUTES LATER

After the fire is put out, the turkey is recaptured, and Micmac is retrieved from the roof of the hut, Bokken invites you inside to rest and recover from the ordeal.

Inside the hut, it's about as cluttered as you thought it would be. Bottles, burners, and weird apparatuses (apparati?) are jumbled around. The walls are full of racks of potions, all different colors, all of them unlabelled. The tea, at least, is good. Bokken has to get up every few minutes to jiggle something on the stove. "Got to keep shaking it or BOOM!" he explains.

"Well, thanks so much for bringing back my turkey, shame about the other one. Lousy blue things! At least I won't have to worry about their murder knives anymore!"

He hauls three small vials out of his pocket. They're a flat brown in color, and look oily. "Here you go. Three of the ruined batch. They'll heal you fine, just don't eat anything you don't want to risk losing beforehand."

NOTE TO ALL

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These are flawed potions of cure moderate wounds. They heal 2D8+3 when imbibed, but require a fortitude check DC 15. If you fail, you are nauseated for 2 rounds.

After a few more minutes the tea runs out, and he coughs. After a few more he shrugs, and asks...

"So, did I ever tell you about my brother?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"No, you didn't tell us anything about your brother yet. Is he a local?"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin sits quietly along the side of the hut content to let the other speak, she picks up on of the vials and pops the cork. The aroma that spews out of the top makes her gag but she is able to keep her stomach from launching a counter attack. She looks up at the very strange man and wonders what would happen to him if he wandered outside during a storm...

[Tsumeken]

Fae'l sits quietly listening to the man speaking, she didn't know whether to take the potions or not, the glass could break and then her belongings would be covered in the oily mix. She stays near Micmac in case the crazy old man would lapse and forget that lizards are not turkey, no matter how feathered they are.

[Lost Demiurge]

Roqoan

"No, you didn't tell us anything about your brother yet. Is he a local?"

"Kind of! He cut off my finger after he killed my mother! Now he's living down south, in a hollow tree. Watch out for him, he's crazy!" A spoon slips from Bokken's arms as he gestures. "Whoops. Hm, time to shake the fulminate." He gets up and attends to the alembic again. "So anyway, thanks! Get me some fangberries and I'll help you more!"

Sensing that it's time to go, and to soothe the anxiety of Micmac (Who's used the opportunity to scrub most of the feathers and tar off), you head outside to your horses. The rest of the area is duly explored and charted, and enough daylight remains to accomplish more should you so choose.

Now what?

[Tsumeken]

Heading outside with the others she muses on what to do with the rest of their time."Should we make for Micmac's home or maybe to see this odd ones brother? He might provide some clues if he is not as displaced as his sibling."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin chuckles to herself at the newcomer "His brother is more than likely the third lieutenant of the Stag Lord judging by the description so I suggest we don't go there first. Safest bet is going to the kobolds, though it may be difficult with this new shaman... though we may be able to displace him for someone more maleable... what do you think micmac? Would you like to be a shaman?" She gave an amused smirk at her comment.

[SamBurke]

Fermor keeps on walking outwards, wondering to himself. Where's the wolf man...? He was running out this way but two beats ago, and now he's just gone... "Bah." Turning back, pace cut in half, the dwarf trudges back to the home of the eccentric brewer, and sits down in silence.

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Well that was a long break from me. Sorry folks. Doing Forensics as a hobby is nassssssty.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"I think we should ignore his 'brother' for now, the Kobolds are more important at this point. We need to make that alliance work.
I'd say the only question is: will we explore the terrain and update our maps while travelling to the Kobold lair, or will we make some speed and just let Micmac lead us there.
It all depends on how urgent getting the statue back to the lair is."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Uh, Micmac not can be shaman," the little black-scaled guy tells Brin. "Gods and spirits not talk to Micmac."

He tugs at Roqoan's robe. "Getting statue back pretty urgent. Old Sharptooth not patient good. Only get madder, the more he not with tribe."
He ponders for a bit. "Bug eggs be good for chief, is delicacy!"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin smiles at the response and moves her mount as close to Roquan as possible then whispers"Could you by any chance make Micmac hear voices? If it comes to it and the Shaman will not give us aid, Micmac could be invaluable..."

[SamBurke]

Fermor grins for a moment, a streak of mischevious spirits arising. "I've got an idea... I've never asked the gods for it before, and probably shouldn't, but... if we could make one of us invisible, then MicMac'd hear voices all day long."

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Now, to level up... Hm.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Delicacy? Oh i don't think he should eat these bugs. They are going to be a lot more usefull if you don't eat them.
Imagine that you're digging for gems. You could drag rocks out of the cave one by one, or you could have one of these giant centipedes drag out several rocks at a time.
You could ambush your enemies with a group of Kobolds throwing rocks and shooting arrows. Or ambush them while shooting arrows from a higher position and suddenly attacking them from the riding a giant centipede.
Alistar is great with animals, i'm sure he could give you some pointers.

Micmac, this is going to be great for you. You're going to return a conquering hero. The only surviving member of the war party sent out to return Old Sharptooth. And not only did you bring back the statue, you also got 4 giant centipede eggs that are going to bring great prosperity to the tribe."

Roqoan whispers back to Brin: "I could let him hear voices, but i don't really want to do that. He's going to find out eventually. I mean what are the odds that on the same day we ask him if he can be a shaman, he suddenly starts hearing voices?
Us bringing him back as a great hero that survived everything will probably be enough to get the tribe to love him."

[Tsumeken]

Fae'l smiled, it was nice to have feedback on an idea. She walked over while the others talked amongst themselves. She wondered at first what it was all about, but figured that they were not going to do anything to dangerous... although they did just charge down a hole into a fight.. Nah one crazy thing a day is probably normal right?

[Lost Demiurge]

"Uh..." Micmac scratches his head and frowns at the eggs. "That up to chief to decide, probably. Unless Old Sharptooth wants them or something, then Tartuk say so."

"Anyway, home this way."
Micmac has no problem guiding you south. The only question that arises is simple... Do you wish to take your time and map things out, or go directly to the little kobold's lair?

[SamBurke]

"I say wa just keep mapping for a while. The situation seems stable, so doing a good job seems to be th' best idea... dwarves never leave something half-assed!" Fermor grins, and thinks again about using such soldier's language. Still, these were friends, and good people. They didn't seem to mind.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"It's not all that stable. The Kobolds are waiting for their statue, and we don't know for how long yet. For all we know their chief might send out more groups to find it. And who knows what those groups might do, if they're desperate enough they might torture Bokken for information or something like that.
We can always map the lands we travelled through on the way back to Oleg's. Right now, let's just follow Micmac as fast as we can."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin quiety nods along with Roquan then says in a low, calm voice "Indeed the current situation is a dire one, the lives of potential allies are at risk and delay would only harm our chances. Micmac would tell his chief of how we delayed getting their idol to them and that delay could equal to the lives of some of the kobold thus it would be on our hands. Our priorty is gaining allies against the Stag Lord's Third Lieutenant and defeating him. Once we have successfully accomplished that deed then we can take time to map but not before then. Half assed will have to do until it is safe to do so."