War of the Kobolds [IC]

[The Linker]

"Stand at attention, soldiers!"

You all find yourselves part of a line-up in the middle of the peacful coastal city of Saltport.

Today is one of the sunniest days you have ever witnessed, with a comfortable temperature, betraying the atmosphere of the vicious fighting you know is going on in most of the continent.

A multitude of buildings surround you, with such standards as a forge and a small library. There are four watch towers lining the city walls, each with a bobbing longspear at the top obviously belonging to a patrolling guardsman. Three different docks jut out into the water behind you, but there are few ships in port at this time.

"Hey! Ladies! I believe I said to STAND AT ATTENTION!" Your concentration is shattered by the voice of Colonel Bracken, a sturdy-looking human with a finely trimmed grey mustache and hair to match. This was the man who the call to arms has said to report to. In addition to you four in the line-up, there is also a nervous-looking halfing, an armored elf brimming with confidence, and a female elf with a look of confusion on her face. Bracken paces in front of the line-up, looking directly into the eyes of each person he passes.

"Admiring the scenery can come later! We're at WAR right now, soldiers!

"As you've probably heard, kobolds are involved in a continent-wide battle with humans, elves, gnomes, and anything else that is smart enough to build its own town. Human and elf settlements are recieving the most punishment. Gnome settlements, being the hardest to find, have remained safe for the most part. Dwarven cities are so well-fortified in their mountains that most kobolds haven't even TRIED attacking them.

"Because the kobolds are partial to the 'surround and flank' strategy, coastal towns, such as this one, have seen little action. That's why we're heading out to find some. We've been sending our soldiers both to cities under heavy attack and to small kobold settlements themselves. That's where you come in."

He pauses, both in speech and in his pacing. He surveys the line with some dissatisfaction. He then walks over to Lufred and moves up very close to him.

"You havin' a nap there son? You gonna let these kobolds take our town? Our country? Our whole freaking CONTINENT!?"

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Howzat? Looks different enough from the black to be distinguishable (which was why I chose the silver colour before) but also boring and plain enough to be NPC talk, I think.

[Rigel Cyrosea]

Matthias

Bullying volunteers is never a good idea... Matthias thought, watching the colonel yell his head off at Lufred. Of course, the kobolds are a whole lot worse. Strangely, though the colonel was obviously yelling, Matthias was having a hard time hearing him.

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I can barely read his speech colour (ie, Matthias can barely hear the words). Could you darken that? Also, as you've probably noticed, my speech/thought colour is blue.

[UserClone]

A young, poised-looking gnome stands at attention, and after waiting about four or so seconds to allow the General to continue, he is confident that he is not interrupting when he suddenly shouts, "SIR! Permission to speak, SIR!"

[The Linker]

Colonel Bracken takes his nose out of Lufred's face and looks down at Kerrick.

"I'll get back to you later, soldier..." he mutters out of the side of his mouth to the apparently shellshocked half-elf.

He ambles over to Kerrick and fixes him with a look that seems to almost contain a twinge of respect. "Permission granted, soldier. What seems to be on your mind?"

[Blackdeath]

Lufred snaps back to attention, but remains silent to avoid any more attention.

[UserClone]

"Perhaps Garnsby has some men we could recruit, sir? Surely, you would agree our ranks look a bit thin, sir? Uh, no offense, of course, to you or my peers, sir..." the Gnome says with a sweep of one hand indicating the other soldiers in the line.

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Diplomacy(1d20+6)[23]

[Grizwold]

Kill Kobolds...Kill Kobolds...mwuhahahaha...

Griz tries to keep his breathing level, and the inane cackling in his mind from escaping his lips. Only his military training kept him from fidgeting with the peace knot tied to the hilts of his nasty looking duel swords.

[The Linker]

You can tell he's been thinking this very thing for quite a while now from the pained look on his face.

"Ah, wish we could, son. The fact is, because they're not a coastal town like Saltport, they've been under heavy attack. All of their men are currently occupied with driving those persistent kobolds off. In fact, I've already been asked to send a few men there today from the..."

Bracken gives a deep sigh and gives a sidelong glance to the other soldiers, particularily Lufred and the nervous halfing.

"...volunteers we've picked up...

"Now! If there are no further questions, I'd like to move on with the briefing and task delegation. There's much work to be done around here." He eyes Kerrick in particular, pausing to be sure he doesn't miss any important questions.

[UserClone]

"Understood, SIR!" Dustboots takes a step backwards into his place in line and resumes standing at attention, ears perked, eyes forward.

[The Linker]

"Alright. Since our town is not under direct attack, our soldiers have been available for other tasks. One of these tasks involve hunting down and eradicating the kobolds' dens ourselves.

"Roughly one hour ago, a sizable group of our troops tracked down and emptied out a burrow to the south-east. This appeared to be just a small outpost, so opposition was rather small. We wiped them out. There were no casualties. Of course, this was about ten soldiers, personally trained by me." A smirk quickly dashes across his lips, disappearing just as fast as it appeared.

"The problem we face now is the kobolds seem to be returning to this outpost. Our scouts and watchmen have spotted bands of our reptilian friends heading in that direction. It appears they intend to establish a forward base with the intention of gaining a foothold close to some our largest towns.

"Now, this information could be wrong. Our scouts have made mistakes before. But, we can't take any chances. I'll need a few good men to head over there, clear out any kobolds who might be brain-dead enough to think it's a good idea to be this close to us.

"There's... another thing."

Bracken pauses, almost disbelieving his own words.

"We've been getting reports of... tougher than normal kobolds. Some kind of freakish creation, much bigger than your average kobold. These have been known to grab a man and crush him with just one hand."

Bracken nods solemnly, and slowly.

"Betcha ain't wondering how a bunch of bipedal rats with scales can storm a city now, hm?"

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Man, this is a lot of information. Hoping to get some IC reactions before I continue

Woulda been up a lot sooner, but I got a call that lasted like a half-hour

[Rigel Cyrosea]

Matthias

Crush a man in one hand! Matthias's face drains of colour at the thought. Well, at least they can't crush people if they can't get up...

[UserClone]

His expression fixedly neutral, the color nonetheless drains a bit from Kerrick's face at the mention of Kobolds that can crush a man at all, much less with but one hand Though, I can crush a man's spirit with one hand. The color begins to flush back into the Gnome's face.

[The Linker]

Bracken observes the reaction of the soldiers lined up in front of him, then continues on with the briefing.

"I mention this because you may or may not encounter these during your time spent in this war. If you have enough of a force, I would recommend that you take it down ASAP. You may be saving the lives of many.

"Now, to give each of you your assignment."

Bracken moves to the lefternmost side of the line and begins pacing down to the right, listing off names from his sheet along with their respective assignments.

"Matthias! You'll be clearing out the kobold den.

"Grizwold! Same thing."

Bracken glances up at the two elves next in line and continues reading.

"Blessara! You'll be heading to Garnsby as reinforcements.

"Kuringer! You're with her.

"Kerrick! You'll be with Growzold and what's-his-face down at the den.

"Daidist! You'll be a messenger boy. I'm sending you off to Polerine in response to their plea for soldiers. Got a note for you to take right here." The young halfling's eyes widen in fear as he accepts the note. His hand seems to quiver almost uncontrollably.

"Lufred!" The colonel abruptly ends his pace.

"Hmm... well, I WAS going to send you to the den... Now I'm thinking you might be better at being a messenger boy. Say, to Kharanos, on the other side of the continent...?"

Bracken resumes his previous stance of two-inches-from-Lufred's-nose.

"I've heard the kobolds are especially vicious down there..."

[Grizwold]

"Sir! Permission to shout Booyah! Sir?"

[The Linker]

Bracken blinks at Grizwold several times in bewilderment, wondering what the purpose would be, exactly.

"Uh... sure... I guess..."

Bracken shakes his head and looks at Lufred. "Still waiting for an answer, soldier. Unless you're still off in La-La Land, in which case we've got a fine job for you cleaning out dirty stables!"

[Blackdeath]

No Sir! I'd rather eat my own shorts Sir!

[The Linker]

For a moment not a sound can be heard. Bracken is absolutely silent, giving no indication of his reation. Suddenly (and completely unexpectedly) he laughs heartily and says in a jolly voice:

"HA! I like your attitude, son! You remind me of me when I was your age. Ain't no job quite like shovelin' horse crap, eh?" He cuckles a bit and continues. "Alright, you'll be heading to the den with the others."

He turns his attention to the entire group.

"Blessara, Kuringer, you're dismissed. Give the Garnsby general my regards, if you make it. You too, Daidist. Report to the stables to pick up your riding dog."

The two elves amble off, a little distubed by the ominous "if you make it." Diadist walks to the stable slowly, not sure how well he'll do riding a dog.

"Listen up, den-raiders! You should be able to find it easily; as I said, the soldiers eradicated the burrow about an hour ago, and with the ranger in your party, you should have no problem following the tracks. DISMISSED!"

Colonel Bracken leans in close to Grizwold as he passes by on the way to the south gate. "You, uh... you ARE good at tracking, right?"

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Blackdeath, that color looks a lot like black, at least aginst the white background. Plus it's pretty similar to Griz's color. If you wouldn't mind, do you think you could do with Orange/DarkOrange? It'd be greatly appreciated

Also, you forgot your quotes, but that's not as big a deal

[Blackdeath]

Lufred take a well awaited breathe. "Phew"

[UserClone]

Lufred looks like he's dropped his guard a bit, so Kerrick decides to take a jab at him by muttering magic-sounding words and waving his hands at him in an ominous fashion.
((OoC))

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Kerrick uses the racial cantrip prestidigitation, though he doesn't actually cause any effect to happen yet, as the spell lasts an hour.

"Heh, just kidding. Don't look so spooked....Seriously, though, we should probably decide on a leader. For now, I vote we go with Grizwold, as he seems to be the tracker of our group. Then later, maybe the leadership could change, as circumstances warrant. Thoughts?"

"...Also, do you mind if I smoke?" He begins to reach into his pocket, as if to take out a pipe or somesuch.
((For what it's worth, I have no problems reading BD's text, nor distinguishing it from the black.))

[Rigel Cyrosea]

Matthias

"Ah, a man...er, gnome, who likes to make decisions. If you could have either 100 gold peices now, or 250 gold peices in 6 month's time, which would you take?" Matthias asks, looking intently at Kerrick. "Incidentally, I agree, Grizwold would be a good leader for the time being."

[UserClone]

"Well," says the Gnome without a moment's hesitation, as he removes a pipe from his pocket and puts it to his mouth, "Depends how much gold I had to start with."
As the pipe reaches his lips, Kerrick's clothes begin to emit a thin, hazy smoke, as if he were sitting a bit too close to an open fire. The Gnome winks and turns to the others, dropping the pipe, which shatters on the ground without his looking back for it.

[Blackdeath]

"I agree that your abilities will be useful, but I don't like you being my commander. Contrary to what may seem, I don't enjoy being an underling." Lufred says with a snarl.

[Grizwold]

I can get ya there, but i ain't here to tell ya what to do. The well armed gnomed quipped with a friendly lilt.I can understand your hatred of leaders and folks tellin ya what to do.. hell thats why i quit the military and headed out to the woods. But we got ourselves a bona fide situation here, and someone has to track these DAMN KOBOLDS!!!

There is definatly a slight twitch to the Gnome's eyebrow as he yells the name of his fetid enemy.

And te' answer yer question. Yessir I can track. Finest tracker in the svalich woods. On that note, lets get moving and hunt us some KOBOLD! Griz looks like he is thinking for a moment.. as if he had forgotten something important...

Booyah!

He smiles satisfied and starts moving towards the stable to grab his dog Skip. He glances about to see if there are any soldiers about that could direct him in the direction of the soldiers trail. Only an hour old, he knew that it would be a cynch to follow the tracks. As long as he could figure out where the trail began.

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Gather Information check [roll0]
Tracking Check(survival+synergy bonus for knowledge nature) [roll1]
Thats odd.. they didn't work. going to the ooc thread to try again.. sorry

ouch... not so good on the rolling. A 1 and a 4.. man... not a good start
(1d20+5)[6] Gather info check reroll
(1d20+8)[12] tracking check

[The Linker]

The colonel calls to you as you turn to leave.

"Ah, Grizwold... it may be in your best interest to leave your dog here. Our watchmen are still reporting kobolds heading that way... they could easily find him wherever you tie him up, just by accident. Though I suppose you could hide him under some foliage or something..."

He gives a passive shrug, then looks in alarm at the stable.

"Uh, speaking of which, isn't that your dog the halfling's getting on?"

Upon looking, you find that, indeed, the stablehand is helping the shaken young halfling mount your riding dog.

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You can do whatever you want about the dog, but the warning is true. Unless you want to ride around with your dog inside the den.

Right now, it might be in your best interest to rescue him

Oh, and I'll cover your gather information check right after this random story dressing.

[Grizwold]

"OH, that's not good. Skip has a problem with biting halflings." Griz wonders who needs the saving.. the dog or the halfling...ponders the humorous outcome of letting the situation continue... then decides to wrangle in his dog before biting happens.
Skip! Heel!He yells before the well trained mutt decides to take a bite out of the halfling.
Hey boy! thats my dog you are giving the hairfoot! Not a great idea...Besides.. he hunts with me. Skip! Come!

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Lets try a few more rolls...
skip has been trained in combat riding. (heel, come, defend, attack, guard and heel)
(1d20+5)[8]heel command dc 10
(1d20+5)[20]come command dc10

[The Linker]

The dog reacts to the halfling as soon as he is touched. Throwing him off his back, he proceeds to try and bite the little kobold-sized man's head off. Ignoring Grizwold's 'Heel!' command, he gnashes several times, trying to get a good chomp in; however, Griz's 'Come!' command distracts him, and he trots over, leaving the halfling with a face covered with saliva.

The stablehand has a look of sheer terror on his face, not sure who he should apologize to first.

"Oh, geez, little guy, I-- I didn't-- uh, Mr. Bracken, if I had known that-- that he-- oh, man, Mr. Grizwold, sir, I didn't-- I didn't realize it was your-- I, uh... I'm so fired..."

The halfling does nothing but sit there, shivering like mad.

Colonel Bracken is pretty stunned. "Er... maybe you'd, uh, better go, Griz... yeah. You'd better hurry. The tracks start at the south gate... wait. Was it the east gate? Crap, I don't know. Mighta been the west... no, no, I think someone told me it was the north. Er, wait. The ocean is in the north. Right."

The Colonel wanders off, confused. "Man, we're never gonna get that halfling on a mount now..."

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Well, that was your natural one Gather Information check Since all the exits out of Saltport have roads leading away, you can look for the only set of tracks that aren't on a road.

It's ten people on frm ground, which means DC 12, so... you pass!

Let me know when you're ready to go, all.

[Grizwold]

"Here's the trail mon amigos! Sorry it took so long to find. Ya'll ready to go?' I sure am...it's kobold killin' time!"
griz is ready to go
"Don't worry 'bout it lad. Skip is just rarin' to eat kobold for supper. Not your fault at all"Griz shoults to the stable boy before slinging his pack over his shoulder and begining to walk down the trail.
"Why did i have so much trouble finding this.. it is so darn obvious..."he mutters under his breath.

[Blackdeath]

"I think we should leave as soon as possible to prevent anyone else from getting hurt by these kobolds." Lufred states.

[COLOR="rgb(75, 0, 130)"]Oh, and "Booyah!"[/COLOR]

[Rigel Cyrosea]

Matthias

Matthias starts following Grizwold and Lufred, contemplating Kerrick's answer.

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Ready to move on.

[UserClone]

As Grizwold looks around to see if we are ready, Kerrick winks with a smile; there is a bright glint in Kerrick's open eye, and a slight "ting" sound. "Sounds good, mate."