Orc Politics (IC)

[Conners]

"HA!" the kobold says furiously. "I wouldn't tell the time of the day to a dirty gnome! So, now what? You going to keep asking me and asking me politely until I change my mind? I, Sizek, will not give in to the worst tortures!" The kobold crosses its arms, looking hatefully at Krey.

[Faithdreamer]

“Hills are tall, oh mighty Dwarf stand tall just like the hills!” His numb gaze loomed over the hapless Kobold more intently than any black-eye predator. If his bad singing didn’t drive him mad the sight of a merry mutilated Dwarf would.

“When those mountains
Come crashing down
See to my gold horde away
And stop those ugly frowns
Be merry with your drink
And dance
Let them hear our history-

If only he gave in before Gauli sang all three hundred verses...

[Conners]

The kobold looks strangely at the singing dwarf. "I think there's something wrong with your dwarf," he says, "you might want to trade it in."

[Enlong]

Krey puts a hand on Gauli's shoulder. "Oy, that's not helping." he says, addressing the singing dwarf. He begins to think to himself <Arg, what do we do here? We can't leave him his weapons, else he'll just attack us again, but if we take his stuff, he'll just come after us to get it. If we destroy his items, he'll be just as vengeance-crazed, and there are about a dozen problems with bringing him with us, even bound up. It would have been so much easier if he had just fallen in battle, then we wouldn't have to deal with the kind of thing.> "Gods, this is so frustrating" he mutters under his breath.

[Ulzgoroth]

Arianelle takes her eyes off the kobold momentarily to cast a bewildered look at the dwarf. The lizard's got a point... She shifts her grip on the white kobold, taking a bit of her weight off. "Thargol, could you take over holding him? Sizek may not care about his kin, but I need to check for more wounded..." And its going to get away from me pretty quick if it tries again.

[Conners]

Arianelle-- after swapping positions with Gauli --finds the kobolds Gaariss fought are all thoroughly killed. Part of the reason may have been he was fighting with axes, against greater odds. Although most of it likely derived from his carelessness.
With the present Gaariss: He has finished three kobold kebabs and is starting on another batch.
Gauli finds himself struggled against just as Arianelle was. Perhaps to escape, or perhaps to test the dwarf's strength. Grapple - (1d20+1)[15]
[Gauli: Make an opposed Grapple Check.]

[Faithdreamer]

(1d20+3)[15] - Opposed Grapple

It was bothersome trying to resist it, he was bored enough to sit where he supposed the little lizard might have trouble getting up. His saggy face looked on in lethargy around his still whispering lips.

[Conners]

Gauli-- although not showing any apparent effort --manges to restrain the kobold. It being too injured to really be a great threat.
"Get off of me you tone-deaf mad-dwarf!" the kobold screamed up at him. He then began shouting things of a very rude nature at the warrior.

[Faithdreamer]

"Stop that." Gauli punctuated one of the pauses with four words of his own. "You're acting like a child." His eyes focused in on the Kobold with a suddenness that might have been a little frightening if you looked right at it. "Please stop it you're annoying me."

[Conners]

"Not how the world works, dirt-eating-man-lover," the kobold said viciously, reaching into his armour, "not how it works at all...." The kobold twists around and lunges at the dwarf with a small dagger. Attack - (1d20+1)[8] Damage - (1d3+2)[3] (Remember that you don't get your DEX modifier for AC.)
Acting before he realized, the dwarf had caught the kobold's claw, and was now wrestling with it for the dagger. [Winner of the next grapple check gets the dagger.]

[Ulzgoroth]

Arianelle wanders among the bodies briefly, verifying that they are all dead...and frequently dismembered... Turning away from the bodies, she takes a moment to hold together the torn edges of her gashed cheek and ear and, with a gesture and a word of Celestial, channel a trace of healing energy into it.

Turning back toward the group, she gets an rather too good look at Gaariss's cooking, and takes a moment to throw up in the bushes, missing the kobold's attack.

Spoiler

Burning a light for Cure Minor Wounds

[Conners]

Grapple - (1d20+1)[2] Sizek pulls at the dagger for all he's worth. He tries biting Gauli's hand for an advantage.
As it bites at the dwarf's hand, Gauli swings it to the right and smacks the kobold in the face, hard. It topples onto its back from the blow. [Gauli now has a small dagger. Remember you take a -4 penalty when attacking with it in a grapple.]
Arianelle finds the wound to be totally healed, except for a mark and some soreness which should wear off in a day.

[Kioran]

Angrily, Thargol tries to deal the Kobold a solid backhand "Some people are a lot more gracious about accepting the fact you´re keeping them alive"

Spoiler

Attack(1d20+3)[8]
Nonlethal damage(1d20+3)[15]

[Faithdreamer]

He felt like he wanted to curl up and go to sleep, if there weren’t things he needed to do he might have. He interrupted Thargol’s backhand slap by shoving his hand away with the hand holding the knife. He just wasn’t in the mood for that yet. “Looks like we’re living in the same world to me.” He said levelly. “You’re a worthy of worship though, so you can enlighten me on how you’d like to be treated.”

[Conners]

Thargol's attac fails, Gauli stopping the attempt in its tracks.

Sizek looks more stunned then shocked. "Tell you how you treat me?" he echoed. The kobold obviously never considered anything other than scorn from those outside his race. He most likely expects little from his own people. Which is why this, was completely impossible to comprehend.
"Err..." he began, unsure -- before he began on his next sentence a suspicious thought hit his skull. "What you trying to get?" The creature looks even more defensive then moments before, confusion making him insecure.
"I won't betray my tribe for all the gold, or all the torture in the world!" he stated firmly.

[Enlong]

Krey looks at the white kobold and begins to try to explain. "Look, what you need to understand is that we do not want you to betray your tribe, or anything of the sort. The fight just now was purely self-defense. We do not want to kill you either, so we would much appreciate it if you would tell us how you wish to be treated, so that we do not have to harm or restrain you further. We really just want to continue through the forest."

[Conners]

Sizek glares at Krey as though the words he speaks are contaminating the air. Then, the kobold seemed to go into a seizure, cursing rapidly in draconic. After a moment, it stopped. It got into the most respectable position the dwarf would allow and attempted to smile a little. "Very well," he said, "here are my terms for letting you through: First, I want you to give back my possessions -- the weapons too. Second, I must be released, along with any other kobolds still alive. Third, stop that da**ed hairy beast from eating the dead ones! And fourth, that doesn't do the talking when I am concerned." The kobold points out Krey as the "that" in the fourth term.
"If you don't agree to this, then the kobolds we meet on the way to the camp will cook you on spits, like he's still doing to those kobolds!" Sizek added.

[Enlong]

Krey notes the venom in Sizek's voice. Knowing the mutual hatred between their races, he expected nothing else, really. Without speaking back, he places Sizek's bag and spear on the ground, and walks over to Gaariss. "Gaariss, please stop that, and put out the fire." he says, indicating Gaariss' ... culinary handiwork. Shuddering at the smell and the indecency of it, he adds "Please, let's respect his wishes in this, okay?"

[Ulzgoroth]

Arianelle hurries back to the shouting kobold. The miniature dagger in the erratic dwarf's hand, obviously not his own, takes her aback. That's better than I expected...I said to look for a dagger, too...

When Sizek runs down, she breaks in: "We can't really 'release' the wounded. They ought to recover in time, but they aren't likely to wake up right away. I'm not leaving them half dead, unconscious, and alone in the middle of a forest." She pauses and looks at the kobold with some doubt. "Can you give us safe passage?"

[Conners]

"Grahg-rah," Gaariss mourns in agreement, putting out the fire.
Sizek considers the human cleric's point. "Make the rug carry them?" he suggested. "Of course I can get you free passage! I'm Sizek, Captain of the kobold heavy infantry!"

After everything is settled, Sizek offers to lead them through the quickest way to the camp, already beginning to walk ahead of the party.

[Enlong]

Krey follows Sizek, but keeping in accordance to the kobolds attitude toward him, keeps several persons back, so as not to upset the kobold further. He feels for the letter in his breast pocket, hoping that the peace talks would go a bit better.

Spoiler

Bad news all. I'm having my wisdom teeth out today, and do not know whether or not I will be up to using the computer afterwards. I very well may be able to bring myself to use it, but I just as well may be out of it for a while. I hate to ask, but Conners, would you be willing to NPC Krey again, if I cannot play him?

[Conners]

Spoiler

It's fine. I'll make sure to NPC you if something important comes up while you're away. Good luck!

[Faithdreamer]

Gauli decided it was best to follow somewhere nearby but not too far off.

[Conners]

The party continues on, the kobold leading them through the forest.

Sizek then suddenly lifts his arm, catches the branch of a stump and yanks it down. The sound of ropes ripping out of place erupts from around the party, a huge net gather around them. [Everyone make a Reflex save.]

[Enlong]

Spoiler

Reflex save for Krey (1d20+2)[14]
Reflex save for Jeff (should I think of a better name?), using standard Riding Dog stats (1d20+5)[20]

aside: I guess I should've expected this... Well, not this, but some kind of betrayal.

[Ulzgoroth]

Spoiler

(1d20+2)[19](21)

Yes. I have no idea where trusting the kobold became a good idea...

[Faithdreamer]

Spoiler

(1d20+2)[18] Reflex Save for Net
We're nice people, aren't we? That means we're nice to people.

[Conners]

((I'll roll for Kioran to speed things up.... 17 + 3 = 20 ))

Jeff's instincts cause him to dive to the side before the net closes in.
Gauli, near the edge of the trap, manages to sidestep barely in time.
Arianelle and Thargol, having suspected such treachery, leap out of the closing net.
Although Krey did his best to escape the closing net, he hit into Gaariss and it was too late.
"Roo!" Gaariss exclaimed, his heavy form being snapped from the ground.

Sizek looked at a loss. Three of the enemies-- plus their pet --had escaped his trap, and he was too injured to take them all on. Still, his plan held true to circumstance, meaning he ran full-out in the opposite direction of the party, already a hundred and twenty feet of distance in one moment.

((Initiative isn't required. You act in order of posting.))

[Faithdreamer]

"Roo!"

The dwarf smirked bemusedly at the sound, it reminded him of having a pet dog with a clueless expression at having been outsmarted. He didn't seem to pay any attention at all to the kobold running away. "Let him go." Gauli sighed in resignation.
"I don't want to kill him and neither do any of you."

He felt a little dumb letting things happen like that but he took out his axe.

"How do we get them down?"

[Conners]

((Faithdreamer: Please remember to actually state things like, "The dwarf studies the area for some way to release his companions." It's sometimes hard for me to discern role-playing from actual actions, so I just thought I'd mention.
You've all been doing great jobs with role-playing by the way :thumbsup:!))