[IC] Table of Monsters

[The Grey Dust]

"Your electrical Magics would most likely cause burns and perhaps damage neural tissue, which is why I suggested drowning. Excess Cellular fluid can be accounted for but damage would be difficult to access the original state of the tissue." So the horse was left to live another day, in fact it had already began to wander off, edging away from the strange fish person which was all too eager to touch it. It was a shame really, a shame that he had no stone tablets to write upon his observations as brief as they were.

The rest of the group seemed to drag itself and the metal scrap pieces from the battle over to the blacksmith, or rather grey-smith. The plan was to melt down a sword into the cast steel and from there create new weapons for their ragtag group. Weaponry was really not of R'lyeh's concern given that he used his to simply assist him in walking as they had taken his stainless steel staff earlier. What was more endearing was the selflessness of the Blue Kobold who would rather make a spear and dagger than a dagger and rapier. A rapier and dagger took the majority of the steel combination, however a dagger and spear would hardly take any. Something was certainly not quite right here, just by mere analysis of material to production yield ratio.

"Pardon me to interject, however, although I am not a blacksmith by trade, I have studied S'Augwin metallurgy. I believe your earlier statement and estimate of total material in the sword is inaccurate. Assuming your forge is adequately tempered at the proper heat of melting for steel and the oxygen content is idealized, I would apply a 90 to 95% material recovery ratio from the steel weapon my companion has provided." The Sagahin had to pause a bit due to the heat of the forge, "From this, I had estimated the human's weapon to provided adequate material for all three weapons, given the relatively little steel is actually required to make a spearhead is approximately equal to that of a dagger. Also, given the taper of the rapier, dependent upon design and craftsmanship, I suspect it is also feasible to create a steel rapier out of the remaining material which should be at about 60-70% remaining of the original amount of steel."

"That being said, I mean not to insinuate that you are deliberately attempting to retain an amount of steel for your own production purposes, but perhaps an error is estimation..." A quick but convoluted apology should he offend the Kobold's scheme of swindling some steel for himself.

"Alright, Alright, you caught me, I was going to melt some steel into making some nails..." The Grey-scale admitted freely to avoid being insulted in his craft by a bookish fish-person. "But I don't know what sort of fancy furnaces you fish folk have down there, you need to teach me how to make some of that unrustable metal you folks make in the sea."

"The process of making such steel requires a particular blending of materials in a specified ratio per the temperature of our undersea vents within minimized air exposure. If you are interested, in the event that my currently steel staff is return to me, you may have it as payment for the services provide here? I may purchase another with my research funds provided by the Aug'Toor. However until then, I would require merely a spearhead to be made for myself, one which can replace the current one I am using."

[Lugia]

Interestingly, the blacksmith was apparently ripping me off, as there was supposedly enough metal in there for all three weapons. Dorisma seemed hypnotized by the forge itself, and the other two, R'lyeh and Deravan, pointed that out, with the blacksmith probably not even noticing Deravan, and only really interacting with R'lyeh, who got him to make the rapier in addition to the other items. "So... how long will this take?" I ask him, with him responding "Just give me a day, or so. Maybe you could relax or something," he seemed somewhat annoyed by my presence, and almost seemed to shoo me away from the forge. I head back to the bar, which seemed to have added an 'inn' sign next to its 'bar' sign, apparently making it double as an inn. I thought about entering the place, but then remembered that I had no money. I then turn back to my teammates, and say "So, how about we head off to that forest, you know, see if we can find anything that the humans might have left behind when they attacked R'lyeh. Humans tend to keep lots of items, and probably wouldn't have noticed a few of them falling off of their... they did have a wagon, right?" I then walk over to some random house, one that was actually really close to the entrance to town, which means that it would have been among the first things destroyed by the invading human. Why any kobold would build a house so close to the village's entrance confused me, but, then again, the house was safe, at least for now. I then wondered if we were going to have to keep coming here week after week to defend the town against the humans, my thought process unbroken by a random green-scaled mother kobold asking me how I overcame the human invader, mainly because I accidentally ignored her, and didn't hear what she was asking.

[Evanist]

Deravan nods at the idea that Robert had about the forest, before fallowing him silently, before one woman then asked Robert how he overcame the human invader when so many died to a single human. To this, Deravan breath deeply and moves forwards.
"I think it is that we decided to take the path less traveled by... at least for us creatures." he then says calmly, breathing deeply. He looks at the house. It was still standing, and was close to entrance, but now the though started to come in his mind. These villagers could not defend against 1 human, when the group was able to take him down... Why didn't anyone try to fight like they did... learn magic, or learn the ways of the shadows or anything like that. Then he though about it... tradition... tradition of living like they always lived. Deravan knew he broke tradition by the way he fought, though would it make it that people actually look at them angry for not going and live like creatures should live? He just didn't know.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma reluctantly stood up and moved away from the forge, so forging weapons took about a day. Perhpas more if they were higher quailty and no doubt armour took even longer since there was more mass to it. An intresting concept, however it seemed that combat in this way required a certain amount of prepardness. If you were taken unawares either without acces to your equipment you couldn't fight, you'd be a nothing more than prey. Dorisma thought this through carefully as she went to the front of the small village where the human must have come through to see if she could find where he had come from. Dorisma would've liked to find out where this human had come from and see if there were others of his kind so that she could elimante them as well. Sadly she was unable to find anything, of course she knew nothing of tracking so she didn't even know what to look for.

[The Grey Dust]

"Oh yes, they would require such a vehicle to make do with my stone tablets over a long distance." The Researcher seemed a bit woozy from being near the smithy. His water levels were adequate, but the heat did not help water allocations to keep his body at homeostatic conditions. The cold-blooded S'Augwin were unused to land temperatures and were slightly more active on Land due to the warmth of the air and thus required use of water to cool down their bodies to proper temperatures. He was relieved however when they left the smithy, tagging along with the group around the town.

"I may be able to remember the path I came from. However I am unsure of the exact details, trees are not commonly found underwater and hence I am unfamiliar with the local flora to have made an adequate mental map. And unfortunately I also did not have enough time to document the morphological difference between the flora hence I may have wandered in non-linear paths before I manage to stumble here." In short, R'lyeh was saying it would be very difficult to find the exact place he had been attacked, "Yet I had noted the relative frequency of having barren spots in such dense foliage is statically low, and as such perhaps if we can find at least once of these clearings we may find these humans and recover my tablets?"

"Or better yet, I should take this time to look for other creatures in those forests, the ones described by the humans. Although given my current condition, I may require a brief rest before I may be of any use during another serious encounter. What say we then?" Ah science, far more important gold or exp.

[Lugia]

A rest sounded great right now, as it would recharge my magical energies, give R'lyeh some time to rest, and even give the blacksmith time to finish our weapons, which I assumed were free given how he didn't ask for payment when I was at the forge. However, I also remembered how I was out of money, and still holding these potions. "Uh, Riley, sorry for mispronouncing your name, but, would you mind holding on to these potions? You still have that satchel, and all I have to carry anything is my own arms," I ask, later adding "Oh, and unless Dorisma is going to pay, we don't have enough money to stay at the inn, unfortunately," I then finally notice the other kobold, the mother who was talking to me earlier, asking about how I managed to defeat the human, and I finally respond with "Well, I wonder if I should even tell you this, but I kinda learned their way of fighting. The odd ways they move their sword sometimes, and the magic they occasionally use, yes, we, as kobold, or rather, as sapient beings can also learn their ways. We too can use these sword movements, all of which have a specific and strategic use, and we too can learn their magic, that is, if we are willing..." the kobold mother, who introduced herself as Selkra, seemed intrigued almost mystified about what I just said. She then took a sword from one of the villagers who weren't as lucky as she was, and reentered her house. A few other kobolds, as well as some visiting goblins and ogres also seem to have heard what I said, as some were readily picking up weapons, or chanting strange words, while others were just shaking their heads at me, as if I was supposed to be ashamed of myself for breaking some unspoken law. The crowd dispersed to go do whatever they were going to do next after a few moments, and I almost had a feeling that there would be a forest fire in this area soon, for some reason.

[Evanist]

Deravan sighed slightly as he shook his head as people looked at them as if they did something wrong and that they should be ashamed. He shook his head slightly.
"Well... unless the owner lets us stay for free... we did kinda save the town, though that would surprise me immensely." he then says to Robert, before looking towards the forge, thinking. The flames were sparking slowly. Fire... it made him slightly worried cause of how it could burn his fur. Probably the reason why it was rare to see a troll blacksmith. He thinks a bit more.
"If we do stay in the forest to sleep though, we will need to gather material for beds and everything. Find a place that is not too in the open to not get attacked during the night. Possibly up high might be good.... and near water would be great." he then says, analysing the situation slightly. One thing he knew more then most people was to actually survive in the forest during the night. He might be able to help the group and warn them if something were to come towards them if he took the first guard shift.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma gave up looking for tracks, obviously she wouldn't find them. She turned around when she heard mention of them getting a place for the night at the inn. The troll offered up the idea of sleeping outdoors, but Dorisma did like the idea of sleeping in a bed for the night.

Deciding to see if she could use their temporary fame for a little longer she returned to the inn and walked up to the bar/inn-keeper and asked, "Hero's stay free?" The keep snorted dismissively, "No one stays here for free, 'sides you ain't no heros and what happened to my Gumbo!" he shouted angrily pointing at the emptied pot.

Dorisma let out a small burp and stammered out, "uh- human take, much bad, bye now." and quickly left the establishment. Upon returning to the group she voiced her opinion. "Inn no good, forest nice. Cheap too. Maybe help fishman find animals?" she asked curiously. Dorisma liked animals. Stewed, boiled, sauted...

[The Grey Dust]

"Yes, animals indeed. Strange and curious creatures, four-legged things. I should take more notes along the way if we encounter any. Perhaps they will make fine specimens to collect and send back home to AugToor." 'Riley' accepted the potions and tucked them away in his newly acquired satchel which he had simply forgotten he had all this time as it was slung across his shoulder naturally. "I would hope there is a water feature nearby, but unfortunately my time outside of the seas are infrequent and I have no way of ascertaining the availability of water. Frankly woodland survival is not my forte..."

One step into the woods however as the party decided it was a better idea to go searching in the woods. To which R'lyeh attempted to figure out his path, twisting around the familiar new sights as he strolled peacefully through the forest. Well, more like an unnatural hobble as he supported himself with his staff to bear.

"I believe we had already past that floral arrangement there. I once attended a symposium on the biological recurrence of patterns in nature based on variations on two similar but distinct species..."

One lecture of the anatomical differences observed between the Northern Banded Sea Snake and the Southern Banded Sea Snake, they arrived at the clearing, following the light as it broke through the break in the canopy.

"Ah! This should be the place. The probabilities and statistical likelihood is almost guaranteed. Also, note the half-eaten corpse of my former research assistants attracting the flies..."

[Lugia]

I followed R'lyeh through the forest, rarely running into the same areas and nodding as he started talking about the sea snakes, and the differences between the two, which eventually led to some sort of discussion about terrestrial creatures, and any possible regional differences between them. I actually listened, and added my own thoughts, explaining "Actually, us Kobolds exhibit a similar quality. Our scale color was, at least at one point, tied in with where we lived. Ya see, the kobolds with black or grey scales had their settlements close to human cities, whereas the sandy-colored, or red-scaled kobolds lived in the desert off to the west of the bulk of the human cities in this area, the blue and turquoise-scaled kobolds, like myself, usually lived near piers, oceans, lakes, or other large, clean bodies of water, with green and brown-scaled kobolds living in forests like this one, pale green and bright yellow-scaled kobolds, who are actually poisonous, lived in the various swamps and marshlands dotting this part of the continent, oh, and the white and pink-scaled kobolds, whose eyes seem to be adapted for darkness, or night, lived, or possibly still live in, caves. Uh, us kobolds typically don't speak of the white or pink-scaled ones, heh," that huge chunk of speech got us right to a clearing with a stinking, rotting corpse of a sahagin. I tried and failed to plug my nose to help tolerate the stench, and R'lyeh comments on this being one of his former colleagues. "Ugh, whoops, sorry if that was disrespectful. I'd bury him somewhere, but, well, I don't know if that might be, I dunno, seen as bad among you. What's the 'proper' way to treat a, um, dead sahagin? Either way, we have to get rid of the corpse, it'll attract wolves, and probably even worse," I explain to R'lyeh who didn't seem to be trying to get a camp ready. I finally ask "So, who's making the camp, anyways? If we're staying out here, we should probably have some sort of shelter, and fire to stave off the nightly cold," I'm sure the others knew, but I wasn't entirely sure R'lyeh, given that he comes from the ocean, would really know what a land-based camp would need to be suitable. That being said, neither did I, really, given that my parents always set up the few camps we had while we were traveling between villages.

[Evanist]

Deravan looked around the place, staring everywhere, before observing the trees and the wood.
"I guess I could do it." he says, before going and getting wood. After some time, Deravan got enough material and started to work on the camp, placing some make shift huts for the group, with leaves over them, attempting to make them the most camouflaged as possible. After a while, he had a decent camp going on, as he started to place some alert system, mainly small wooden rattles that would alarm the group if anything were to come their way. He then breath deeply and walked back to the group.
"If anyone can do a better job here, would be nice, cause it might be alright for a camp, but I am unsure about the quality of the wood. Its alright but... could be better." he then says to the group as he had the camp finished. He looked at one of the tents, that was his, and then touched it a bit, shaking it. Unfortunately there was one branch in it that was not too solid, and a audible crack could be heard. He sighed as he takes some more wood and make it more solid. Seriously though, he should go and sleep in a tree instead of sleeping on the ground, but then he would be more visible if he were to do that.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma followed the discussion on the variances in species quite interestedly. She was unaware that there were so many types of kobold, she had faintly assumed that all kobolds were the same for some reason. However thinking about it carefully she realized that even among ogres there were several different types. There were the mountain ogres with pale white skin. The ogres that lived deep underground with nearly pitch black skin. Of course Dorisma's own people with deep green-brown color and she had ever heard rumors of a tribe that lived by the ocean with blue colored skin.

"Your camp good." she said to the troll, it wasn't perfect but she suspected it was better than anything she could do. After all a chief's daughter had little experience with such mundane tasks even in such a strained environment. "I help corpse, what do?" she asked the fishman. "Maybe blue kobold- name Robert? Find water." Dorisma told the kobold. If necessary she could dig a grave although it seemed more like the fishman-R'lyeh would probably want to offer the corpse to the old gods or something.

[The Grey Dust]

There was nothing more than dead fish-people. No hint of their attackers, nor belongs.

"Well, the last rites are... I'm afraid far too late to conduct by now." R'Lyeh sighed as he knelt by one of the putrid bodies. "I am afraid the decay rate for my People is highly accelerated upon leaving the water, due to biological factors far too disrespectful to my fallen companions here to discuss without their input on the matter. S'Phurzah here was one of the best of my colleagues to conduct cadaver studies with and has spent hours examining up those who had sacrificed their life for the pursuit of knowledge. Rest well my old friend, I am deeply sorry that it has come to this."

The S'Augwin do not shed tears for their fallen, as it would be impossible to do so given their habitat. Yet here R'Lyeh was genuinely touched by the death of his associates, although it was not very common for a researcher to lose objectivity, this was far more personal.

"Custom dictates that the dead are to be eaten by the living upon dying, such that the Augwin be pleased with the cycle of life energies propagating forward to an unknown endpoint. However given the state of decay, there is nothing we can do to uphold this tradition without risk of malady." Yes, it was a strange ritual, pseudo-religious but far more scientifically practical in not letting energy to waste and cause heat entropy.

"If we cannot find a source of water proper to let their bodies decay in, I suppose my friends would not be too concerned about partaking in a terrestrial equivalent. I have heard it is customary to place the dead within an earth-covered pit? They would be honored to become amongst the first of our race to experience such. And I am afraid I am far too physically drained to be of any use until a good rest, any more travel may just exhaust my reserve of water I had allocated for respiratory purposes. I should limit my activities from this point on, perhaps I can analyze our potions? I believe one is a standard healing unguent, but the other..."

[Lugia]

I listened to everyone, and Dorisma seemed like she wanted me to find water, and, while I'd probably have to eventually, the sunset indicated that it was getting a little bit too late to be away from camp. "I guess I'll have to take first watch. Deravan, I'll wake you up later, I've got a few graves to dig," I say to Deravan, that is, after R'lyeh spoke about how it would be easier to simply dig graves for them than... wait... eat? Well, I guess that would explain those accounts of cannibalism I've heard about from back home. He then said something about, what else, it being too late for us to go find some water. Given the fact that my kind apparently descended from some type of lizard that dug burrows, and had the claws to prove that, I didn't even necessarily need a shovel for this (though, that would be preferable), and I assumed nobody else had a shovel, either, I decided to start digging. Of course, this would distract me somewhat, but not for too long, my kind are still fairly good at moving earth with their claws. "Go ahead and sleep, as I've said, I'm taking first watch," I then remind the rest of my group, as I continue digging, finishing the first grave after a while. I then start on the next one, keeping an eye out for any sort of movement in the trees just beyond the now-dark camp of ours. There was some gusts that blew the alarms system around, and moved the leaves, but nothing living seemed to want to intrude on us for whatever reason. It was an oddly peaceful first watch, even after I finished the graves, having already placed the stinking, rotten corpses in them, and filling them back up again. I used a few stones lying around camp to set up markers where I've buried the corpses, however, since I didn't know any of their names, or how to spell them, I left said markers blank. The first watch was already over, so I walked around the camp to find Deravan, eventually locating the ninja troll, and shaking him awake, saying "Hey, it's time for your watch. Come on, I've gotta get some rest, too," after I make sure he's awake, I head off to the only empty tent, and just collapse, digging, claws or no, takes a lot out of you.

[Evanist]

Deravan, who had been sleeping a bit, woke up when Robert told him it was his shift. He then nodded before going up and then getting on a tree, unfortunately the tree wasent that solid and cracked. Deravan then jumped off the tree and got to another safely as the tree branch was going to fall. He breath deeply.
"Stupid branch..." he whispers to himself before staying on guard, staying up, waiting and observing the area, scanning everywhere. Nothing seemed to happen. All was silent. When it was time to go and change shift, he got off his tree carefully, landing without a sound before going to Dorisma, and then shaking her shoulder a bit.
"Hey.... it's your turn...." he then says calmly. He then heads back to his bed, tired, going to sleep now, dreaming about the past... Back when his family was still alive, back when he was happy, without humans ruining everything. A deeper hatred for them was forming. Never again he would like his old childhood.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma woke up suddenly, startled by a touch on her shoulder turning to face her attacker. Then she remembered where she was, the ragtag group of heros that had saved the town. She nodded to the troll as he went off to sleep and took her in place next to the small campfire with a large rock next to her, eyes constantly roaming the darkness. After an hour or so she began to wish something would show up just to break the monotony. Still a ways off from dawn she considered waking the fishman to assign him his watch, but the fish had expressed that he was rather physically exhausted and needed his rest to be useful. Dorisma decided to take R'Lyeh's watch as well, once again nothing happened until the sun began to rise. Dorisma's stomach rumbling reminded her that breakfast was required and as far as she knew nobody had any more food than she did. She paced the camp restlessly waiting for everyone else to wakeup so they could decide what to do next. Although she wasn't really sure what the plan was, really all they had done was happened to all fight a human. What was the next step? They couldn't just attack a human settlement, so what were they to do, become bandits? Dorisma thought this over carefully as she waited for the rest of the camp to wake up.

[Lugia]

The sun rose, and I with it. I wasn't usually an early riser back at home, but I figured I shouldn't let my allies wait for me to wake up. I exit the tent, and the first thing I'm greeted to is a trio of goblins, dressed as thieves. The three of them seemed to be digging through our stuff, but I don't think they actually found anything yet. "HEY! You three! Cut that out!" I shout to the trio, all of whom seemed stunned that I was awake, let alone shouting at them. I draw my rapier, and prepare another lightning spell, something told me this fight would be somewhat longer than the one with the human. The one in the middle, who looked somewhat more important than his comrades, finally responds with "Ha! You're all alone. This is perfect, you'll be so much easier to rob when you're dead," the others laugh as if that 'joke' hasn't already been said by thousands of other thieves, human or otherwise, by now. The weaker goblin on the left then asks "Hey... isn't he the guy who took down that human? Maybe we should be careful," the one in the middle laughs again, and the one on the right says "Maybe I should help him, instead. I took this job so I could help out against the humans, not hurt our allies like this," the others glare at her as if they're going to kill her, but she doesn't seem fazed by it. The three of them draw their daggers, with the middle one's dagger looking shinier than the other two's, whose daggers look rusted, and honestly flimsy. Of course, the same could be said about my rapier, and all the rest of my team's weapons, at this point. Of course, that was going to change soon enough, right?

I had enough of talking, and try to fire off a bolt of lightning at the one who appeared to be the boss, however, my aim was something to be desired, as the bolt flew right over his head, and nearly hit R'lyeh's tent. I was certain that the lightning bolt would create the usual booming sound that happens when something passes the speed of sound, and that might just be enough of an alarm to wake him up, but, the point is, I still completely missed my target, causing the boss goblin to laugh at my misfortune. He didn't seem like he was ready to do much else at the moment, however, so, that was something.

[The Grey Dust]

Racket.
Noise.
Tumult.

"Wasskal, whereforth are you casting electrical energies so early in the morning? I had spent the night on a quick analysis of this strange potion and discovered reptilian qual-" R'lyeh stopped as he took in the situation. Three Goblinoids dressed like riftraft, daggers drawn. "Oh. Company. Well then... This is rather awkward. Gentlemen and lady... I'm certain we can come to an agreement of sorts. If you intend to steal from us, we really have nothing of value..." At this point he was stalling, analyzing the possibilities and probabilities of the Goblin's movements. Like a grandmaster of chess, his mind was already busy calculating the material strength of their clothing, the physiological build to extract possible dexterity and agility as to expect just how fluid would combat be. The Social structure of order here judging by the stances, two appeared to be more dominant than the female. The one in the middle would be the one of concern, the leader of them. So ideally if we focus our attacks on the leader and sow the seeds of discord amongst them, this should be a rather easy encounter.

Wait, encounter?

[Evanist]

As Deravan wake up slowly, he was greated by the sound of lightning hitting somewhere nearby.
"What the heck is going on..." hes says as he moves out of his tent, only to see 3 goblins who were taking their supplies.
"What in the..." he says before moving quickly, going to the back of the fight at a fast speed and then rushing to the goblin leader. He then quickly went and slashed at the thief with his dagger, hitting him right at the side as it attempted to dodge.
"Stupid thieves, you will regret going to take our stuff." he says in a dark and creepy tone. He then went and attacking with his sword also, but he goblin, having seen the sword coming, quickly moved and dodged the blade, only to have the blade cut slightly the cloth on the goblin. He then backed away quickly, in his guard, ready to strike again quickly when he could. Seriously, starting a morning like this by a fight... it was annoying.... He wasen't even waken up that fully yet. Well, a fight would wake him up rather quickly.

[Lugia]

---[Enemy's turn: Goblin Boss]---
The boss goblin, after Deravan and R'lyeh arrived, still seems content to just attack me, as he ran right towards me, dagger drawn, and finds a somewhat weak part in my armor, if it can be called that. The dagger cut through my scales and leather armor as if they were air. I was alive after that, but I felt as though I was on the brink, as if another attack could end me. "Agh... h-help!" I called out to my teammates, wondering if they'd actually come to my aid. I looked around for my health potion, only to remember that I gave that to R'lyeh earlier. This is bad... if only I could do something right now. This chest wound isn't going to heal itself. I guess I can prepare a healing spell, maybe, but I'm almost certain those cronies will get the chance to react before I can pull it off. This situation is just bad. I think as I put my clawed hand over the wound, trying to channel some sort of healing energy into them, but failing, unfortunately. Could this be the end? No, this may be more pain than I've ever had to suffer through in my life, but I still felt as though I could live through it. If there was a silver lining to this situation, it would be that this goblin would probably be able to fend off that human we fought earlier, and from that, maybe there was some sort of hope that us creatures can prevail, or at least be equal to, the humans.