[IC] Table of Monsters

[Riddles]

Robert and R'lyeh had found several loaves of bread, as well as an alcohoic drink, which Backstabs immediately took and began drinking. It must have been pretty strong, since she was drunk after just one cup.
"I sure hope she sobers up before we get into combat again." Trey said. There was no way Backstabs would be useful in a fight when she couldn't even walk in a straight line.

By the time they got out of the cave, the grey dust had spread to the area outside the cave, turning most of the grass and dirt around it grey. Robert suggested that they go warn Birchvale, which Trey assumed was the town they visited before they came here.
"I don't think this stuff can kill on its own. We were just in a cave that was completely filled with it, and we're fine." Trey said. "I could be wrong, though, so we should still warn this town. We don't want anyone else turning into zombies."

[Eklispe]

Dorimsa nodded, warning the village was a good plan but perhaps it would be better if they could simply eliminate the danger. Curious to see the effects see stuck her torch into the gray grass, after making sure that it wouldn't spread to the whole forest of course. As everyone else did she ignored the stupid human, no point in responding.

[KaBling]

That was... quick. And it didn't even get messy; most of the time, I'd be chased down or at least sworn at. This guy was pretty wasted though, and he just gave away his stuff while rambling on about some cave. I casually tested out the size of the armour (it fit me rather tightly, but it would have to do) under my clothing, as to avoid being conspicuous and leaving a rambling man alone. "Yes, yes. You're drunk. We'll get you a horse or something." I made some false conversation as to (again) avoid attention - that guard was either awake or still asleep, and I really didn't want to know. I got a small pouch of his money, but because the man was such an alcoholic, he gave me his spare change... or rather his entire wealth.

He ended up stumbling onto me. I gotta admit, seeing one of my own all tipsy was amusing. Even funnier than watching one of those odd humans celebrate with mugs of ale. Alas, I couldn't stick around much longer. As soon as I buckled the right straps, I was quickly out of this village. A criminal who finally assaulted a guard? That calls for a lynch mob/execution/public humiliation. Guess which two are fatal.

Bloody hell. Getting out of the village wasn't easy. I mean, I was already recognised by some of the locals for being the guy who constantly 'stole' money, and for your information I GAMBLED that money; there's always a chance that the 1 out of 100 will screw me over. And it did happen to me... horrible childhood, horrible life.

Anyway, like I said, getting out wasn't easy. I got the odd leer and the stare, but I didn't really care about what they thought. It was the guards I was afraid of - either they knew I knocked out one of their own, or they'd spot my guilty mind through my shaking. Sure enough, the entrance of the village was actually deserted. No caravans today or anything, so they didn't bother keeping someone at the gates. I really wanted to run out of there, but instead I just kept calmly walking...

...and at last. It took a minute to get there, but it was worth it. Bushes, dirt, and leaves covered the place, and I was elated when I realised I got out of the village without being spotted or anything. But, there was a problem: where would I go? I DID pay attention to that drunkard... so, maybe, going to that mysterious cave to catch a bunch of tired travellers was a good idea.

[Lugia]

Almost everyone else seemed to agree with me, and so I headed back to Birchvale, almost running into a few trees on my way, and passing by a suspicious kobold, as well, due to me rushing through the forest "Oh, uh, sorry there... sir? Who are you, and why do you have such expensive equipment?" I ask the gambler who was near, but not in the village. Something told me this individual was hiding from someone, maybe even the law, itself... but then I remembered I had something important to tell the village, so, I headed off, saying "Sorry, but I have to get out of here, important business, and don't head into the cave if you're thinking about it," I then entered Birchvale, which thankfully wasn't under attack this time. Various creatures, but mostly kobolds both big and small wandered the streets and went into various shops, and market stalls... the place was even busier than I remember, but that could be due to the fact that they were now officially the oldest established kobold village on this continent. Could this place already be a tourist trap? Either way, I should really try to find the mayor. I think as I look around for anyone even remotely important-looking. I give up looking on my own, and start asking around, and they eventually pointed me to the big building in the center of the village, which was apparently getting a clock installed in it when I got there, as there were several creatures holding the giant thing, and trying to position it above the door, which itself was far larger than the usual doors in the village. Opening the door revealed a rather rich-looking yellow-scaled kobold who jumped in surprise from me suddenly entering his... house? Office? Wherever this was. "Who are you, and why did you break into the city hall?" the mayor asks me. I answer simply with "I'm one of the heroes who fended off the human, and I have important information," he then gestures for me to continue talking, so I continue with "I... well, my team found a strange blight in that cave we were told to explore, the one right outside of the forest. This blight seems to literally suck the life out of anything that stays in there for too long, and reanimates them as walking corpses..." I then hear him ask "And who's she?" I look behind me to see the princess has made her way here, as much as I tried to lose her in the forest. I answer with "I have no idea, but she can't be damaged, and she followed me out of the cave like a lost puppy... a lost puppy that won't shut up, and whose parents probably ordered the killing of our species," my annoyance with her was obvious from my voice alone, let alone my description.

[Evanist]

Deravan fallowed Robert to the town, passing by a strange kobold who was going to head to the cave they were just in. He then continued on his way, as Robert went to go and explain to the mayor what happened. He stayed silent for a bit before starting to speak.
"And the blight seem to be spreading we think. The town itself might not be a safe place anymore if it spread too much. We would need to find some way to stop it, but like my friends said, staying too long would drain your life out." he then says, before the man continued and asked about about the princess. He sighed as he looks towards the mayor and then the princess.
"Not our fault she went and fallowed us. And trust me, some of us tried to actually attack her..." he says before calming down a bit.
"If only she would not be so full of herself... then it might be a bit more acceptable..." he said under his breath, shaking his head a bit right now. He just hoped the information would NOT cause a mass panic to happen.

[Riddles]

Trey flew above the group as they headed back to Birchvale. Upon getting there, they passed by a rather suspicious-looking Kobold just outside of the town. Robert said something to him, but from this height, Trey couldn't quite make out what he was saying. He was probably just warning him about the cave, or something.

For a while, they searched the town for someone of importance. Their search eventually led them to a large building in the middle of the town. Trey flew down to the ground and landed next to the group. He then followed them inside, where they encountered a yellow Kobold who appeared to be the mayor.

Robert told him about the grey dust that appeared in the cave. The mayor then asked about the princess, who had followed them there.
"She's got some kind of enchantment on the dress." Trey said. "She can't be hurt, let alone killed. Believe me, if I could kill her, I would."

[Eklispe]

Dorisma followed the group quitely, everything that needed to be said had already been said, besides she didn't like talking that much anyway. At least the princess had remained relatively quiet on their way over. The others expressed their anger the princess still being a pest, Dorisma was starting to be able to tolerate the vexing women.

She only hoped something could be done about that strange plagued grass, it could be dangerous if it spread unchecked. Though she wondered what their next move was. After all a rag tag group like theirs wouldn't last long without a unifying purpose. Could they really go around asking for rumors and trying to help based on whatever information they could grab?

It would be interesting to see what events transpired, perhaps if they were lucky, they would become stronger enough to stand against the humans. But they were so many, they would need to become very strong indeed...

[Lugia]

The mayor, upon hearing all of us speak for a while, eventually decided "Then I will have the town move! I've even got the perfect spot to move to... erm, if you don't mind acting as members of our budding army for just this trip, that is," I was shocked by that. Us? In any army, let alone a kobold army, which hasn't existed for more than a century!? "Um.... well..." I end up stuttering, eventually coming up with "We'll help, but, I... um... don't feel as if I'm worthy of being in any sort of army," the mayor seemed content with that, and, upon exiting the town hall, with me following, he shouted "MY BRETHREN!" once he seemed to have everyone's attention, including the non-kobold ogres, goblins, and even trolls that were in the town, he continued "WE ARE TO MOVE OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE EAST! THERE'S A DRAGON STRONGHOLD THAT WE CAN USE AS OUR TOWN IN THAT DIRECTION!" he shouted loudly enough so that as many civilians could hear as possible. An ogre raised his hand and asked "How will we fight the various creatures or humans that may impede our travel?" the mayor's eyes almost seemed to shine, and he turned towards me for a moment, gesturing for me to step forwards, which I did, and afterwards, he continued "OUR ARMY, AS WELL AS THE TOWN'S SAVIORS WILL AID US, THEY WILL SURROUND US CIVILIANS AND ENSURE THAT NO HARM WILL COME TO US!" he then spoke directly to the ogre, and said, in a much more quiet voice "That was a good question, by the way, thank you for helping me clear that up with everyone," with that, the entire town seemed to start packing whatever belongings they had into whatever containers they had... it was honestly quick, given that most kobolds were used to moving around, and constantly moving from city to city.

[Evanist]

Erion listened to what was being said by the mayor, and waited a bit. So... they were use to moving from city to city it seemed... At least they would not be too mad about having to move like this. He moved forwards, looking at the people and staying silent. He then went near Robert.
"Well... At least there isn't a uproar on having to move... so that is good." he says calmly. He then breath deeply and looks at the group.
"Although it seemed we will be stuck in guard duty for a while... well I don't mind... at least we will get these people to safety... lets just hope they don't forget that we helped them up... maybe they could supply us with some things also." he then suggests calmly. Some armor might be a good for the group...

[Riddles]

Apparently there was a stronghold to the east where the civilians could live until the blight was dealt with. The group was tasked with protecting them on their journey. Trey had no idea how far this stronghold was, but it sounded like they would be on the road for a while. The townspeople didn't seem to mind, though. They were used to moving from town to town at this point.
"So, what's the plan, here?" Trey asked the rest of the group. "We're inevitably going to run into something that poses a threat to us. We need to make sure none of the civilians get hurt."

[Eklispe]

Dorisma was surprised by how quickly the Mayor made up his mind and decided to take action, quite unusual for these types of things to occur so quickly. She nodded at Erion's suggestion, it would be beneficial to receive better equipment, perhaps even hunks of metal to put on her fists, though she wasn't sure how much that would help. She spoke up in response to the bird's question, "Best we spread out. Protect all of them." she said simply before moving to the back of the quickly assembling caravan. It was clear what position she was taking.

[KaBling]

Before I could even make my move, I had a bunch of travellers by me and asking about my certain choice of equipment. I was somewhat disturbed by their interest in me for a bit, though I was more disturbed by the fact they actually had a... human companion. Were they mad? Around these parts, some people would be willing to make a necklace out of her teeth. That's not even talking about her possibly spreading word of this village, which... well, it wouldn't bode well for anyone. Most of the strangers looked tired and fresh out of a fight - which, incidentally coincided with their warnings about the cave. They didn't even tell me why, 'cause they ran off to startle some other Kobold and such. "What?" I let out, asking myself what just happened while they trailed off into the village.

I was leaning against the side of the entrance to the village, wondering where to go on from there. I flicked my hand while thinking about endless scenarios, with many 'yes' and 'no' decisions laying stuck in my mind. This wasn't too pleasing, especially as I knew I'd just be a lone wanderer around these lands. More importantly, I didn't want to be those guys; the people who'd run off only to turn up in human villages, stuck saying the same phrases and handing out the same quests and rewards. Now that was a scary thought, facing all those humans...

Before long, I figured I ought to find out what all the commotion was. I didn't have anyone exit the village for 10 minutes, which was bad for 'business.' Yet, I also heard all sorts of yelling and even witnessed a large crowd being formed (which due to the small size of the village made it even more shocking). I was careful to enter the village, knowing that a bunch of guards would be ought to stuff me into one of their jail cells. It would be disastrous for me if I was to be caught, as... well, jail isn't nice for many reasons. Sometimes the guards have their own rules, which varies from 'unpaid' fines to an aching pelvis and a few broken bones. (I actually had a former partner of mine describe his experiences at the local jail, and it was VERY disturbing.)

Anyway, the village was eerily quiet. Only few people were yelling out loud at and within the crowd, until they decided to disperse and rush to pack everything up. Suddenly I had my ears swarmed by sound and my shoulders bumping against everyone. I swear to God I had a guard catch a glimpse of my face and squint in this commotion, while I was also having to push through an endless amount of people who surely did not live in this village. In my panic, I ended up running through the crowd and bumping into that little group I met earlier, what with all their equipment and that REALLY odd princess (who's teeth hadn't been made into teeth yet). I kept face (as in I didn't make myself look aloof) and straightened myself, although that quickly dissipated when I realised that guard in the sea of people was still looking around and walking in circles. "Well, I'm glad you asked that question earlier, but I really do want to ask you a question first: can you hide me from, well-" Immediately, I jerked my arm out against a familiar face in the crowd - the drunkard, who was busy waving his bottle around and being pushed around by almost everyone. He was looking more and more pissed with each passing moment. "-that guy over there?! He wants to make a necklace out of me teeth, mate! You gotta help me!"

[Lugia]

The mayor scribbled something on several pieces of paper, and handed one to each of us. The paper simply stated that we were to get one free piece of equipment from the armory. Why only one? Well, apparently armor was still in short supply in this village, as were weapons. The mayor continued shouting to his people, and someone made his way to us for whatever reason. He quickly explained that the drunkard over there wants to make a necklace out of his teeth. Normally, I'd ask him why he'd want to do that, but since the town drunk was involved, I assumed it was something stupid or petty. "Alright, just stay with us... hmm, odd. I was going to offer you one of these," I then hold out my paper, and continue "but it looks like you're already set armor-wise... then again, you could probably use a better weapon, actually, what IS your weapon?" I didn't see a single thing on him that looked like it could be used as a weapon, but, certain sneakier folk were known to keep weapons out of sight so that they could sneak them into parties and other events that normally wouldn't allow a weapon. I then get Backstabs, our goblin thief who has been doing just that with whatever equipment she could conceivably get her hands on, to hand him her paper. Once the mayor finally finished with his speech, the princess woke up from some sort of slumber she's been in since he started, and said "Wow, mayor kobold, you really need to work on being less boring when you're giving speeches... or don't, I have trouble sleeping anyways and a few more speeches like that might just be the cure," she then yawns, and the mayor tries and fails to claw her eyes out, obviously offended by what she just said.

[Riddles]

The mayor gave each of them a piece of paper that would allow them to take one piece of equipment from the armory. They were then joined by the Kobold they encountered outside of the village. He wanted them to hide him from someone in the crowd, who apparently wanted to make a necklace out of his teeth. After noticing that he didn't have a weapon, Robert convinced Backstabs to give him her paper.

The princess was already starting to piss off the townspeople, and she hadn't even been there for that long. The mayor slashed at her eyes with his claws, but unfortunately he couldn't even leave a scratch on her.
"This is going to be a long trip." Trey said. He had a feeling that the princess would only get more annoying as time passed. "Come on. Let's see what they've got for us in the armory."

[Evanist]

Deravan listened as the mayor spoke and that he wanted to give a piece of equipment to the group, although seeing how it was only 1 piece and not more, he was a bit feeling like they were being screwed a bit. No matter. Just then the guy from before that they met on the way arrived and asked them to hide with them, so that what seemed to be drunken guard dosen't get him. He breath deeply.
"With how he is acting, if he tries anything, it will be him that will be making a nice necklace out of his teeths." he says in a low tone just so that only the group could hear. He then breath deeply before looking at the princess and shaking his head.
"Seriously... where did you learn the word respect? It dosen't seem like you have any." he then says to the princess, a visible annoy look in his eyes.
"He is trying to save a good amount of people here from certain doom... but it seem you human's can't see how important that is... with how you hunt us down all the time, village after village as if we are just beasts with no brain or consciousness. You should be ashamed of yourself!" he says to her, visibly venting right now. He starts to calm down, and then walk back to the group, his eyes more filled with anger right now then anything. What was her right to even comment on something so important like that.

[The Grey Dust]

"Actually, I am slightly inclined to side with the absent-minded human female on this one. If I may be so didactic to say that the representative kobold for this town should improve on his rhetoric skills. While using the inclusive term 'brethern' may have been a botched attempt to generalize the varied populace found within his domain, a more appropriate word to use would have been 'townspeople' or 'citizens' for 'brethren in it of itself denotes the exclusivity of the male gender of a similar order or sect. Hence the female members of such society would be left out of the populace entirely, unless of course they identified themselves as male, to which... Regardless my point remains, in a similar case, are we moving the mountains over to a more eastern position? Or are we relocating ourselves to the east while traveling upon the mountain? The case is rather ambiguous as I highly doubt we can move a mountain without a few years of civil engineering and proper construction? Also, technically we cannot possibly surround the safety of the civilians from a number of significant harm factors, I can list about forty-seven cases wherein even with an entourage of elite guards, several S'Augwin high scientists have been unexpected killed upon terrestrial travel. A majority of them involve improper distribution of supplies and other logistics...

All that being said, What exactly does guarding a group of townspeople do to help recover my tablets? Certainly a large mass migration would be uncessary given the average lifespan of kobold and the incidence of human-directed fatalities. Seeing that one or more may have come through here, within the last few days, I wager that most of these citizens are doomed regardless of where we arrive at. De facto I would wager that given the amount of human activity within this localized area, we should almost expect a full adventuring party of humans to have recently trounced the dragon within the stronghold and will be more than pleased to raid the newly established village. Henceforth I project that at least 30% of the population will die should such an encounter occur, and if not, then 40% shall be tithed to the dragon which has yet to be slain and overlooks the stronghold. Or maybe if we do not move, a wandering risk of roughly 50 to 75% of an adventuring party appearing and wiping out 80% of the populace were we are currently after the initial 90% has been culled by the strange dust we observed earlier."

At long last, R'lyeh chipped in his piece.

[Eklispe]

Dorisma squinted at the fishman trying to make sense of what he said. After some deliberation she decided that he meant that moving was safer. Probably. Not? "Too late to stop now." she said simply, "Fishma- R'lyeh, hold paper please, I not want to lose." Odds were she would forget about the paper and have it end up somewhere in the wild never to be seen again. The fishman was smart, very smart, and he should be able to keep hold of both of them. She ignored the princess as usual, Dorisma was learning just how effective selective hearing was. She glanced down at the small kobold who seemed to be afraid of someone chasing him, "Just keep me between you and him and you will be fine Kobold." she rumbled and continuing keeping pace with the slowly moving caravan while thinking about what armor she would want. Perhaps a small buckler or two to be strapped on her arms so she could bat weapons out of the way, yes that sounded like it would be effective.

[KaBling]

I had no idea what was happening, with all this commotion about moving the village and a damned human in their group. Not only that, but they seemed rather uninterested in my presence here - exactly what I needed. Honestly, I was a criminal, and should they be aware of that they'd turn me in at the soonest moment. I've never killed anyone, but cheating people out of all their money is definitely a crime around most parts after all. They were all squabbling amongst themselves, and when the guard left (after getting swamped with requests to help the elderly) I finally made my move.

"Phew, he's gone." I said, to anyone within our group really. That drunkard also left luckily, otherwise someone would have been killed. "Thanks for that, lads. Though, he's gonna try to mug me the next time he sets his eyes on me." Before, I grabbing onto some guy's arm and trying to make myself look as weak as possible. Now, I was finally able to stand up on both legs without feeling like anyone was trying to aim for my neck. I breathed a sigh of relief but I knew I couldn't stay around here. That also came with snapping back to reality and having the apparent leader of the group ask me a couple of questions, mainly about my weaponry. "Me? Well, I'm kinda unarmed actually. I'm bit of a pacifist, against other Kobold anyway. I just got a bunch of darts if anything."

"Actually, what's going on? What's all this about the entire village moving?"

[Lugia]

The mayor start off laughing at what R'lyeh was saying, retorting with "Well, you certainly don't know the meaning of the word 'stronghold'. There's more than one dragon there, in fact, it's their version of a village. I'd wager that no human would be brave or foolish enough to try to kill an entire village of dragons," but then he got to the last part, where he said something about this being unnecessary, particularly due to the average lifespan of a kobold. "Excuse me? If I recall, we kobolds had a much longer natural lifespan than you fishfolk before the humans started killing us off. Think before you speak, fishy," I didn't hear that conversation too well, as I was already heading into the armory for my single piece of free equipment. Initially, I thought it was going to be all sorts of different armor and weapons, but... well, the mayor was right, there really wasn't much left. There were a few pieces of armor, all of which looked somewhat dirty, bloodstained, or otherwise old, as if they just took the armor off of a dead kobold, and tried to resell it. Normally, I'd feel a little ripped-off, but thanks to this note, I was going to get it for free anyways. I finally decided on some leather armor... as in, leather armor that actually looks, or rather, is tough enough to protect me from some form of attack, unlike my current armor, which is so old and worn out it might as well be a shirt. I hand the brown-scaled kobold the note, and point at the leather armor, and the kobold hands me the armor, showing me to another room to try it on afterwards. Once in the other room, I change into the new armor, and notice a hole in it. It was as if someone put a dagger through it at some point, but unfortunately, it didn't come with a dagger, as well. I then head out of the armory and head back to where the mayor was. That was just about when I overheard our new... er... friend? Teammate? Ally? None of these words seemed to really fit the new green-scaled, scarred kobold who ran towards us for protection, either way, I overheard him asking why everyone was moving, and I simply and bluntly say "There's some sort of corruption effecting that cave, and it's spreading," of course, I assumed my teammates would elaborate a little bit more than I did, so I just left it at that.

[Evanist]

Deravan breath deeply as the mayor argued with R'lyeh a bit, about the lifespan of Kobolds and such. He shakes his head a bit, then looked at his paper. Well, he did need some armor, even though he seemed to rarely get the attention of ennemies... he would probably get some later on in the journey, with how he needed to actually defend the villagers. He moved to the armory, and looked at the armor peaces, before showing his paper and taking a suit of worn out leather armor. it seemed to be badly damaged with a visible hole in it. He then took the armor and inspected it, seeing it rather normal. He then breath deeply before going to the back to put it on, then put his black clothing over the armor, only to hide it. He then head back to the group and looks at Robert.
"Seems they really don't have much in their armory like the mayor said.... at least I got some armor to help out. Not sure how much good this will do though." he then comments. Seriously though, he felt like a heavier armor might have been better, but then he would have lost some speed from having to lift it... And speed was the key in his attacks. Although deep down, he felt like something was missing. What though... he just didn't know.