"Dishonorable CURS! The bow is a coward's weapon!"
If by "coward" she means "tactician," yes.
Kalnaf let's his draconic lineage creep into his voice. "Stand fast! Their blows sting less than they appear!" (Swift Action: Activate Toughness aura; allies within 60 feet gain DR 1/magic.)
Amusingly, that makes it sound like he's convincing them that the arrows don't hurt. How would he deal with a troll ripping on of their arms off?
"ARGH MY ARM!"
"It's alright, your arm doesn't hurt that much, see you can still hold your shield and everything!"
Leaving aside the fact that they could well have composite bows, and the fact that there are an unknown number in ambush, do we really want to be beginning hostilities with a group we're going to have to pass every time we move up or down the river? Plus the fact that someone had the power to awaken them in the first place?
Tucker's Kobolds spring to mind...
Well, a few points.
1. It is possible (although far from certain) that these are a natural species of monkey.
2. They lack the strength to properly use composite bows to their full efficacy. Assuming they are simply smart monkeys, with Tiny shortbows, they would be dealing 1d4-4 damage per arrow. (If they aren't...well, the possibilities are too endless to guess.)
3. No, you don't want to bother them.
Think there might be some money involved in slaughtering them?
No, there wouldn't be.
I feel I should point it out; didn't some of you have a task to bring back curious examples of wildlife?
Well I think that's just a kind of ongoing thing if we happen to stumble across any. I'm not going to volunteer to leap out the boat and wade across twenty feet of piranha filled brown river to wrestle a tiny monkey who wants to shoot me.
I could probably try. I'm not even sure I could drown in it.
You could if you tried hard enough.