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[Nerjin]

"Well, I am rather poor in the healing department but none of us seem to be poorly put together. I agree."

[lawastooshort]

"Let's go then, before Osirio tells us any more of the eggplant story. Anyone have anything to gag the kobold? You know, where I come from, we call them aubergines. Could tell you quite an embarrassing tale about Elder Dimble and an aubergine, but it's not the time nor place... Eggplants that is, not kobolds."

[Harbingerjm]

Ithy packs up the robes and pouch, and gives Ari an odd look.

"Let's go then, before Osirio tells us any more of the eggplant story. Anyone have anything to gag the kobold? You know, where I come from, we call them aubergines. Could tell you quite an embarrassing tale about Elder Dimble and an aubergine, but it's not the time nor place... Eggplants that is, not kobolds."

"You... wish to gag the Kobold with an aubergine...?"

[GiglameshDespair]

Ava watched the wordplay with curiosity. The North didn't breed such kinds of humour, and it didn't translate in Giant very well.

She stood from the wall as the exchange ended. Having never seen an aubergine, se ignored that facet of the conversation.

"Should the kobold die?"

[Dwarmin]

((assuming this convo happens after we're done with interrogation...))

"Should the kobold die?"

The Half-Elf shrugs, rolling his gaze over to lie upon Ava.

"Osirio promised he would not harm him. He won't. Given the choice of the matters, Osirio would gag and put the faithless creature in the cage, assuming it can actually be locked-he's not a threat to us right now. Our enemies should be knowing who we are, so we could leave him to tell the tale. And perhaps one day Osirio will see him again-this one sometimes gives luck, so that luck may come back.

Of course, no one else has promised not to harm him, and Osirio doesn't make all the decisions-the Kobold is his only subject! He may be better off dead. He did be stabbing me with the spear, not that Osirio takes it personally, but it hurt a bit...and he may be making trouble for us, if alive. And, if it may be saying, this is quite an embarrassing situation. Maybe better if few hear.

Either way this one is not enough of a fool to trust it. If we can't take it with us and we can't leave it here...ah, such a cruel world.

"King" Osirio's hands are clean, anyway...ah, either way make it quick, Ava-no suffering, if that is what you choose. Suffering would take longer.

We must be all going. There are probably lots more where he came from."

Osirio turned that moment away, plausible deniability at it's most basic form.

[GiglameshDespair]

Spoiler: Cage (click to show/hide)

Ava swings her maul, shattering the cage.

Ava looked at the cage, seeing it's shattered bars scattered on the floor."I... do not think that can lock, Osirio. And I am not often in the mood of leaving enemies. It is our job to kill them."

At the mention of the luck going round, her eyes narrowed slightly."I hold the luck you have given. No one else. Not this rat dragon."

She stepped forward until she was almost eye to eye (well, chest to eye) with the wretched thing. She stared down into it for a long moment, letting it see the death in her cold blue eyes. With a sudden savage gesture, she swung the maul at the kobold.

Intimidate (if not still intimidated) then attack the kobold.

[Dwarmin]

((And after that's over...I hope no one minds me taking the initiative here.))
---

Action: Assuming nothing else happens, the team will leave the room! Ithra will scout ahead, Osirio will lead, the rest will fall in behind. Ari will be way in the back.

Osirio turns to the not-a-Drow afterwards.

"Ithra. Do you mind scouting ahead for us? You can go quieter than the rest, I know, and tell us if there is any trouble ahead. Or if you are finding the traps. The Rat-Dragons are fond of traps...just go and see, but do not engage anything you find. Is this seeming right to you?" Osirio framed it as a question, but it was probably more of an order.

[Harbingerjm]

Ithraeheste turns to Osirio, flashes him one of her predator smiles, steps into the shadows and Hides in Plain Sight.

[GiglameshDespair]

Ava watched as the drow stepped into the shadows and seemed to melt away, heading down the corridors. A rare expression showed in the creasing of her brow: a frown beneath her scarf. Once sufficient time had passed for the rogue to slip away, Ava stepped close to Osirio and spoke in a quiet rumble.

"Osirio. I do not trust zat voman. You said she is a cook, but she skulks in dark. When woke, she hissed like-" she strove in vain for the word. Snakes were not common in the icy north, oddly enough - "legless tiny dragon. I follow you, of course. But I am wary." She substituted, assuming Osirio was smart enough. He knew a lot more than she did. She knew what survival had taught her, and what Kotschtchie whispered to her. She had learned a few things by watching Osirio, and he had told her a few things about living in civilisation. Still, there was something about the drow that put her on edge.

[flame99]

Translations are made, questions are asked, mnemonic devices are designed, and aubergines are pondered.

Spoiler: Draconic! (click to show/hide)

"Only four in patrol that caught humans. Is six in cult. Was. Many more in Caves. But they let yous go if I tells the--"

The 'bold is cut short by a swing of Ava's maul, who then comments that it was getting annoying.
Culpa, after a moment of thought, recalls something about Tarulk in an old book he found in his master's libraries - On Monstrous Religions. The kobolds were remarked for having countless deities, but some were common between tribes, such as Kurtulmak. Tarulk was one such deity. She resides in the Darklands, which the civilized races call the Depths. She's only found in the tribes beneath Aretrian, and has yet to be observed outside of the city. She demands constant sacrifice, liking the civilized races best. She mandates that all who dwell in the sun must be killed, or given to the Darklands. She's thought to be the wife of Kurtulmak, but no evidence has been found.
Finally, with that all done, Ithy scouts ahead at Osirio's "request".

Spoiler: Ithy Time (click to show/hide)

Outside the room, the fungi isn't nearly as thick, casting sinister shadows, but allowing some vague sight. Perhaps it's cultivated there? Regardless, the path forks shortly out of the room. To the west, the path seems to have caved in. The east goes a short distance before terminating in a door. Listening at it, you can make out that somebody's talking there, but you can't determine any words.

[Nerjin]

"Well..." Culpa said looking at the newly liquified kobold who was likely only liquified because it didn't start saying anything until halfway through the swing with a mild amount of disapproval. "With that out of the way, probably didn't have anything important to say, I'm afraid I don't really know anything important about their goddess. Rather local and for good reason. She loathes those who dwell in the sun. There are a few other little tidbits but nothing really relevant I'm afraid."

[lawastooshort]

”So,” says Ari quietly to no one in particular as the party wait for the scout’s report and to move on, ”Apart from Osirio, I don’t think I’ve told any of you about the time my uncle Fellwaddle got a potato stuck up his nose? It’s a long story, so hopefully I’ll have to finish it later… Anyway, we was hunting this pack of direweasels that had somehow got into our territory and, forsaken by the bleedin’ gods, ended up passing the night in a tree, tied to the fecking branches… Although that’s perhaps jumping ahead too far. Let’s see. If I remember rightly we packed up on a Tuesday, and we was all in a bit of a hurry ‘cause we wanted to feck off right quick, seeing as how it was uncle’s best excuse for getting out of the burrow and away from Auntie Duckpilfer, that and the fact the bloody weasels were scaring the badgers, so it was probably because of that the Fellwaddle forgot his bloody boots…”

[GiglameshDespair]

"Ari."

[lawastooshort]

"Don't say I've already told you too, eh? Even the bit with the escaping beetle?"

[Dwarmin]

"Osirio. I do not trust zat voman. You said she is a cook, but she skulks in dark. When woke, she hissed like-" she strove in vain for the word. Snakes were not common in the icy north, oddly enough - "legless tiny dragon. I follow you, of course. But I am wary." She substituted, assuming Osirio was smart enough.

Osirio approved of Ava's healthy paranoia. It was survival instinct, in these lands.

"Trust is a hard thing to come by, Ava. It is only rarely to have touched a heart, so you think you may know it fully. I thought I touched Ithra's heart long ago, but she is changed now, or she was different then, and different now. I do not know her as I once did, if I ever did...she was always good with a meat cleaver, but it seems she is carving more than sausage these last few years...Osirio does not trust to fragile paper promises, and words on the wind. He trusts in the deed, and the blood. He will watch and be wary, as you are.

Yet, for some, the best way...the only way...to ensure ones loyalty is to make sure they profit more from being your friend, than betraying you to your enemies. These people of the South, they do not know the biting cold, or the desert sun-they are soft. The little wolves can eat the big wolves, and then they all go hungry because they can no longer hunt as a pack. One who would lead Southern Wolves must be armored in suspicion, as well as his steel. He must protect his followers from their own weaknesses...and make sure they are well fed.

Osirio will watch closely, as does with all, and he will make sure she eats well. That is all any leader can do...along with making example of the oathbreakers." He finishes with a light smile.

"Well..." Culpa said looking at the newly liquified kobold who was likely only liquified because it didn't start saying anything until halfway through the swing with a mild amount of disapproval. "With that out of the way, probably didn't have anything important to say, I'm afraid I don't really know anything important about their goddess. Rather local and for good reason. She loathes those who dwell in the sun. There are a few other little tidbits but nothing really relevant I'm afraid."

"Hating everything under the sun? That is being a bit conclusive, isn't it? Even rocks and trees, this one supposes..."

"Don't say I've already told you too, eh? Even the bit with the escaping beetle?"

"You told us about the exploding beetle. Or was that the same story?"