Jack smiles, and his eyes widen unnaturally.
"Hehe. Just like that?
First things first, I will ask you a few questions. Number one: will you answer my questions? You can just nod."
Cultivate a feeling of helplessness in this individual.
He's pretty inert, wallowing in his own feces by now. He jerks his head forward, once, eyes wide and darting.
Pick a direction perpendicular to the moon and in a direction opposite of the side of a tree covered in moss, as such using basic patterns in nature this should lead to the north due to how moss grows and how the moon rises and sets.
Moss doesn't work that way, and there are three moons, but they orbit the same direction, following "the great arc", as the vast, glowing curved line stretching from horizon to horizon is sometimes known, so there's that. Anyway, north you go. In the dark. With no destination in mind. far far away from all teammates and mission objectives. ... probably the safest course, really.
Cho-Ja
Peek out of the pot, but dont actually leave it unless someone makes a move to harm or trap me.
You poke your insectoid head out of the pot, gnawing contentedly on the rim of your new shell and burbbling quietly to yourself. You have been seen, but no outcry is made. Mostly, everybeing stays as far from you as possible. Not many are gonna get much sleep tonight, it seems.
Politely greet the shamans, but let Clunkers do the talking. Try the eyeball soup.
ah, the fabled -2 charisma roll. Time for some shenani-(5) fuck. Well, You muter a graceful little "hi" and then stick the bowl of soup right up under your body and start slurping noisily. mmm, these guys sure know their eyeballs. You reach out for Clunkers' bowl, but he idly bats your tentacle away.
Clunkers, still holding his bowl of soup, adresses the shamans.
"Query: 'Being of weapons and cities'. Interesting turn of phrase. Would you care to elaborate on its meaning?
Statement: On the subject of your assistence, we need all the information you can give us. We already have a few people scouting out the mercenary positions, though I believe chances are high that they have already run into trouble. Enemy numbers, equipment, tactics, magic they use, anything is useful. Other than this, I would like to know your own capabilities, as to this shield. And, if worse comes to worst, how fast you can mobilize your people into making a tactical retreat.
Assurance: The retreat would be temporary, of course. But it may come to pass that you will all need to run away in order for us to defeat the mercenaries. Either because they advance too quickly, or because our chosen tactic would result in too much collateral damage."
the shamans sit silently through your discourse and for a minute or two after. then one leans forward and raps you on the chest with a stick, making a loud clong. "Made ... unnatural. stone melted, shaped by settled men. Hard like hammer. Death clings to you. Recent death, Being of cities and weapons.
a few moments pass again in silence, then another speaks "Shamans like us, machine like you, other magic too. How many? At least two bands of five each have come and gone within our territory" at this point another one interrupts with a coment, addressed to that shaman "another group today. At least three. that Kobold was there. They killed Krgnkrish and his family." The shaman that was addressing you remains silent through his announcement, and then all the shamans lower their heads for a moment. "Maybe twice that, but more will come."
A fourth speaks up "the shield makes us secret from hunters. Secret from you, too, if we choose. It makes their minds wander. If they find us .. we call on the spirits of nature to aid us. this helps, but the evil ones are strong like you, and find ways through. To attack ... we would leave ourselves exposed ... weak. We surely would perish."
the final shaman waits his turn, and addresses the subject of tactical retreat. "We cannot leave the herds. The herd is our life. We can hide, and move from one camp to another, but the herd must eat. not until the leaves drop can we return to the caves."
Solam Kobemtosed
"Your brains are being confiscated by the Omega Legion!"
Hold down his weapon with mine, work on consuming his brains.
You swing your sword overhand, and he blocks with his machete. You hold him still, but are unable to do other things like eat brains while holding him thus.
Hom:
Turn to face somewhat towards the elf. Settle onto the ground, retracting within my shell, and focus on slowing her and her arrows down. Fling some small lumps of magic at her. If I manage to disable her for a few seconds fling some magic at the orc too.
*grumble* You're not very nice at all.. *harrumph*
You tuck yourself into your shell, and feel quite safe from the arrows for the moment. You send a few puffs of magic, and it seems at least to delay the archer, who seems to have stopped shooting at you. While doing this, you sense something unpleasant and peek out of your shell a little. The kobold you killed is getting to it's feet, an ominous blankness to it's features. That can't be good.
Mordred
<I will rest for a few hours, until the wounds are closed, and then we'll set out. I was sent here along with some others to make the merc band go away. They are negotiating with those we have to protect, I figured I'll go for the money mercs were offered by the locals - gonna find it, and do something about it.>
Then back to the village it is. Knock on the door of the mill, ask for shelter, offer the little money I got now if the owner doesn't let me in right away.
You head back and to the mill. No lights are on. You knock on the door, and it swings slowly open. You peek inside. There is no one about, so you find a quiet corner and make yourself at home. Why not? The mill isn't attached to a house, so no one ought to disturb you until the morning, anyway.
<Once I have closed your current wounds, you should remove the conduit--the jeweled dagger in your stomach--so that I can close that wound as well. Do not lose the conduit, as it must remain on your person to maintain our connection.
You shouldn't give gold away freely, Demontouched. Money is power--our power--and there is no reason to throw it away so lightly. If you must have a roof over you, allow me to talk with the owner>
Just keep healing. Slow 'n steady.
Oh, and if Mordred offers coin in trade for shelter, I'm tempted to take control and cha roll them into granting shelter, to avoid throwing away money. Maybe flip a coin to decide whether I stay passive, or take control?
The door is open and no one bothers him. As long as he rests through the night, you'll be able to bind up his wounds. He should at least dress the wounds though, and they won't be fully healed overnight, but he will be able to act normally as long as he doesn't do any serious combat or acrobatics or manual labor tomorrow.
We have a few people in sleep mode, a few in diplomacy mode, and a few in combat. There are nine of you in five separate places dong seven different things, so for you sleepers, bear with me, mkay? Unless you want to do some "it's late, but before I go to bed" kind of things.