Missing Caravan

[GM Marvel]

When the kobold appears, Jonath adjusts his position slightly to place himself between it and the girl, but otherwise makes no move. Its presence was suspicious, but as it has spoken its peaceful intent, seems to be alone and has done nothing hostile as of yet, Jonath has no reason to be hostile himself. Mardak's behavior seemed strange, but the man was...erratic at the best of times, so it was hard to decipher what, if anything, that may mean.

"What is it that you want, then?" he asks, his voice neutral.

[OoC:Throwing out a Sense Motive check, partly of myself, and in case it helps determine anything about the kobold's words or actions.
Sense Motive:[1d20+1] = 15+1 = 16]

The Kobold smiles now that it seems like he won't be pounced upon and then replies, "First allow me to quickly introduce myself.  My name is Powwaw but most just call me Piper."

The little girl pokes her head out from behind Jonath and waves. "Hi again, Piper."

He waves back then continues.  "It appears that we both have a problem and I would like to help.  I apologize for this..." the creature says while glancing up at Mardak.  "I've been following your group invisibly for a while and his behaviour, even toward your own party, was erratic and quarrelsome.  I couldn't take the chance he would harm me upon first sight.  Luckily he walked out of the room alone which allowed me to... well... befriend him.  With him now my bestie, I thought it was a good time to introduce myself.  I've already introduced myself to Lina and we have gotten along quite well.  You might call us besties, too."

"As an offer of goodwill, I do have a limited supply of the antidote to the sleep drug which has overcome these people.  I will also heal any wounds you suffer from.  So what do you say?  Shall we help each other?"

During Powwaw speech, Jonath nor anyone else detects any hint of deception.

[Betimi]

Betimi eyes the kobold sorceror warily, looking back and forth from Mardak to the creature, pondering.

"You are jumping to asking us if we agree, without telling us what you are asking us to assist you with. We may aid you, if your task is not vile or onerous."

""So what is you ask of us?

[GM Marvel]

Betimi eyes the kobold sorceror warily, looking back and forth from Mardak to the creature, pondering.

"You are jumping to asking us if we agree, without telling us what you are asking us to assist you with. We may aid you, if your task is not vile or onerous."

""So what is you ask of us?

"Oh, I apologize," Powwaw replies sincerely.  "I assumed we were all upon the same page.  You do wish to rescue the prisoners and put an end to the thing which caused all this chaos, don't you?  For it is not my brethren who are at fault.  They are simply the net which this thing uses to bring it sustenance.  As you can see," the Kobold says while gesturing to the massacre just outside the door.  "My brethren were not initially cooperative with this thing's demands.  But his is just a small example of what happened when my friends and family did not react with enough zeal.  Believe it or not but we were a peaceful tribe.  Then that thing arrived and forced us to do its bidding or it would destroy another generation of my people.  The last I'm afraid."

[Betimi]

"Meaning if this thing is not disposed of any caravan nearing the bridge crossing, and indeed the bridge crossing itself will remain to be threatened if we leave this being alone. We will need to know what this creature is. Describe it to us."

[Selina Parcellus]

[[Whoa!  Loads to catch up with!  Sorry...Oh, maybe not such a huge amount.  Things were taken care of it seems...]]

Selina cradles the young girl to her armor, not pressing too hard as she knows that the harsh metal may be painful.  Her smile spreads as Jonath steps in and provides a gentle distraction.  There was so much more to him than first met the eye.  She says nothing as Mardak leaves, instead breathing a sigh of relief.  Then, as she is circulating to check on the other prisoners, in comes a jovial, reasonable, and entirely unlike-himself Mardak followed by a kobold.  She peers down at the lizard-like creature, having some difficulty trusting him at his word, given all that she had seen.  Truly, she knew next to nothing about kobolds, only what Tomeal had told her and what she had learned the hard way.  But Jonath seems to be taking initiative once more and all was good.

She nods to Betimi "We would like to believe you. And to assist you, if what you say is true. In addition to any knowledge about what this 'thing' is, we need a gesture of good faith.  We need to know if any of these victims arrived as part of a caravan from Cantus, a city not far from here.  If not, are there any other captives in this...area?  Oh, and would you know if there is a safe place where we can rest and I can regain a connection with the goddess in the near future?"

Selina was not going to stop looking and rest up without finishing their task.  She had signed on to save the people, and that was what she was going to do.  But it may grow late before they finish and she was covering her bases.

Heal: [1d20+8] = 18+8 = 26, Heal: [1d20+8] = 20+8 = 28, Heal: [1d20+8] = 15+8 = 23
Heal: [1d20+8] = 5+8 = 13, Heal: [1d20+8] = 13+8 = 21, Heal: [1d20+8] = 12+8 = 20

[[Wow...some of my better rolls...]]

[GM Marvel]

The Kobold looks at Betimi and says, "I'm surprised you haven't began to figure it out for yourself.  It's literally drawn all over their faces.  I know the blue paint is smeared a little and difficult to see on their green hide."  Powwaw steps back and sadly looks over the bodies.  When he finds a suitable Kobold, he gently lifts up its head to face the group.  You all need to squint a little but suddenly it becomes clear.  The blue paint depicts a large blue spider with it's long spindly legs drawn down the cheeks.  "It calls itself, Unreth, The Spider. "

[GM Marvel]

"Your healing skill will not help," the Kobold says while she begins her work.  "You need a special mushroom which you then chop up and brew into a broth for them to drink.  There is only one place around here to get that mushroom and that is in the creatures lair.  I do have two such mushrooms I managed to steal. It nearly cost me my life.  But I can give them to you to prove my sincerity."  Powwaw digs through his pack and produces two small vials.  "I've already brewed these two mushrooms.  I hoped to steal enough for all of them so I could help them escape together.  But the first time I sneaked into the lair, the creature nearly caught me."  Powwaw hands vials to Selina.

"As for others, the creature likes to play with it's food, so they are likely in its lair.  He has one of his minions bring these people one at a time to him so he can add a new play thing to its game.  The spider especially likes to terrorize his victims.  But if one of them aren't entertaining enough for him, he gobbles up all their juices."  He swallows hard and pauses as if some terrible memory suddenly came to mind.  Frowning and wiping some tears away he adds, "Whomever is not here, will be there."

"I do have my hiding place for you to rest in but it's up to you to decide if you have time.  The Spider is of wicked intelligence and will likely get bored in the 8 hours you will need to rest."

[OoC: You will need to use the Mushrooms to wake the hostages but your Heal rolls are good enough to heal some damage. ]

[Selina Parcellus]

Selina holds the vials in her hand and breathes softly for a few moments.  So...there was far more to this than she was honestly comfortable with.  She'd never liked spiders, she would probably be immensely repulsed when she saw this one.  That didn't mean she wasn't going to go up to the blasted thing and flatten it under her boot heel.

"Yes.  I don't presume to speak for the group, but I will help you free your people from the terror of this...accursed creature."

[GM Marvel]

Tomeal speaks up, "If I might offer a suggestion for the use of one of those antidotes.  I know that man over there.  He is a friend of mine from the guard and he has tracking skills.  His name is Gilley and he would welcome the chance to aid us in our fight against this Spider!"

The Kobold then asks, "So who among you needs healing?  I have a few spells at my disposal to help patch you up."

[Jonath]

"I will help as well," Jonath says. The creature's story was compelling, and he seemed earnest. If this was all some elaborate trap, it was well-played, and besides, they were already well in it anyway. He had come to help the people of the caravan though, and some, possibly including the girl's parents, were still in peril. Trap or no, he would not back down now. "And I, for one, would do well with some healing."