Missing Caravan

[Gilley]

Gilley nodded to each person in turn as Selina introduced them, taking in the odd group and all their odd details as his vision cleared. Slitted pupils. Weird looking albino with a disease. Gnome. Guy that Selina didn't introduce. And a kobold. The kobold looked familiar, but they all look so much alike.

And then Ohma jumps up and starts yelling. "I guess she got the stronger dose... Yeah, Piper. Getting the equipment would probably be a good idea. At least while she's murderous." While talking to Piper, he manages to get to his feat and starts to put himself between the woman and kobold, but Selina beat him to it. "He's going to get us our stuff so we can all get out of here. Maybe we should re-think the killing part." He nods at the little girl. "Sets a bad example for the kid if he brings you your weapon and you turn around and kill him with it."

The more he talks, the more it might be possible to detect that this rugged man likely doesn't have such a rugged upbringing. He sounds more like someone raised among the upper class in a city. Certainly not a noble, but perhaps nearly. But he's obviously relaxed the stiffness that can come with all that, so it must have been quite a while since he had that life.

[Rolling Diplomacy to Aid Selina]
Diplomacy [1d20] = 18

[Nacesh]

Nacesh stays withdrawn throughout the whole scene, watching how things unfold. Prejudice against kobolds? No. Natural precaution? Yes. And, of course, having ill reputation tied to the mission at hand didn't help Piper earn the spearman's trust either.
He watched with held sigh as Jonath let the creature cast a touch delivered spell on him and the ease how Tomeal let him apply the proclaimed antidote on two acquaintances of him without the slightest hint of doubt on their faces. Well, Jonath maybe but Tomeal? No. Of course what little he knew about enchantments of the charming variety it could as well easily explain it all. What's more maybe this whole setup was a great big fat glamour...

Spellcraft to identify spells cast by Piper [1d20+6] = 20+6 = 26

Deciding that all was in order, he briefly introduced himself.

"Name's Nacesh; spearman and practicioner of the arcane arts. Now, master Piper, can you describe in more detail, how this creature looked like? I assume it had a torso of a spider and a head of a humanoid, or something more sinister, like demons or devils?"

Seriously, Nacesh had absolutely no idea what kinds of monsters looked like his description, let alone how demons or devils looked like, other than maybe having horns and wings like bats and tails like whips, but it couldn't hurt asking. Maybe this Piper figure knew better. Bards are jacks of all trades or so they said back there on the academy.

[Nacesh]

just in case this new clue from Piper enables Nacesh to reroll his knowledge skills...
Arcana [1d20+6] = 8+6 = 14 Geography [1d20+6] = 10+6 = 16 Untrained [1d20+2] = 11+2 = 13

[GM Marvel]

Nacash watches Powwaw carefully as he hums his incantation.  He recognizes the magic to be an Arcane, Cure Light Wounds.  Bards are arcane casters.  There are few others capable of Arcane healing so for the moment, the kobold's story checks out.

Piper steps backward submissively while the party attempt to gently redirect the woman.  He knew what humans were like and he was not blind to the bad reputation that his kind had rightly earned.  It takes some getting use to the idea of an actual good or at least neutral tribe of Kobolds.  

The woman currently did not have the strength to put up any kind of fight so she carefully sits down while still keeping her gaze on the small creature.  "Yes.  Give me the weapons that you stole from me."

Piper nods and replies, "No one has yet objected to me taking Mardak and retrieving the equipment by myself, so I will do so as soon as I finish answering your questions."

To Nacesh, the kobold replies, "To be honest, I can only offer small details of Unreth.  Most of my time in his presents was spent running away and since I was born without eyes in the back of my head, I did not get a good look at the him.  But the beast most closely appears to be a Spider.  It has a large blue body and eight spindly legs.  I do not believe he has a human head.  The spider's most incredible feature is also it's most odd.  Strangely it has a large, wicked looking, stinger on it's abdomen."

Nacesh listens to Powwaw's description of the creature and nothing seems to spring to mind.

[Betimi]

"Actually I do object.  We cannot yet full trust you that this is not a ruse to lure one of us away to be killed. Or that in his current state of unwavering friendship that Mardak may be trusted to not to be coerced into something unfortunate.  I am sorry Sir Mardak, Piper does have you magically enthralled and if he plans to betray us I am certain you do not bear as strong bonds to us, given that  we do not have such a hold on you."

She looks over at  Tomreal.

"Would you be willing to accompany Sir Mardak and I with Piper to retrieve  the gear, that way you might find some gear suitable for your use as well. Jonath, and  Nacesh should be able to guard this room, while Selina tends to the wounded."

Looking at the others, "that is unless you would rather we all go, in which case I will leave my spear, and crossbow with Gilley and Ohma for them to defend themselves with."

[GM Marvel]

Mardak listens to Betimi and replies, "Listen bitch, Piper wouldn't enthrall me so take your poor excuse for an opinion and shove it up yer arse!  Even if he did do what you accuse him of, I'm sure he had an excellent reason.  And you're right.  I don't give a shit about any of you.  It's just me and Piper all the way."

The kobold looks sheepishly up at Betimi and shugs a little.  "What can I say, we're besties!" Then when Mardak isn't looking he shakes his head vigorously back and forth, as if firmly saying, 'no effing way!'

Tomeal attempts to keep a straight face while the normally obtuse man, who has been nothing but miserable toward him, was being so 'sweet' to the Kobold.  If Piper had shown any real danger to Mardak, Tomeal would of course do whatever he could to save him but for the moment this was just a bit of fun until the Kobold attempted something sinister.  When Betimi asks for Tomeal to accompany her, he nods in agreement, replying, "Certainly.  At the very least the show could be fun."  Then turning to Mardak, he says, "I never thought you could be nice!"

"Whatever Toe-Nail," Mardak snaps.  "Quit yer yappin and start yer moving.  If yer legs moved as much as yer lips, you'd be there already!"

[Gilley]

While the others have their discussion about who is going where, Gilley looks around at the sleeping people, counting them, then closing his eyes and seeming to count again with extra pointing. Finally, he opens his eyes again.

"I hate to rain on this conversation, but there have been at least five people taken from this room in the last three days. If we want a chance of saving any of them, we should probably hurry."

[Selina Parcellus]

Selina takes a deep breath and gets ready to take a side, knowing that a discussion like this could last for some time, but Gilley adds some much needed insistence to the matter.

"No. We must go now.   And the only way this works is if those who retrieve the weapons and the mushrooms all survive.  The best chance of that is for all of us to attempt this together.  I realize that some of us are not in the best shape, but we will do our best to protect you.  In any case, we can bar this door as well as we can to protect the rest of these folk.  I do not feel comfortable leaving them alone, but I do not see much other choice, save holing up here and waiting for another attack."

[Betimi]

"We were debating whether we should all go to get the weapons and armor, or just Tomreal, Mardak, and I. The intention is to arm Ohma to defend the unconscious people while we get the gear. We will not venture for the mushrooms until Gilley and Ohma are armed."

"That is what I thought the plan was anyway."

"If you would rather we not separate however briefly, I will at least lend Ohma my cudgel. She should not be left without any means to defend herself."

[Selina Parcellus]

"And I could just as easily give her my morningstar.  My point was that we should not split up.  Based on what Gilley just said, they may just come for us and we can use this room defensibly, whittle the odds down a bit, but I would rather just attack the beast head on and free up the clan quickly."

This coming from someone who had, not so long ago, been repulsed and angered by the kobolds is not the least shocking thing to Selina's ears.  She purses her lips and girds herself for the next part.

"We, also, will likely have to subdue, rather than kill, whatever kobolds we meet.  It will not be easy in the slightest, but if we believe Powwaw, there are not many of them left.  I do not want to be responsible for clan genocide if I can at all help it."