[D&D 3.5] Dark Storms Gather

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Alright, I am ready to go if everyone else it" Volans said as he picked up his new-found stuff. He would count out and distribute all the wonderful money later

"We have a contract to complete"

[Haizu]

Eddie slung his crossbow as he completed his checks. "I'm ready."

[rhoenix]

As the travelers and their goblin guide walked deeper into the forest, the very scenery around them seemed more serene somehow, especially with the strange moaning calls of the abominations that causes problems earlier now wonderfully absent. The trees seemed to be less forbidding, the wind whistling through the trees was less ominous. Even the path appeared to be clearer - despite heading deep into the dense forest, their goblin guide seemed to be leading them confidently.

The goblin stopped ahead of the others, and put a hand up. "Sumthin's fishy up ahead, I'm gonna check it out," he said solemnly, before quietly creeping forward, soon out of view. Shortly afterward, the sound of a hunting arrow striking meat was audible, accompanied by a short-lived gurgling noise, followed by an unfamiliar voice yelling happily in Common "Haha! I got one!"

[Comrade Tortoise]

Volans was not happy with this. Her rather liked the Goblin, he understood the little one's devotion to his people. A people stepped on so often it seemed OK to murder them for sport rather than kill them out of necessity. Plus they needed the guide and the goblin had pulled more than his weight. It ruffled his scales.

"Someone needs to die" he hissed. His dewlap extending and blood flowing to his wing membranes making the striping pattern extra-red.

However, he was not going to do anything hasty

"Izard, if you would be so bold?" he asked the little lizard that lived in a pouch in his clothing

The little lizard bobbed his head jumped out of his hole, and proceeded to glide to the nearest tree. Then scamper off into the bush in the direction of the sound to scout the area ahead, determine where each person was, what their composition, and possibly find individuals that could be turned against their more sadistic comrades.

[rhoenix]

As the little lizard skittered away amongst the trees, gliding silently and inconspicuously from tree to tree, observing all it could about the strange folk up ahead who had so suddenly snuffed out their guide's life like a candle.

The little lizard spent a few minutes observing according to its master's command, and then glided back to land on Volans' shoulder, whispering to him all it had seen.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Alright. We have an archer, a wizard, and a priest involved in or supporting this murder, as well as being our competition. There is also a monk but he does not seem especially invested in his companions. I could be wrong on that however. I doubt the other three would let us pass unmolested, so I propose that we set up a Parley-Ambush. I will attempt negotiation. In the event that things go sour , Eddie if you would be so kind as to set yourself up to take out the mage. Saiden, if willing can you assist me in taking out the priest? The rest if you set yourself up to take out targets of opportunity... As for the monk, I will try and turn him against his fellows prior to the joining of battle should that occur. If that proves difficult, killing him will follow from the rest."

He looked around. His cold, very lizard-like eyes scanning the group

"Comments, suggestions? It isnt like we are killing innocent people who are liable to want their competition going ahead of them or anything"

[Cynical Cat]

"They killed a goblin," said Saidin. "A goblin that was considering killing us not very long ago. Come back to reality. I'm going to got talk to them." He headed off towards the bowshot. He yelled allowed. "Hello! I'm not a goblin!"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Oh this should be good..." Volans commented sarcastically

"Well, I suppose we ought back him up in case they decide to try killing him for sport or to reduce competition."

The wizard went behind him, looking over himself to make sure the wards were still up.

[Haizu]

Having ducked into the woods at Volan's earlier request, Eddie could only shake his head at Saidan's actions as he took position between two trees, allowing himself a full field of fire on the unknown party.

[Rogue 9]

Gror gripped his hammer in his newfound gauntlets. "Jus' wonderful," he growled as he marched off towards the voices, behind Saidin. There was no point in him hanging back; if things turned ugly, he'd have to charge forward anyway. And the further back he was, the longer it would take him to bail the sorcerer's fat out of the fire if this went south.

[rhoenix]

"Oh, hi! I'm Thor!" a voice hailed Saidin, which was quickly determined to belong to a young-looking fighter-ish looking fellow with unruly hair, and a large grin that didn't seem to lessen any as time went by. "We saw that goblin, and boy, were we glad we saw it first!," he said brightly, leaning on his bow while facing the others, still grinning widely.

"Back there are Feya, our healer. She's great!" indicating a woman, apparently a cleric by her clothing and accessories, but no armor or weapons were immediately visible on her. She absently waved to the rest of the group, apparently bored with this whole event.

"Over there is Loki, our mage. Boy, were we glad to have him with us!" He indicated a smallish-looking man, who evidently had a habit of walking hunched-over, and was currently muttering something inaudible while looking for something on the ground. He managed a very brief wave before pointedly ignoring the new arrivals. He wore a large hat that obscured his face, and black robes that served to hide his form a bit better.

"Oh, and that's Liu, and he took a vow to only punch things or something. I don't know, monks are weird!" He annoyedly indicated a man seated further away, sitting in a cross-legged position with his eyes closed. However, Thor turned to Saidin and the others with him with an even wider bright grin.

"We're pleased to meet all of you! We're the Light Warriors! See, we even each have our own crystals," he said, as he took out his own, a small quartz crystal that glowed a soft amber color. "We're gonna save the world, and then everyone will know about us!"

[Comrade Tortoise]

Volans just stared in disbelief. This had to be the most incompetent group of Ne'r-do-wells he had ever seen. He wanted to butcher them like cattle, purely to spare the world their existence.

"Actually" the wizard spoke. "That goblin was our guide." he hissed pointedly

"I am Volans, Abjurer. Don't you have rats to kill, damsels to embarass, and town-drunks to be mocked by, before a band of Kobalds decides to eat you alive to spare the world your pathetic existence?" He said this while lining up Loki and Feya for a Storm Bolt

[Academia Nut]

Doran glanced down at the dead goblin and a look of seething hatred and bile started to overwhelm him. He hadn't exactly been friends with the creature, but no one deserved to die for the body they had been born into. Only actions could judge a being's worth, and the goblin had simply been a leader looking out for his people.

He could feel it welling up in him, the whole fury of nature building up to a point of cataclysmic release. He had a handle on it for the moment, he wouldn't jumpt to conclusions, but unless they gave a damn good explanation for why they had immediately slaughtered another sentient being 'because it was a goblin' then they were squarely in the 'evil' camp in Doran's mind and to purge them from the universe would only further to improve the world.

Hearing them talk it was all he could do to restrain himself. The archer who had shot the goblin was clearly an idiot and would die if Doran had his druthers, but for now he was going to hold his tongue and see if the others in the group had any more sense than this fighter.

[rhoenix]

Still regarding the newcomers with an ever-present wide grin, Thor saw Volans for the first time and appeared to...shudder for just a moment, before returning to how he looked just a moment before, bright-eyed wide grin and all. "Oh, hi! Sorry I shot your guide, but goblins are tricky! We were doing you a favor, since he might've tried to turn on you, so you owe us now!"

In the back, the cleric Feya nodded at this, but said nothing.

Thor continued in the same excited, wide-eyed big grin as before, after being reassured by Feya's agreement. "So, where were all of you going?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Let me express my gratitude," said Saidin and he made a gesture with his claw tipped gauntlets while speaking a word of power.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"He shuddered at me? Shuddered?" Volans thought to himself in disbelief. "That xenophobic sack of kobald semen!"His dewlap was fully extended and his wing membranes fully red. But he valiantly suppressed his urge to kill.

Then he actually tried to apologize, then demand recompense for what he was apologizing for. He was either so stupid that his favorite hat as a child had the word "dunce" on it, or he was trying to start a fight while still holding the pretense of civility. Granted, Volans was doing the same thing, so he could not fault him for that.

Then Saiden did what Volans had wanted to do this whole time. Kill.

At this signal, the wizard tapped into his inner well of power for his Stroke of Lightning. He already had the wizard and priest lined up and he released his terrible power. It arced from his hand and lanced out at his opponents with the fury of an angry lizard...

[Academia Nut]

The two mages in the group opening fire on the deluded, specisest scum caught Doran slightly by surprise, but once battle was joined he immediately knew what he was going to do. Gripping his sprig of holly in one of his tentacles, he held out his spear and shield hands theatrically like a conductor before some great concert hall and cried out, "By nature's fury, rise like the flames of a burning forest my friend! RISE!"

In an instant the ground opened up beneath Freya and out burst out of the ground just as Volan's electrical wave washed over her, punching its glowing, red hot snout into her gut, passing through her robes and flesh like a hot knife through butter, a rather apt analogy considering how the fat on her stomach almost immediately ran like candle wax. Thrashing from side to side, the thoqqua tossed her now burning body away to smoulder in the bushes before turning its attention on the mage, Loki.

[rhoenix]

Quickly taking advantage of the sudden chaos, Sylvandor darted out, and slashed out with both of his weapons at Thor, catching him with his elven thinblade straight through the chest, Thor blinked in surprise, his ever-present grin fading away as he fell.

[Rogue 9]

"Wha' the bloody 'ELL do ye think ye're doin'?" Gror's yell was panicked as he stepped back, unsure of what to do now that the damned mages had started blasting. He certainly wasn't about to just start flailing away at these people, even if they had killed their guide.

At a loss for what else to do, his eyes started to glow a steady blue as he regarded the group with soul-sight, trying to divine their natures.

[Detect evil.]

[Haizu]

As the whole situation went up in flames, literally at this point, Eddie decided to join in on the commotion. Taking aim at the mage, Eddie let the bolt fly, and just as he did so the branch he was resting his crossbow on broke, making what would have been a headshot a lungshot instead. Shrugging, Eddie loaded another bolt and got into a different, more stable position.

[rhoenix]

Within seconds, this part of the forest was quiet once more. The monk, sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes, and looked calmly at the travelers. Getting smoothly to his feet, he made an elegant bow at the waist before speaking. "I am Liu. What do you intend to do now?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"That depends on you." Volans said to the monk. "You were not part of their pathetically incompetent attempt at extortion, or their speciesist murder of our guide. I tend not to engage in compeltely wanton killing, and we have been interrupted on our path already. However if everyone here is intent on ending your life due to guilt by association with these malevolent morons I will find little cause to stop them"

[rhoenix]

The monk stood perfectly still, and in silence after Volans spoke. Eventually, he bowed once more before speaking. "Then, I have no cause to be here, as I have no cause to fight with you over. I will complete the task originally given to the four of us. My blessings to all of you in your journeys."

With that, the monk bowed once more, and strode deeper into the forest, leaving a trackless passage behind.

[rhoenix]

"Well," said Sylvandor, "that was interesting. He was headed in the same general direction as the ruins of that castle - do you want to just follow him?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Getting ahead of him would be the better option... Though I would recommend taking what we can from the bodies. No reason for their lives AND deaths to be a waste"