Dark Sun 3.5 - Trail of the Defiler

[Lot]

"Yes, that's true. If the 'kreen gives us a location, at least we can avoid it, I suppose."

The kreen, still reeling from pain and its broken mandible, speaks when this line of questioning is translated.

"We surround this camp entirely. We have several dozen warriors surrounding your clutch from a good distance. The Master is away with the rest of our people, but the Defiler slave is with us. He says we were to release the half-giant captive and slay a few guards to create panic and distraction. The elves were our objective; to hunt for flesh for us. We were told not to harm the caravan too badly. We were told to keep you relatively intact."

The kreen speaks with a sense of fear, obviously not understanding the motives of these non-kreen style tactics.

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Lovely. They want us alive. That can't be good...I can't think of any reason why that would be unless they hoped to enslave us with Telepathic powers or there is some incredibly complex and convoluted plan with factors we don't know about yet."

 

[jkason]

Quaketongue Ristu, pterran druid

"Lovely. They want us alive. That can't be good...I can't think of any reason why that would be unless they hoped to enslave us with Telepathic powers or there is some incredibly complex and convoluted plan with factors we don't know about yet."

"In which case, I think we fall back on our initial plan: move quickly. Whatever reason they want us alive, we should take advantage of it while we can. If we can get closer to a city, perhaps we might survive this to call upon enough aid to truly make a difference out here. I'm loathe to let a Defiler walk free knowing how close he is to me, but it does the Earth Mother no good to blindly charge to our assured deaths."

 

[Voadam]

"A mystery of motives. The presence of the defiler leads me to think he has something to do with them wanting us unharmed for now. Perhaps he needs us or something in the caravan unharmed for his magics, and wanted to remove the elves first before moving on to his true target. That would indicate his target must be handled carefully or risks being spoiled for their purposes, though what the target truly is or what their purposes are is a mystery."

Heartseer turns to the Thri-Keen and clicks at it in its own language

"Did you have specific orders to be extra careful about any person or thing in the caravan or just to generally keep things intact?"

 

[Lot]

"Did you have specific orders to be extra careful about any person or thing in the caravan or just to generally keep things intact?"

The thri-kreen looks up and starts speaking in clicks.

"No, just to run if the battle became serious. To run before a real battle started. You...you just defeated us so quickly. We did not anticipate you havinh such strength. We were told little."

Rudiot, whom has been pacing around impatiently, throws up his hands.

"Bah! Stupid games. If they want something, why didn't they take it. This doesn't make any sense. In the next hour, I'm taking this wagon to Tyr. If those things out there want to stop me, they're free to try. I'm done trying to figure out the motives of these insane animals and I'm sick of their games."

He storms off towards the wagon in a huff.

 

[Voadam]

Heartseer turns to his companions "They were just a distraction and did not have any specific target to especially protect within the camp. Moving to the city quickly is probably wise for this caravan. It is not a warrior attack force that could take on sizeable numbers. The defiler is our prey however. Do you think the dragon king of Tyr would consider sending out a force against these Keen?"

 

[jkason]

Quaketongue Ristu, pterran druid

Heartseer turns to his companions "They were just a distraction and did not have any specific target to especially protect within the camp. Moving to the city quickly is probably wise for this caravan. It is not a warrior attack force that could take on sizeable numbers. The defiler is our prey however. Do you think the dragon king of Tyr would consider sending out a force against these Keen?"

"Given the threat they clearly pose to trade, not to mention the balance of power out here, I would think it clearly in the king's interest to face them now, rather than wait for this kreen 'Master' to consolodate even more power.

"But if we're moving, I need to get my patients settled," Quaketongue says by way of ending his part in the discussion. He moves to make sure those he's tending are gathered together comfortably on one of the wagons so that he may see to their injuries as the caravan moves on.

 

[Rystil Arden]

"I'm not sure why the defiler has become our quarry, but I agree that we need to get back to Tyr as quickly as we possibly can. Afterwards, if the Dragon King sees fit to send out a much larger force to deal with an army of 'kreen, we can worry about what we'll do."

'Heh, if I beat back a 'kreen army, that'll show them who's "not contributing" to the House...But first, back home, to my nice soft room that isn't covered in sand and sweat and...blood...'

 

[Bloodweaver1]

Ugg the SkullCrusher

The burely half gaint quickly gets lost within his own thoughts as his small friends progress through kreen plot. Shrugging his shoulders he moves away from the gaggle and begin his quest for his gear. After several minutes grunting and mild crash from the gaint the vaste darkness quickly explodes with a load cheerful roar. "CLUB!!! Whoot!". Just as the carvan owner heads back to his carvan Ugg, with an a grin from ear to ear walks from out of the darkness and says "Ugg ready! Ugg gon'a clubba bug."

 

[Bront]

"Yes, let us get out of the desert to safety as quickly as possable," Darkclaw adds.