Eyes Of The Lich Queen

[Mista Collins]

With no surviving lizardfolk in site, Rogan moves and scans the area the best he can with his companions in hopes of stopping an alarm from being raised.

[sblock=ooc]Move north on the trail and attempt to spot the remaining lizardfolk. If Rogan spots him and has a chance, he will throw one of his daggers.[/sblock]

 

[DEFCON 1]

Encounter A2 - Jungle Attack: Round 2 (End)

Aern crosses off the trail back into the underbrush and begins hiding and moving northward. Having not spotted the one with the whistle, he hopes that he can find him before the creature moves out of the silenced area.

[sblock=Encounter A2 - Jungle Attack: Round 3]
Initiative Order:
23 Rogan
17 Jina
17 Horatio
16 Lizard L1
13 Khalia
12 Ari
12 Aern
5 Jango

Inspire Courage: Rogan, Aern, Horatio, Khalia, Jango: +2 to hit & damage
Bless: Jina, Horatio, Khalia, Ari, Aern: +1 to hit & saves vs. fear


**********

Rogan, Jina, and Horatio all move northward in hopes of seeing the remaining lizardman amongst the bushes. However, the one thing that poison dusk lizardfolk are good at is hiding. Their skin color makes a natural camoflauge, and they are small and nimble enough to get below the brushline and move through it without notice. As a result, the three of them do not find the creature before his incessant blowing of the whistle as he keeps moving away finally pays off.

(Spot check Rogan: [6] + 5 = 11 *failure*)
(Spot check Jina: [9] + 1 = 10 *failure*)
(Spot check Horatio: [14] + 3 = 17 *failure*)

**FFFWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEE!!!**

The tone is loud and shrill, and for those who would take the time to analyze the sound (like the bard), would know that yes, the sound is loud enough probably to travel up to the huts and temple. Now whether the sound produced is a specific pitch or whether it's encoded with more information other than "I'm signaling you." is unknown.

What is known NOW, however, is the creature's location. As all seven party members converge on the sound, he is easily taken down. The whistle is knocked from his lips, the attacks to subdue him begin, and unless someone takes the time to yell at the others to not kill the lizardfolk for questioning, he is quickly killed.[/sblock]

The party stands on the trail looking up to the north. If blackscales or other poison dusks are coming this way to investigate, they will probably be here in a few minutes.

 

[stonegod]

"Take it alive!" Ari whispers urgently "Take it alive so it can send the counter signal!" Thinking fast, he looks at the others. He continues to speak in soft, hurried tones. "Either we cow, charm, or compel it to send a counter signal, or we set up a quick ambush. If someone has some illusions to trick the onslaught that their fellows are okay and the 'invaders' are dead, we can try that. Otherwise, come up with a better plan quick!"

 

[Velmont]

Jango arrives, too late to stop the whistle. "If we want to ambush, we should head oward the huts a bit further and hide in the bush there. It would be better to intercept the reinforcement before they found the bodies."

 

[Mista Collins]

Rogan is pleased to find out that the party has the same intentions as he does; to subdue the remaining lizardfolk and question him. "An ambush might be needed, but first let us find out what we can."

Turning to the subdued lizardfolk, Rogan becomes very serious and begins to speak to the creatures in his native tongue, motions to Aern, and then speaks a few more words to the captive before watching his reaction. [sblock=draconic]"Now, we know you just raised an alarm. As you noticed, we have no issue with killing you here and now. If you want to live, I recommend you send the signal letting them know it was a false alarm. My friend here," Rogan says as he nods to the disguised Aern. "will let us know if you send what it is I ask of you. If you fail to please me and the rest of my companions, you will end up like the others."[/sblock]

[sblock=ooc]Rogan is trying to reason with the lizardfolk (Diplomacy +16) and will pay close attention to how he reacts (Sense Motive +6). If it appears he is sending another warning, Rogan will inform the others.[/sblock]

 

[DEFCON 1]

The remaining lizardfolk lies on the ground on his back, weapons removed, and Ari Osten the monster hunter standing over him with one foot squarely on his chest. As Rogan looks down at him, he can see the hatred within the lizard's eyes, and he knows that this will not be an easy thing. This is especially true when the lizardman sees a fellow poison dusk supposedly working with the group (Aern in disguise), and the lizard shouts an obscenity at Aern and spits at him. Ari then grinds his heel into his chest and the guard yelps in pain. (Current Attitude: Hostile)

Rogan begins talking in draconic, and he watches carefully to see the creature's reaction.

"Now, we know you just raised an alarm. As you noticed, we have no issue with killing you here and now. If you want to live, I recommend you send the signal letting them know it was a false alarm. My friend here will let us know if you send what it is I ask of you. If you fail to please me and the rest of my companions, you will end up like the others."

The rogue's careful comments and unthreatening manner have a slight effect. The lizard no longer looks like he's ready to bite Ari's foot off and try and make a run for it, but he also is nowhere near ready to help the group out. (Diplomacy check: [5] + 16 = 21 *attitude changed to Unfriendly*)

However... when Ari leans even harder down on the foot that is on the lizard's chest... causing the creature to lose breath and begin gasping for air... the resolve he has begins to melt away with each second of asphixiation. (Opposed check: Lizard modified level check: [7] + 4 hitdice + 1 wis = 12 / Ari Intimidate check: [11] + 11 = 22 *Intimidate successful*)

The creature starts waving his arms in desperation, and after a couple seconds the hexer releases most of the pressure off his foot. The lizard begins gasping and coughing and trying to get air back into his lungs. When Rogan hands him the whistle, he takes it tentatively and chokes out some words in draconic.

"No signal for 'false alarm'... all alarms treated as real. Several others will come." Rogan's eyes narrow and he is about to open his mouth to say something, but the lizard quickly continues. "But I can signal 'all clear'! Not same as 'false alarm', but probably only one will come to check rather than many. I signal 'all clear', yes?"

With a nod from the group, the lizardfolk blows into the whistle a couple of notes. Loooking over at Aern, the disguised changeling nods that he believes the signal was a proper one. (Bardic Knowledge check TN 20: [17] + 5 level + 2 int = 24 *success*)

The group now hopefully has only one other guard coming to check on the patrol, plus this one remaining lizardfolk still lying on the ground.

 

[Velmont]

"That will buy us time, but they will probably be on there guards until they receive there report, so things will get harder from now. We stop the coming guard and then we will have to move quickly." tells Jango.

 

[jkason]

Brother Donovan, human cleric

[sblock=OOC]I'm assuming Khalia dismissed the Silence on Jina so she can take part in the interrogation.[/sblock]

"We should find out if the new scout will have another whistle," the armor-clad priest suggests. "Depending on how long it takes them to get here, we might still be able to make use of Ari's weapon to mute them, especially if Aern takes his time in replicating our new friend," here Donovan nods his head toward the prone lizardfolk.

"If we have a way to bind and gag this one, I say we do it. And make sure his compatriot's bodies are well below the brushline."

Here the battle-scarred man frowns a moment. "If the lizard signalled all-clear, there might be an expectation of a body for whatever they've killed. Should one of us play dead to help draw in whatever scout appears?"

 

[Autumn]

Jina hangs back until sound returns to her, guessing that it wouldn't be terribly helpful to walk up and stop the conversation dead.

Once the spell's effect has faded or been dismissed she'll join the others, ready to take her part in whatever comes next. She can guess that the alarm has been sounded, but having not heard a word of what came after that she's somewhat in the dark as to the exact circumstances.

 

[stonegod]

Ari quickly whispers the situation. "The rest of you hide the bodies. I'll be the decoy." He looks to the disguised Aern. "Think you can fake a truss up of me once you emulate him?"