Tests and Trials (Manzanita Judging)

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Luthiel's Party: The clearing is far smaller than the first with the tower. It is about 20' across and somewhat circular. There are dozens of holes, none bigger than a small dinner plate. A quick estimation by Luthiel gives him around 30 holes.

Garrit and Cryndo: [sblock]Both of you feel an odd twinge in your upper nasal cavity, not quite a stench or a smell, but a similar sensation.[/sblock]

Devlin's Party: The small creatures seem to be eating some meat off of bones, their crude, savage nature revealed by the way they rip the flesh away and toss their heads back. Cackling and grinning, they continue to speak in their foreign language. One of them is suddenly quiet and puts its hand to its ear, cocking its head to the side. Then it shrieks in a high yelp and jumps up from the ground. Hopping about, it claws at its ear. The entire party can barely see the tiny bone of some animal sticking out of the creature's large, pointed ear. One of the other creatures gets up and yells at the bouncing one.

EDIT: Devlin sneaks around the clearing and manages to make only a little noise, though he's a bit disappointed with his own performance. Unable to find a very good hiding spot, he settles for a large tree. Luck is in his favor, though, as the creatures are distracted by their yelling and bouncing companion. The tent flaps are all closed, Devlin would have to enter the clearing to see inside them.

 

[Dungannon]

Using the distraction to his advantage, Devlin sneaks up to the rear of one of the tents, keeping it between him and the savages as much as possible. Once at the tent, he lifts a corner of a flap to get a peek inside, or if no flaps are on this side of the tent, cuts a small hole in the corner with his dagger to peek inside.

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Sneaking into the clearing, Devlin reaches the tent without event. He cuts a hole in the back of the tent and peers in. Inside another of the creatures sleeps on one of two cots. There are three sacks on the ground, filled with assorted junk.

 

[Dungannon]

Devlin eyes the sacks, trying to determine their worth. Finally deciding he's tired of leaving assignments emptyhanded, he takes matters into his own hands.

Devlin uses his dagger to widen the hole so it's big enough to admit him into the tent. He then sneaks up to the creature and slits its throat while it sleeps. With that job done, Devlin takes as many of the sacks as he can carry and still maintain some sembalence of stealth and moves back out of the tent and into the woods.

OOC: Use Move Silently and Sneak Attack to attempt a Coup DeGrace on the creature.

 

[scout989]

Luthiel Faradar Elven Rogue1

Luthiel is curious about all the holes in the ground, but, lacking any indication as to what they may be, he backs off about ten paces or so from the clearing, drawing the others with him. Then he whispers to them "I don't know what these holes mean, but we need to get on with our scouting. Let's skirt the edge of the clearing, and try to keep away from those holes while we're at it. I'll go first, Jasper in the middle, and Garrit providing reargaurd, will that work? All right, eyes and ears open, folks. Here we go." A little apprehensively, Luthiel sets out, moving as quietly as he can and keeping a sharp eye on both the clearing and the forest they are passing.

 

[Animus]

Garrit takes the rear, moving as quietly as possible (kind of hard for him to do though, with that armor and stuff).

 

[Cryndo]

Cryndo, Level 1 Human Cleric of Hyrag

Cryndo clutches his holy symbol and nervously tries to listen for any commotion as well as to watch for Devlin. I feel as though I might sneeze. This isn't the time or place for sneezing. Cryndo places his left finger below his nose to hold off any sneeze.

 

[Tassadar]

Wanting to be no more than 10 feet from Luthiel and Garrit at all times in this clearing, Jasper begins hurrying along as fast as his little legs can take him right behind Luthiel. Jasper loads his crossbow and readies it to be fired, just in case something goes wrong.

[sblock]In my character sheet, under spells known, Jasper has his spells prepared on a normal day.[/sblock]

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Devlin's Party: After quietly cutting a large hole in the back of the tent, the thief sneaks in and extends his dagger across the creatures neck. Suddenly, it wakes up and stares into Devlin's eyes, a horrified look in its face. Snapping his dagger, Devlin quickly ends the little thing's life, but not before it let out a short, high pitched shriek.

Estimating that two bags would be all he could carry, the man grabs them and dashes out the back of the tent. He successfully clears the space between the tent and the woods without being noticed, but the other three creatures have now discovered their dead companion. Yelling and screaming, two of them go into the other tents and one crouches, looking about the forest for its enemies. It doesn't seem to see anything. Yet.

Luthiel's Party: The entire group manages to move extremely quietly, even Garrit with his armor. But it does nothing to stop a little creature from poking its head out of its hole. It's head is brown, but its eyes glow red. It seems to have black streaks across its back, almost like burn marks. It wiggles its nose, sniffing. Then it looks directly at Luthiel for a moment and darts back in the hole.

 

[Dungannon]

Once Devlin reaches the relative obscurity of the woods, he stops and crouches down behind a tree. Not wanting to return to Galen & Cryndo just yet, as much as to avoid drawing the attention of the creatures as to give himself time to catch his breath, Devlin turns his attention to the two sacks he grabbed. He begins to quietly rummage through the first one to see exactly what he got away with.