"...So mostly big bugs and animal things. Might be able to see most of 'em coming in that case? Thanks for the head's up~"
With the sun setting and flickering torchlight in the distance, with Ifrit making her suggestion, Feli couldn't help but give a slight grin.
"...Could it be the people we're after? It's still, uh, quite a way from where we're going, right? ...Still, sneaking is something I'm kinda good at...~ Or at least most days~ It's not like there's rocks or stuff to trip over out here, just a lot of sand."
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Orphie let out a soft scoff.
"Well if they've got torches, they probably can't see in the dark. So maybe... I just check it out under cover of darkness yes? In and out and they won't even see me and if they do well... I'm a charming fool, right?"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.Barik hesitated briefly, but both Feli and Orphie offered to go ahead to investigate.
"If you two are as skilled at stealth as you say, I feel it is a good idea. If you get into trouble, we can come to assist," he told them. "Be careful, the two of you."
Feli's stealth roll: 1d20+5 = 23 (18+5). Orphie's stealth roll: 1d20+2 = 22 (20+2).
As Feli and Orphie made their way towards the edge of the rock formation, moving silently and stealthily through the darkness, they peeked out behind the rock to look at the source of the firelight.
A small group of individuals had set up camp in the rock formation, sitting around a small campfire, none of whom seemed to notice the group approach. There was a young-looking wood elf in sandy leather robes and wearing the skin of a large lizard on her back keeping watch, but she was looking in a different direction than the two.
One of the individuals, a large half-orc with a savage-looking axe and red jagged tattoos on his bare torso, leaned against the cliff face and chewed on some kind of roasted meat.
"I will tell you, Talmuk. They will pay us handsomely when we return to Vishdar," the half-orc spoke in a halting, somewhat accented voice. He was addressing his companion, a small shriveled looking old gnome in scale mail and some kind of icon of a gnomish face on his shield.
"Did we get enough scorpion stingers? We should look for more just to get more dinars," Talmuk responded. "I bet there's some kind of way to make other things look like more scorpion tails to get even more."
"Come on, Talmuk, you don't have to cheat them," a young man in chainmail sighed. "We did the job. We can go back to Vishdar and get paid for it fair and square."
"You know he does nothing fair and square, Cyrus," the half-orc replied, taking another bite out of his meat skewer. He then offered the meat to a dark-skinned tiefling in light cloth robes with bandage-like wrappings on his arms, who was sitting silently on a nearby rock and staring forward into the night. "Come on, Aziz, eat, celebrate on a job well done."
The tiefling said nothing but continued to sit silently, not acknowledging his companion or his food.
"Very well. More for me," the half-orc said, taking back the meat skewer and finishing it off. "Hey Fatimah, see anything out there?" he asked to the wood elf keeping watch.
"Not yet, Razan," Fatimah groaned, in a proper-sounding tone. "Not this time, and not the last three times. It's quiet out here."
Edited by AllHailThrall on Aug 27th 2020 at 8:41:19 AM
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither."Exactly~ I see kinda well in the dark and I guess you can too, since you brought it up~" Feli grinned, even if that smiled kept up as she nodded at Safie. "We'll be fine, I'm pretty sure we could get out of there in no time as long as we don't get too close...~"
Of course, they couldn't exactly believe how...easy it was to avoid getting noticed and giving a slight grin at Orphie keeping pace, nodding to the drow as they overheard the conversation.
"...Sounds like they're heading back to the city to...sell scorpion stingers? You can actually get paid for that?" The half-elf tilted their head, a little surprised as their eyes glanced over the group by the campfire again. "...Waaaaaaaait a second...huh. Never would've guessed that was his name, but I guess you stand out in a crowd when you're the one who's too busy staring instead of cheering like everyone else."
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Orphie listened carefully to the discussion and appraised the three around the fire. He took a moment before deciding that yeah these folks seemed on the level so he just... Well he wandered up to just beyond the light of the campfire.
"Hail, fellow travellers. Mind if a few more join you round the fire tonight?"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.As soon as Orphie spoke up, the wood elf keeping watch let out a high pitched yelp and flinched back, startled by his approach.
"How did you sneak up here without me noticing?" she asked. "Wha— a drow? In the Shifting Sands? Make no sudden moves or I will—" Fatimah started to say, as she furrowed her brow and gripped her staff slightly tighter, but Razan raised a hand in her direction.
"Hold, Fatimah. This one is being friendly. He does not mean to attack. He and his companions snuck up here with none of us noticing, if he meant us harm we would be dead," he pointed out. Razan then turned towards the dark elf, gesturing for Orphie to approach. "Come, sit by the fire! It is nice to see friendly faces in this desert. There is food and warmth. And safety in numbers," he greeted warmly. "I am Razan of the Ikumanzi. And this is Fatimah, our guide."
Fatimah gave him a cagey nod, still gripping her staff but lowering it from a less overtly threatening position. Razan looked at her for a moment then sighed.
"Fatimah is distrustful of dark elves," Razan explained. "You will have to forgive her."
"What's that? Friendly travelers?" the armored human said curiously. "Oh, hello there, uh, dark elf. My name is Cyrus," he greeted.
The tiefling had turned his gaze from the darkness of the night and looked directly at Orphie, staring him down while still saying nothing and maintaining his posture.
"And that's Aziz," Cyrus greeted. "He doesn't speak much."
"If you didn't know better you might say a sand serpent ate his tongue," the gnome laughed. "I am Talmuk, chosen of Bes," he introduced. "God of music and merriment. We should write a song to commemorate this meeting. A friendly drow, who would have thought?"
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.When Ifrit first saw the lights she froze. Where her in friends in trouble? Then David walked off with out a word. Oh boy the spell slinger was off to “recuse”. Well it might turn into that if David got annoyed. So with that all racing though her head, Ifrit followed after the wizard. Again she was shocked, the wizard sat quietly in the corner. Well Orphie was well talking, he seem kind good at that form what Ifrit saw.
”Ummm Hi? Im Ifrit”
Ifrit gave a quick glance around. Where was Feli? Was she hiding still? Did Orphie get caught and then got David and her caught? She hoped not.
They can't for the life of them understand why nobody liked being ruled by a group of manic depressive demigods - 4chanFor a few moments, the half-elf hesitated and turned, getting ready to go back and inform the others...until the drow beat them to the punch with that fancy light show. Giving a slightly silent sigh, Feli left their hiding spot and approached the group of adventurers with a smile and friendly wave.
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Safie stood up and walked over towards the camp. There was no screaming, which suggested no danger. She dropped her hand away from her greatsword, sighing as she did. It was good that they were friendly. Maybe they'd have some information about their target, and even if not, there was safety in numbers. She raises a hand in greeting to the other group. "Hello."
All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.The campfire group watched the rest of the party arrive. When David sat down without a word and started to write in his book, Aziz looked at him and raised an eyebrow, analyzing the gathered group carefully.
"A wizard, I see?" Razan spoke. "And Western at that. You are not from Kar'Dalak... you look from Rivenost. From what distant land do you hail? Merildan? Donlast? Lumenvale?"
Talmuk also looked over the group, grinning and glancing at Cyrus as Feli emerged.
"Hey, Cyrus, it's the dancing girl from the Crystal Tankard," Talmuk exclaimed, with a smirk on his face. Cyrus furrowed his brow and shot a look at the gnome.
"Not funny, Talmuk!" Cyrus said firmly.
"I'm serious!" Talmuk replied. Cyrus looked in the direction that Talmuk pointed out, and upon seeing Feli, smiling and waving, Cyrus' face flushed red.
"Oh! You're uh, you're right. Uh, h-hi, you, I didn't think you'd. Ah. It's. I didn't know you were a. Hah. Well. Y'know. And I just. Fancy seeing... you look rather. Dangit..." Cyrus stammered, blushing up a storm as Talmuk and Razan started laughing loudly.
"Stop it, both of you!" Fatimah snapped at the gnome and the half-orc. "I apologize, they both have crass senses of humor..."
Barik, who was just now approaching, raised an eyebrow and looked at Feli.
"You are a dancer?" he asked.
"Maybe the lady would honor us with a dance this night?" Talmuk said with a cheeky smile directed at his companion.
"You d-don't have to," Cyrus haltingly added.
"It would please Bes, and give the bard and I something else to sing about," Talmuk teasingly said.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Orphie had already gotten his lyre out.
"A dance and a song, wonderful. Hm—! Let me tell you what I'm working on; I'm working on a song, it isn't finished yet but when it is and when I sing it—!"
He stares off into the distance, trailing off and looking confused.
"I'm... I'm sorry sometimes I settle into a flow and the problem there is I can't stick the landing. Don't worry, it doesn't happen when I merely play my lyre, it won't screw up the dance."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.As Orphie start to do what he was best at, Ifrit decide to follow suit. She began checking out the group food stock.
“Whos hungry? While our friend sings I could whip something up?”, she said to the group.
They can't for the life of them understand why nobody liked being ruled by a group of manic depressive demigods - 4chanFeli couldn't help but grin. "Yes, that's right~! Or one of them, at least~ Still nice to be recognized, I suppose~!" The half-elf's smile continued before they tilted their head at Cyrus.
"I know, right? It looks a lot more adventurer-y! I mean, a costume's nice and all, but it won't help much against giant bugs out here."
For a few moments Feli glanced around before making a makeshift cushion of sand around a flat rock to use as a chair before turning to Barik and Talmuk.
"Again, that's right~ And I don't see why not? All the sand instead of a stage might make things a bit trickier though..."
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Talmuk's grin grew wider and he nodded.
"Yes, I knew it," he responded. "There's the big rocky outcropping that Aziz is on, you can dance there. Hey, Aziz! Could you let the lady dance for us?" he called.
Aziz furrowed his brow, standing up and crossing his arms, cracking his joints briefly before hopping off the outcropping and moving towards the group.
"...I will keep watch," said Aziz, finally in a deep, slightly accented voice. "Fatimah. Take a rest."
Fatimah looked a little disappointed, but shrugged slightly and pulled herself down as well, stretching and laying down beside the fire.
"I would recognize that armor anywhere," Fatimah said quietly, gesturing to Safie. "You are a member of the Palace Guard. All the way out here? What brings you city folk all this far out?"
Razan laughed gently at David's explanation of his school's unfortunate choice of mascot.
"Donnie-A-U, I don't think I'm familiar with that one," Razan said. "My people have their own magical traditions. We Ikumanzi pride ourselves on it. Have you ever heard of Ejedan? It is traditional Alghabese blood magic. I believe in Rivenost they would call me... a blood hunter. They fear us, but if it weren't for our blood magicians, the horrors of the jungle would swallow us all," he explained.
His dire demeanor immediately softened as soon as Ifrit brought up cooking.
"You can cook? Yes, please, I am famished!" Razan cheered.
"Do you have any idea how much you've eaten?" Fatimah groaned.
"Not enough," Razan laughed.
Edited by AllHailThrall on Sep 6th 2020 at 11:05:23 AM
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Safie looked up, clearly a bit surprised to be addressed and not at all having been following the conversation. "What we're... ah, right. Hunting fugitives. They're wanted in connection with kidnapping." She very pointedly said nothing about who they'd actually kidnapped.
All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.Talmuk raised an eyebrow at Safie's explanation but nodded.
"Must be someone important to send the palace guard out here to the arse end of the desert looking for answers," Talmuk responded.
"Clearly it's official royal business," Fatimah surmised.
Barik looked at Safie pointedly, nodded, then stayed quiet and continued setting up camp.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Ifrit laughed as she begin setting up. She quicks set up a couple skewers. She then start picking out some meat, veggies, and fruits.
“You could say that. I grow up helping my dad.”, She said with a slight laugh.
They can't for the life of them understand why nobody liked being ruled by a group of manic depressive demigods - 4chan

“Should we send someone to look?” Ifrit whispered.
They can't for the life of them understand why nobody liked being ruled by a group of manic depressive demigods - 4chan