"Hurry, best get going." Torigad called to the group.

"Indeed." Ixion wiped his blade with the clothing of his most recent kill, cleaning the blood from it before returning the deadly instrument to its sheath. "The rest of them can't be too much further."

Ixion rolled the dead kobold over, quickly checking for anythin g of value as he continued, "If we're done here we should make haste. We'll only fetch the maximum reward if we return all of the bovine."

Once he completed his search of the kobold, the the thin man made his way back to the edge of the trail and disappears into the forest, calling out, "I suppose I'll get the left flank... I'll let you know if they've left you any more 'Welcome' presents." as he fades away.


"... and try not to make too much noise."

After the last Kobolds falls, T’puuli will head down the bank about half way, still in cover when Ixion said he will check the left side and telling the rest not to make too much noise. At that point she will go back to the top and cover the right flank. Keeping the muddy path in sight while she checks for more would be ambushers.

(she can return later to loot the bodies, besides her cloak needs to retrieved as well)

Manuhol the Monk felt more at ease among this odd group of adventurers with another Monk in the fray!

He chooses to sweep wide to the right flank, soon finding that he is keeping the other Monk between himself and the muddy path as he uses his abilities to conceal himself and examine the terrain for any more signs of the newly defeated enemy!

"Great Minds Think Alike Oh Great Seifu!" mused Manuhol the Monk as he readied himself for further action after the exhilarating battle!

Snowlilly stays to the rear of the motley crew paying close attention to the surrounding area. She looks for movement in the vegetation and for the glint of eyes or metal. Bow ready, she is filled with excitement and anticipation.

The Lair of the Kobolds
Southeast of Sodgrove
The Sixteenth Day of Elmonth, afternoon

The group wastes little time continuing onward. The trail is easily followed, however the trip is longer due to the need to be aware of more traps. The sky lightens back to day as they make their way through the dense forest. The rain does not give up, however, thoroughly soaking everyone beyond being soaked.

Over the next hill, the trees open up to reveal a long valley, densely packed with trees. Through the canopy, an ancient ruin of rusted metal framework can be seen rising some twenty feet above the treetops. This is on the other end of the valley, and from the group's reckoning maybe a mile or more away.

It is mid afternoon when the odd band reaches the cattle. The adventurers crouch behind an outcropping of rocks and count the cows in the corral, about two hundred of them. The corral is rough cut and made out of skinned tree limbs. There are piles of junk and debris surrounding the corral, maybe five or six largeish holes tunneled through the middle of what appear to be six or seven foot piles of trash and refuse. They rise up like ant mounds. Nearby, several straight lines made out of old stones proclaim themselves to be the ruins of some grand marble structure.

The rain lightens considerably as the clouds overhead break open for a moment. The sunlight streaming through makes rays that appear very majestic, and backlight the underlying cloud cover. In a small place, the blue sky can be seen. However, the rain never actually stops coming down, but now its much brighter.

"So, what's the plan guys?" Snowlilly says in hushed tones looking at the other party members. Although, she never stops listening and looking around for the enemy.

T’puuli Will look over the corral and then study the mounds with the large holes. She is looking for the guards and places where Kobolds can hide.

Ixion squinted at the sky, wishing he could simply will the rain to stop. With a barely audible, though very irritated grunt, he dropped his eyes down onto the camp. He scanned the cattle, not looking at the bovine, but between them, trying to pick out any rustlers that might be concealed in the herd. His face became very cold and calculating as he shifted his gaze, surveying the terrain surrounding the piles of refuse and the beginnings of the ruins beyond them, then sweeping out into the trees, checking the path that he would likely have to take to reach the kobold's camp for anything suspicious.

((Spot or Search on the cattle, the piles, the ruins, and nearby trees for kobolds.))

After a minute or two of peering out around the rocks Ixion shifted back behind cover. Leaning back against the stone from his crouched position, he addressed the group, "Believe it or not this rain is a good thing for us. It'll muffle most of the sound you all will make getting down there and, now that the sun had punched through the clouds, it'll make everything too bright for them to be comfortable out of their holes."

He pointedly looked to the dwarf for his next statement, "That doesn't mean you can just charge on down there, though. There's likely one or two who had the misfortune to pull guard duty. You let them know we're here and you'll have a tough time getting those cattle back to Farmer Johnson with javelins raining down on your head."

Ixion paused momentarily to allow the visual of the consequences of failure to sink in before continuing. "So we've got a few options. I'm going to swing around and come at those entry mounds from the edge of the ruins. The rest of you can either go as a group straight in from here and we'll get a kind of pincer movement going, or you could fan out come in at intervals along that edge of the camp, maybe get them thinking there are a lot more of us than there actually are. I'd recommend avoiding the cattle herd. If they get spooked and you're nearby..." he nodded in the direction of the path they had just been following, "Well, you all saw what those things can do when they get to moving. So, what do you all want to do?"

He let the question hang in the air. While waiting for the group to reach a consensus, Ixion used the rain water and the rock behind him to clean some of the mud off of his hands and boots.

"Sounds good tome either way. whats the verdict guys?"

A small series of squeeks appear in the background to the west, back from the trail you followed to get here, along with a very faint sound of what appears to be singing. At first it is completely unintelligable but then it becomes much more obvious why. It seems the voice is phasing in and out of multiple different languages. The litany is flowing vitrually effortlessly from common, to gnomish, to elvish, to draconic, and dwarfish.

It makes a rather amazing conglomoration of messy grunts and hisses... something about a lady coming to town to sell her cheese. Who seems to have met some soldiery lad on a road and decided to have a romp. But when she was pulling her dress over her head the lad got up and stole the cheese.



A song that could have possibly been catchy, if it wasn't such a melodic mash of different languages.

The singer and the Kobolds

“Hit them from different sides to confuse them. Sounds like a good option” T’puuli will softly put forth.

Then she will turn her head to see just where that awful noise of a rather questionable something of a song was coming from.
She will then add “If that noise maker is on the road he can distract the Kobolds and we can attack from the back. If he is walking towards us through the woods he needs to be silent before he gives us away.”

She will then carefully move towards the back of the group and head towards the singer. (Using her move silently and hide, she is going to get a look at the singer. She will decide the course of action of what to do when she sees who or what it is.)

((I don't know how much of this is seen and how much isn't... so take it with a grain of salt))


The singing abruptly stops but a loud mumbling takes its place. ((Need a roll on how long these still bleeding kobold corpses have been here. I'm not very savvy when it comes to dead things))

A Small man, about four hundred yards back from where the party has come from, dismounts his cart and begins checking kobold bodies for signs of life... or anything edible. His clothing, covered in belt buckles, shackles, ties, buttons, and clasps clinks and jingles with every movement. His clean shaven face reveals his gnomish features as much as his everpresent and rather loud mutterings expose his lack of experience.

He pokes a massacred Kobold with a metal rod saying something along the lines of "Silly kobolds just laying here, don't they know SOME people have to work! Just like their kind to laze about when there is things to be done." He suddenly whirls about, thrusting his rod towards the back of his cart shouting "YOU!". On top of it is perched a small weasel, head inches away from a small pack of sausages. Freezing in its tracks the weasel squeeks as the gnome shouts "Get down here and help me move these lazy kobolds out of the way!" He lays his rod on the seat of the cart as he readies himself to move the dead creatures, all the while talking... "Yes, I know your smaller than they are... why don't you use that spell I taught you then hmm?"

The weasel jumps down from the cart, quickly running through the corpses toward the kobold body the gnome was attempting to drag. The gnome points to the other side of the corpse saying "That side! It doesn't help if you push where I'm pulling." The weasel skitters down to to the feet of the almost raised kobold and proceeds to press his nose up against the dead thing's boot. Immediately the boot is filled with a brilliant light. "Ahh! Not that spell you silly little rodent! How is that going to help hmmm?!" Dropping the kobolds shoulders back to the ground he begins walking back toward the cart as he continues to berate the small weasel about his poor choice in spells.

Manuhol surveyed the scene and weighed the choices of action as each person voiced their decision in regards to pressing the attack against the Kobolds and returning the cattle unharmed to their owners.

Someone would have to make their way to the other side of the corral to either detect any unseen escape routes or merely to cut off a way of escape if the Kobolds chose to abandon their underground hideaway.

Besides, someone would have to guard the rear once the cattle were secured and herded back to the townsfolk.

Might as well be Manuhol the Monk while he still had the option of any type of choice in the matter.

"I will circle around wide to the right and look for any signs of other escape routes until I position myself directly on the other side of the cattle corral. No sense letting any of those Kobolds get away after all the trouble we have taken to find them!"

Manuhol the Monk silently makes his way to the right in a wide circular route to position himself behind the corral directly across from the place where the group of adventurers are currently making plans to attack the Kobolds. He will use his special talents to search the area for any signs of escape routes or anything else out of the ordinary and he will wait to ambush any unsuspecting or fleeing Kobolds once his companions launch their attacks on the Kobold stronghold.

These folks are gonna take forever to make up their minds. And I ain't forcing the matter... no way am I getting myself voted leader of this rag-tag bunch.
After watching T'puuli turn around and head back up the trail to silence the whistling, Ixion figured he had some time to kill. Half sitting, half leaning against the rocks, he unlaced his left boot and pulled the thing off, and began fishing for the pebble that had been such an annoyance since the kobold ambush. Out falls the pebble... out goes Manuhol.

Ixion watches the monk leave, unable, at first, to believe what he's seeing. Then, when it begins to sink in he pulls his boot back on and frantically laces the thing back up.
Knee highs are useful unless you're in a hurry. Go Manuhol, Ready, Fire, Aim... we're splitting up without deciding the plan. I thought monk types were supposed to have some rigid logic they followed or some nonsense like that? Gonna hafta have words with that one if we survive this.
Finally.
Finishing up with his boot, Ixion looks to Snowlilly and Tellanth, "Looks like the plan is Ready, Fire... Aim. I don't know what you're good at, but get in place to do it. Snowlilly, if you stay here to provide cover, let T'puuli know we started without him. Heh, if he comes back."
With that, Ixion turned and started out in an arc around the kobold camp that would take him to the ruins, mumbling under his breath, "Well this is gonna end in tears."
((Hide & Move Silent --Also, Check for traps every 15' starting 15' away from the rocks we were hiding behind))

((--Assuming I don't encounter anything of note--))
As he approaches the old ruins, Ixion retrieves his crossbow from its hidden sheath and pulls a bolt from his belt pouch to load the weapon. He carefully scans the ruins for kobold sentries, then closes the last few yards to the first of the crumbling marble walls.

((If I do come across something, ignore that last bit about making it all the way to the ruins))

After thoroughly inspecting the site for traps, sentries and things out of the ordinary...

Ixion locates a series of pit traps staggered aroud the site and a rough circle. The cows are corraled with rudimentary fence pieces within this circle. The traps are the same as before, ponji sticks at the bottom smeared with animal guts and feces. In fact, the smell is what gives them away. the pits are far enough apart to get between but ingeniously placed so as to be a serious problem for the unwary. Perhaps the foul blue vermin thought only farmers would come looking.

Manuhol swings wide and scouts the immediate area. He finds several more of the strange mound-holes. This is where I want to describe them in more detail. Surrounding the corral, and in several spots out in the ruins, there are tunnels dug into the ground, but there are piles of trash and refuse surrounding the holes that are so high, the holes appear to begin several feet above the ground. They form black and ugly mounds that look like obscene ant hills. Almost as if when taking out the trash, a kobold comes to just within the entrance and tosses it out the hole. Over time, the refuse and trash builds up to make a mound. There are five around the corral and three more in the foliage amidst the ruins. to be honest, Ixion saw them too, but Manuhol noticed the glint of blue coming from just inside them. Their sentries are posted within the tunnel entrances.

T'puuli doubled back and took a look at the strange looking gnome following the party, his cart in tow. In all actuality, the scene of the last fight was some distance from the current location, but this gnome makes enough noise that it is reasonable that he could be heard over the rain. I'll leave descriptions to them.

((Not a bad idea for another round of descriptions, gives everyone an opportunity to account for the hours in the rain, and keeps some folks from having to pore over old pages to see whats in front of them. I dont care if you use a generic description every time, but you don't have to.))

Snowlily patiently keeps an eye out for secondary encounters and minds the holes for surprises, waiting for the rest of the party to decide on the best course of action.

Tellanth is currently distracted with his spell books and components, appearing to have some difficulty with waterproof storage.

Torigad is wringing water from his half shaven beard... one side super bushy and the other side almost completely gone. ((if I understood that right?))

Melven continues to rustle through the kobolds for anything of value, only finding about six pounds of metal weapon bits and odds and ends, usable really only as scrap. Perhaps a hot kiln could melt it down into something more useful... but other than that, little value except incidental.

The rain slows some more, and the sky cracks open even farther. The sun peeks from behind the clouds and bathes the party in warm rays. Snowlily, who has been almost imperceptibly shivering sense the barn, has warmed up enough to stop.

((I'm not going to describe the Larry Elmore moment with the super exotic females here drenched in rain... I'm sure you can imagine it...))