Alexandra turns and walks up to Asher, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. "If the world was just, the two peoples could live in peace. Unfortunately, one is looking to destroy the other, and that is unacceptable. We are to defeat them on the battlefield and lead these people away to a place where they can be safe. I have no interest in going after the civilians, that's not how my people conduct themselves. We live for battle, hard drinking and hard sex, not mindless rapine and slaughter." She replies, bending down in her knees to level with him, looking him in the eyes. "And you're right, they might not all be bad people... but unfortunately, they haven't shown themselves to not be... If we do not commit to this fight, and win... this village will be burned to the ground, and everyone in it slain or hauled off as slaves."
Sagas of Nysa (D&D RP for 3)
- Thread starter Aphroditus Dionysus
- Start date
Asher's bottom lip quivers at the thought of the village in ash and the screams and cries of innocents, he shakes his head not wanting to dwell to much on the thought as he looks to Alex and gives a nod "I...I understand and i'll do whatever I can to help you all but the thought of devastating their entire village...my head can't stop thinking of other ways that we could do this...I mean there has to be children among them..we'd ultimately be sending them to their dooms." Asher says his crystal like blue eyes watering a bit. "I just feel like maybe there is a better way....I just can't see it...you lot have already been attacked before so diplomacy seems to be out of the picture.." Asher sighs to himself out of defeat before looking towards the map again. "So if there could be a creature within this cave where do you suppose it goes to feed...is a there a suitable grounds that's nearby..?" Asher says changing the subject.
Alex can see the young guy is hurting, and she pulls him into a gentle hug. "Nobody will touch the children... Nobody would ever be so cruel as to slaughter their non-combatants... But there is no other way, we have to attack before this place is overrun. We just need to win this one fight, so the villagers can migrate away from here..." She tries to calm him as he's wrapped in her big, strong arms.
"Sure, they might be great people... but they would great people preparing to raid my village. I'm not planning to let that happen." The elf knew that the bunny boy's thoughts came from a place of good so she smiled warmly to him. "I really wish it had not been the case but what I saw when I flew over was not a village of gnolls, it was a gnoll warcamp. On the bright side I only saw warriors, no infants. To me the naga archers only reinforce the idea that they aren't considering failure an option this time."
"To answer your question, between here and the cave it's mostly forrest. A few clearings here and there. It should be hard for something that large to move unhindered so we do have an advantage if we are to lure it towards the enemy." The worry on the boys eye was really getting to her. "Who knows, it might even be friendly? Can you imagine making a pal of a giant or a troll?" She added with a smile.
"To answer your question, between here and the cave it's mostly forrest. A few clearings here and there. It should be hard for something that large to move unhindered so we do have an advantage if we are to lure it towards the enemy." The worry on the boys eye was really getting to her. "Who knows, it might even be friendly? Can you imagine making a pal of a giant or a troll?" She added with a smile.
Asher smiled at the thought of a friendly giant but the fear of innocents within the camp still sat within his head, though he did feel a bit better from the reassurance of the two it also helped that Alex was doing her best to calm him down which surprisingly was doing him very well. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before opening them and looking towards Alex "Thank you...I'm okay now" He says doing his best to smile despite his worry, now that he was a bit calmer Asher's face brightens a bit at how near he was to Alex. His face goes from realization to surprised then embarrassed as his face returns to that pink color everyone seems to see him in constantly, he wiggles a bit outta his grip before scratching his large ear outta habit "I think a troll can be anything but friendly...I dunno it just seems to be a reoccurring thing with large folk..they always wanna step on those who are small...u-uh no offense!" Asher says blushing a tab bit more as he looks back at Alex apologetically.
"On their raid before, one of their leaders shouted something about serving a Dragon Queen and when we fought them in their camp, they had a reptilian cleric with them... it may be a bit of a leap but I think their races may be all serving the same leader and if so I don't think there is much we could do to pry them apart. It might also be very dangerous to interact with them." The elf seemed deep in thought. "Unless anyone has a very clever idea?"
Asher begins to pipe up again thinking of some form of idea "Maybe we could strike the head...but we'd haft to know exactly who that is...maybe even kidnap the leader...but seeing how ruthless you guys say they are they could easily replace such a role without much issue..hum this is quite the pickle.." Asher mumbles furrowing his brows trying to think of some something to help somehow but falling more or less flat.
Tori sat and listened to what they all had to say before clearing her throat. "Well, first things first; we need to discern the nature of this giant you say you saw. If it's friendly, maybe we can convince it to help. If not... well, better to take care of it now then have it come poking around here when we don't need it to. Kaelys, you say it's taken up residence in the daemon's cave. Did it look corrupted in any way? There was a lot of daemonic ichor left in there."
"I can shift into animals whose spirits I am familiar with but demi-humans are above my expertise. It's not impossible to be done but I haven't reached that level of perfection on my studies yet and no matter what, these I cannot suppress." She said as she caressed her hair, letting the present see the golden feathers present on the hair and browns.
"Your idea is not bad, Sir Cutie. Gnolls are ruthless but they are also cowardly. Display enough force and they usually lose their morale... it's by going after their leaders first that we managed to keep the upper hand but I am not so sure that would work again with the presence of the naga."
She turned to Tori as the huntress inquired about the large being. "I could not tell, the cave was dark and I saw very little more then a large humanoid shape. It's not a long trip however, we should be able to ascertain either way easily."
"Your idea is not bad, Sir Cutie. Gnolls are ruthless but they are also cowardly. Display enough force and they usually lose their morale... it's by going after their leaders first that we managed to keep the upper hand but I am not so sure that would work again with the presence of the naga."
She turned to Tori as the huntress inquired about the large being. "I could not tell, the cave was dark and I saw very little more then a large humanoid shape. It's not a long trip however, we should be able to ascertain either way easily."
"If it is corrupted, would it not be easier to make it go nuts and rampage through the gnolls' ranks? But yeah, either way we will find out when we get there. And that's sooner, rather than later, if you ask me. No use in being holed up here while they gather strength." Alexandra chimes in, eager to head off to the field, and to see some proper combat.
[Can I just say I'm loving how Asher is totally the heart of this party, Alex in particular I think should form a bond with him. Perhaps is ______ is soft, but I will make them hard like me. Or better yet, ______ is soft, and it is teaching me to love my gentler self. Feel free to declare who is going on this little monster hunt (both PCs and hirelings) and describe how you approach the situation. I'll describe the scene proper when you get eyes on the creature.]
[Oh? Remind me of what that was again?]
[Either way I feel like you should each get an XP for role playing it.]
[Either way I feel like you should each get an XP for role playing it.]
Asher bites his lower lip as he soaks in all that was said within the meeting, he was never fond of the gnolls after hearing what they did to this village and it made him even further curious hearing about this dragon queen business if that didn't sound like a cult in the making he didn't know what was. He sighed thinking all of this over until he was pulled outta his brainstorming by Tori asking him if he was coming, Asher shaking his head adjusted his belt and stood up catching up with the others "Coming!" he called as he threw his hood over his head expecting the chill of outside.
[After all that boasting of being thrilled for a battle? Your telling me you, the fighter, are going to pass up on a chance to maybe slay something potentially fearsome and almost certainly huge?]
[I'll assume Kae is getting in on this as well (from a safe distance naturally), not sure about Agatha. Feel free to roll to spout lore any of you as well if you like, I'd also offer discern realities but that kind of implies more extended observation so I think it's fare to say you would need to defy the danger of being discovered, at any rate]
The heroes aproached the cave around mid-day, being very careful to approach stealthily. Overlooking the edge of a grassy knoll they spotted it.
Sitting next to a broken tree of medium size leaning against the cave that had a number of broken sword blades sticking out, it sat there eating a large leg of elk while more meat and other forest vegetation was boiling in a large cauldron over a fire nearby. The dark color and putrid stench of the stew told them everything they needed to know. This creature was clearly supplementIng it's diet with the leftover Ichor from the cave.
And it showed, this was no ordinary ogre or hill giant, this creature had grown to be a full blown proper troll.
Looking about 12 feet tall with mottled greenish skin and long lanky limbs, a set of antler like horns were protruding from her head. She was by all appearances, female. Having long ruddy brown hair that grew past her D cup bosom and ended in frayed twists about her waist, a dense rug of hair that matched the drapes peaked out from just above her dress. The garment consisted of mostly animal hides loosely tied about her waist but it was fixed and adorned with a number of shields and bucklers. Her sharp facial features and thin nose were marred by the ocasional scar but nothing truly grusome. She had fearsome looking claws and modest looking tusks, the whole ensemble was topped off with a long fleshy tail that ended in a tuft of matted brown hair.
What do you do?
The heroes aproached the cave around mid-day, being very careful to approach stealthily. Overlooking the edge of a grassy knoll they spotted it.
Sitting next to a broken tree of medium size leaning against the cave that had a number of broken sword blades sticking out, it sat there eating a large leg of elk while more meat and other forest vegetation was boiling in a large cauldron over a fire nearby. The dark color and putrid stench of the stew told them everything they needed to know. This creature was clearly supplementIng it's diet with the leftover Ichor from the cave.
And it showed, this was no ordinary ogre or hill giant, this creature had grown to be a full blown proper troll.
Looking about 12 feet tall with mottled greenish skin and long lanky limbs, a set of antler like horns were protruding from her head. She was by all appearances, female. Having long ruddy brown hair that grew past her D cup bosom and ended in frayed twists about her waist, a dense rug of hair that matched the drapes peaked out from just above her dress. The garment consisted of mostly animal hides loosely tied about her waist but it was fixed and adorned with a number of shields and bucklers. Her sharp facial features and thin nose were marred by the ocasional scar but nothing truly grusome. She had fearsome looking claws and modest looking tusks, the whole ensemble was topped off with a long fleshy tail that ended in a tuft of matted brown hair.
What do you do?
Alex scrunches her nose at the vile smells from the cauldron. "What in all that is decent is that stench? And... are they supposed to have horns? Whatever is in that cauldron is absolutely wretched, too." She whispers, trying to distract herself from the awful smell hanging around.
[You've encountered a troll once before, their rapacious in their appetites, wildly spontainious, and very belligerent. they also heal very quickly, like severed limbs can grow into a whole new troll a few weeks later if your not careful quickly. They started showing up right around the fuckening, and given the nature of the crisis take on many forms.]
The she troll picks up the cauldron and drinks greedily from it almost finishing it all, and the scald marks on her hands have healed before she's done wiping her mouth. She let's out a thuderous belch of satisfaction as a vertical third eye sprouts from her forehead, she parts her messy brown hair and observes the world around her with an "Ooooo" admiring the new mutation.
The she troll picks up the cauldron and drinks greedily from it almost finishing it all, and the scald marks on her hands have healed before she's done wiping her mouth. She let's out a thuderous belch of satisfaction as a vertical third eye sprouts from her forehead, she parts her messy brown hair and observes the world around her with an "Ooooo" admiring the new mutation.
Asher stares in silence until the thing grows a third eye which causes him to shiver some, "N-no not good at all....do you think it will even consider talking to one of us...cause so far it looks like it'll want us for dinner.." Asher whispered his nose twitching from the stench of the stew. Asher took the time at this point to grip his rapier tightly more outta self assurance that it was still there and ready to be used if he was going to haft to use it, he closed his eyes for a moment taking a deep breath before looking towards his group and whispered "So anyone brave enough to try some diplomacy or should we be planning a means of try to slay this thing...or are we gonna lead this toward those nasty gnolls.." Asher asked his eyes looking a bit fearful but still determined.
The troll slurps up the last of the stew, and drops the cauldron unceremoniously upon the fire. She begins picking her nose with her pinky finger when her long pointed ears start to perk up. Removing her pinky she begins sniffing the air as if trying to pick up a scent....
"Someone out there?"
She utters with a voice that was both youthful and deep.
"Someone out there?"
She utters with a voice that was both youthful and deep.