CH 1: You All Meet in a Tavern

[Breila]

In all the languages she knows, (Common, Octhanian, Crizzan, Elven, Kobold) Ouragana calls to the limping birdman: "Please stand, we mean you no harm!" She approaches slowly now, showing both palms to the creature.

[JadedDM]

Areilon, Val and Ouragana chase after the birdman while Dahn retrieves his daggers and Jocelyn picks up her sling stones.

"Hmm? What?" Jocelyn says to the gnome, still basking in the joy of killing the jaguar. "Oh, right." She looks down at the cut. "Well, I'll have to get my robes stitched, but I'll be fine. Just a cut."

Meanwhile, the other three quickly round the bend and come to a dead-end. The trail just suddenly ends at a sheer cliff at least thirty feet high. A small trickle of water runs down the center of it. The birdman is now trapped. He feebly attempts to fly, but cannot due to his wounds. He turns and faces the three with nowhere left to go, his back to the wall.

Look up.JPG (225.37 KiB) Viewed 5234 times

The birdman grips his javelin tightly, barely able to keep standing. "Kek shaka kohkra?" he asks with uncertainty.

[Jenara]

"No harm." Arei says simply, opening her palms like the mage. Showing her hands are not on her weapon.

"Ok lets back off a little and give it some space." she adds, moving back a step. "Weapons away."

"Me" she touches her chest. "Arei. You?" she points to the birdman.

[Nuke]

Val lowers her trident and stands there, letting the others do the talking.

[Breila]

Do the birdman's words resemble anything Ouragana has ever heard or read? (She has studied ancient history.)

[xelphyn]

Dahn meets up with the rest of the group, dragging the jaguar,"Think we should give it to him, you know, as a sign of peace, maybe?"
Dahn takes a moment pondering the situation before speaking again "Ya know, it'll be a little difficult and likely pointless trying to use this approach if we can't communicate with it. I think we should tie it up."

[JadedDM]

The birdman cocks his head at Areilon. He whistles and then says, "Koh'kra." He keeps a close eye on the party, especially Val, and grasps his javelin tightly.

Ouragana does not recognize his language. It seems completely unique to anything else she has ever learned or read about.

Dahn finds the dead jaguar rather heavy, but he is able to drag it, leaving behind a trail of blood in his wake.

"I can try to heal it," Jocelyn offers when she arrives. "As a show of good faith."

[Jenara]

"Yes, heal it, but be very careful." Arei comments to Jocelyn, giving Grey a warning glance, looking at his daggers.

Stepping forward she touches her shoulder. "Hurt." she motion to the cleric. "Touch my shoulder." if she does so Arei smiles, moving her arm like its healed. "No ouch."

[Breila]

"Still, his leaders may be able to speak some other language" Ouragana observes to Dahn. "Waging war on the bird people may not be the best solution to the problem of livestock theft. Who knows, maybe they have treasures to trade in for the food they need and will happily do so."

[xelphyn]

Dahn, who had been absentmindedly twirling his daggers about, catches Arei's hinting glance "Oh, right." he says, returning his daggers to his coat.

In reply to Ouragana, dahn announces, "Hmm, that's a good point... How about we try a different method of communication with this creature."
Dahn grabs a stick and slowly approaches the bird-man, then uses the stick to etch into the ground.
He draws a small pair of wings and points to the bird-man, then he draws a group of stick people and gestures to himself and the rest of the party, he takes a moment to allow the bird-man to register the concept before he continues.
He draws a larger set of wings with a feathery crown shape above it, he circles the small wings and draws an arrow to the bigger wings, next he circles the stick figures and draws an arrow to the small wings. He takes another moment, allowing the bird-man more time to ponder the drawings before finishing; he draws a picture of a beak and a mouth facing each other, speech bubbles emanating from each one, and completes the 'masterpiece' by drawing a various weapons and crossing them out.

[JadedDM]

The birdman watches the gnome's drawings with interest. When he is finished, he uses the tip of his javelin to draw a mountaintop. Or maybe it's just a triangle; it's hard to tell.

Jocelyn approaches carefully. The birdman tenses, threatening her with his javelin. "Easy, easy," the priestess says holding up her hands defensively. Inching forward, she begins to pray softly. When she is done, she holds her hand out to the birdman. Warily, he slowly reaches out and touches her extended hand.

The wounds all over his body begin to hiss and steam rises from them as they instantly heal. As soon as the process is complete, the birdman squawks, then flies straight up the thirty foot cliff. He perches there, looking down at the party curiously.

"Okay, wasn't expecting that," Jocelyn admits.

The birdman whistles, then gestures upward to the party.

==========

Jocelyn casts Cure Light Wounds on the birdman (1d8): 8 HP restored.

[Nuke]

Following the birdman's point, Val looks upward.

[Breila]

Ouragana looks up to the birdman. "Well" she says "I could magically jump up there, but what of you others? Is any of you mountaineer enough to climb up there? Should just I follow him?"

[Jenara]

"I can probably climb it, and throw a rope down." Arei comments looking up, it wasn't that far, she had climbed worse, when you stood on a foremast, over the Ocean it wasnt so bad. "Save your spell for later, you might need it then." She says to the Mage with a glance, "I suspect Grey here can climb it too."

Assuming Val lets her take the rope the Orc carries she starts to Climb slowly, finding handholds and places to put her feet, her hat folded and in her pack, sword on her back, rather than on her waist.

Climb walls: 1d100=16 Easy Success, even without Ropes.

[xelphyn]

"Oh, yeah, without a doubt." Dahn confidently announces.
He proceeds to the wall and continues,"It's easy when you've got skills li-" his words are cut short as what seems to be an excellent foot hold crumbles beneath his feat, 'the gnome falls flat on his back.
1d100=92
...
Trying as hard as he can to hide his obvious pain, he remarks,
"...I didn't like that rock, that's why I crushed it...It bothered me so much, I decided to take a 10 second rest."