Tuto puts a fist to his chin and paces back and fourth. This is quite a conundrum indeed. One wrong move and they could be perceived as the enemy, and that would just be and awful time. Tuto shot two fists in the air, "O! O!" he declared, turning to Rum. He put a finger to his mask, the universal sign for silence, suggesting subtly, then he took out his flute. The song he began to play was quiet, and slow. As he did, all around the party, little tufts of light blue flame slowly decended from the air. When the balls of flame hit the ground, they gently bounced and poofed into nothing. With the fire, sparks of light the size of a silver coin illuminated the area, shining brightly for a few seconds, then going out. Light fire flies. Or, more specifically, the stars in the night sky.
Tuto kept with this illusion for a few seconds then stopped, looking to the group with a hand gesture that said, 'Well? Too much?'
Greko looks up from tending to Gary "As I feared but thankfully not as bad....I feared they were already overrun and servants of Gannondorf and the Darkness. We came to help people evacuate to King's Landing. I believe that is what we should do."
Rum keeps his mouth shut as instructed whilst he watches Tuto's display.
"That will certainly get their attention, without us seeming a threat, friend Tuto", he says giving his smaller companion a thumbs up.
When Greko mentions evacuation though, he frowns. "I am not certainly they will want to evacuate, friend Greko. They seemed to be barricading themselves which suggests they will be attempting to hold fast and repel the foe".
Greko watches Tuto perform and watches the poofs of light dance to the ground. Greko smiles as a sense of calm come over him as he watches. The calm quickly vanishes as he listens to Rum. Greko sighs "If that is how they feel then all we can do is try to convince them and move on. We should not dawdle here."
Lelith had accompanied Rumble but she mostly stayed out of sight while she watched silently. On their return, they discussed what to do. Lelith looked annoyed. "If we are going to help these people then let us help them. If we are not, then let us move forward. We are not afforded the luxury of time and every second we waste is a second that could have been spent fighting what ails this land."
Lelith took Sorry's hand and started taking her toward the ranch without waiting for her fellow Embers. "I, for one, have already made a choice. Let us go, Sorry." It would leave a bad taste in Lelith's mouth if she were to go and finally meet the Princess while she left her people to die. She would spare them a moment and no more. It was not a permanent solution, Lelith knew, repelling one attack would not stop future ones but that would have bought them some time. And perhaps by the next attack, the Twilight Embers have the Princess which could put an end to all of this. If not and they died, that was that. At least, she could tell the Goddess' avatar that she did what she could considering the circumstances.
Rum turns to Tuto, “Well I thought your idea was great friend Tuto, and much safer for everyone, us and the townsfolk”.
He gets back on the cart and waits a little, letting Lelith get a decent lead before he follows, not wanting to risk Herbs and Spice getting hurt accidentally if the townsfolk mistake them for hostiles.
Sorry was still in a state of shock, even days after the battle for the Deku Tree. She went along with Lelith, her tiny hand clasped in the Elf's, and they disappeared into the dark and the fog.
The people of the ranch didn't initially notice their approach. They continued with their construction and shoring up the three houses, especially the south western most house, closest to the road. Five men and three women worked to pull boards from the barn and ferry them across the distance between the stables and barn to the houses. One of them begins working on a bon fire in the midst of the three houses, and another shouts something about 'bringing the hay over'. Someone else calls for 'Ella' to go look to see 'how close they are now'.
Ro watches as Lelith disappears into the fog with Sorry before turning to the rest of the group and shrugging his shoulders. Time was indeed scarce, but hasty action with a lack of group coordination invited trouble. "It seems our decision has been made," the wizard said before he whipped Penelope's reigns, signaling the horse to move cautiously towards Lelith and Sorry.
Lelith approached the villagers while holding Sorry's hand, she kept the little Kokiri close-by. Lelith did not really feel like introducing herself nor making conversation even if they were kin, elves like her in an elven kingdom. She had far too much on her mind to entertain them for now. "We will help you to the best of our ability against the next attack. After that, you are on your own. We'll get into position:"
The construction stopped for a moment as they turned to look at Lelith and Sorry, then got busy nailing boards back up. The work seemed frantic and driven by fear.
"All you can do is nail up boards and hope they don't get through. They're closing in. You need to put your daughter in the house, ma'am, and then help us haul boards over from the barn if you can. There's not fighting it. There's too many. They'll kill us if we can't get the houses nailed shut."
Greko who had followed Lelith in a little in front of the others pipes up "No that won't do. Staying and facing Ganondorf 's army is folly. Survivors of Hyrule Castle are retreating to King's Landing. We will aid you in escaping but holing up to die. If we move fast we can survive the onslaught. To stay is to die." Greko says earnestly before turning to Rum, Ro, Tuto, and Oten "They mean to stay and hole themselves up in their barn against an onslaught, if that is their choice, to die, then we should not stay. We have pressing matters to attend to. To stay gives another advantage to Ganondorf. We need to regroup with the survivor's and try to stop him or come up with a better plan." Greko says with a seriousness the others have not seen from the typical optimistic and jovial lizard
"Well, if you're going then go, we don't have time to deal with you." The man said, turning his attention from the approaching party.
A young woman, a girl, in a plain ranchers dress and with long, red hair, almost grown but not quite, stepped forward then, looking perturbed. She was obviously upset and was having trouble finding her words as she lambasted Greko.
"Go on then! Get the hell out of here! But we're staying! My mother is in there and she's been trying to deliver a baby since last night! And if all you've got time to do is show up and ridicule the only chance we have to save her, then get the **** out of here and don't come back!"
"Greko. These people are not suicidal. They know what they're in for. They wouldn't stick around and risk their lives if they did not have a good reason." Lelith explained quickly and gently to her companion, quite a contrast from her earlier annoyed and snappish mood. Her tone turned even softer as she turned toward the elven girl. "We've already made the choice to help you. Or well, I did at least and my companions are most likely to follow. There are many things that hinge on our actions in the coming days, the kingdom included, so many of us are understandably tense. You'll have to excuse my friend, he has spent more time tending to groves than speaking to people."
Greko incredulously looks on at the girl and then Lelith who was being.....kind.....Greko unsure how to react offers his services "Perhaps we can hep and leave at the same time....Is there someone here to aid your mother in helping give birth? If not I have aided in many births....We have a wagon, you have animals here in your service...." Greko trails off
"It's a good job we didn't waste time discussing our approach", he whispers ironically whilst turning back to address Tuto.
Climbing down and approaching the townsfolk, he looks about trying to get the measure of what they are doing.
"Greetings, I am Rumble of Hunger, of The Twilight Embers. It seems our band has not made the best first impression", he says looking from Lelith to Greko and back to the girl, placing his fist over his heart and bowing his head to her.
"I understand time is short, and we would like to help", he says diplomatically.
"I would suggest Friend Greko, you take Sorry and check on the mother. Friend Oten and friend Ro, you might be able to help create and improve the defences. Friend Tuto, is there something you can do to help diffuse the tension? Lelith, we should go and scout out the enemy, see what we are dealing with and how long we have", he continues.
Turning back to the girl, "We also need to consider protecting our animals during what is to come".
With that he bows his head to the girl again, "Time is short, fellow Embers, let's move".
Oten nods, a hiss of steam escaping from a shoulder vent as his system begins to heat up.
"I am no expert on the emotional and supportive components of delivering a child, but I do have extensive knowledge of human physiology. Here, girl." Oten presses two plates on his abdomen, and each one detaches with a click. He spends a few seconds tinkering with the circuitry built into the back of the armoured plates and then hands them over to the girl. "Place these on your mother's lower back, on either side of her spine, here and here."He gestures to two spots on the girl's own back. "Bind them in place, and tap the right one to increase their effect, and the left one to decrease it. They will send... a special magic power between them which will help with the pain of contractions and allow your mother to focus on breathing through the delivery. The faster and smoother the delivery goes, the more people and resources we can devote to survival." The thoughtfulness of the gesture is almost immediately undercut by his pragmatic justification for it.
(Oten is basically giving the mother heroism by means of a jerry-rigged TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machine)
His steel defender detaches from his back and begins to pace the perimeter while Oten gets to work shoring up the defences.
"The granny woman is walking her, trying to...well, trying to get the baby to come." The young woman said to Lelith and Greko, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. "She says the baby should come tonight but...it's been awfully hard, and the granny woman says mother needs to walk. And even if we could go tonight, we'll never get away now. They can catch us if they decide they want to."
It's Rum's Draconic Aura that catches everyone's eyes. A radiance glows off Rum as ethereal dragon faces appear in the light, only perceptible to the most astute watchers. The people gathered listened, but the young woman seems to be the spokesperson, and quickly points out the largest house in the northern most corner of the three that are there.
"We've hid some of our horses there. As many as we could save. Some of the others are mad with fright or...well. We can't save them all. We should have some room there, if you need it. But you need to hurry and make up your minds. And..."
She pauses as Oten hands her the plates. She pulls them to herself, looking down at them, and then back up at the construct man standing in front of her. She starts to say something, but then Oten is already off doing his thing.
"Okay then..."She says, then heads off toward the house.
Lelith turned to Sorry and nodded toward the building housing the pregnant woman, implicitly giving her permission to go help the mother deliver, before going out to scout ahead per Rumble's request.
-
With advantage on Stealth, the best result is: 1d20 (12) + 7 = 19
Tuto puts a fist to his chin and paces back and fourth. This is quite a conundrum indeed. One wrong move and they could be perceived as the enemy, and that would just be and awful time. Tuto shot two fists in the air, "O! O!" he declared, turning to Rum. He put a finger to his mask, the universal sign for silence, suggesting subtly, then he took out his flute. The song he began to play was quiet, and slow. As he did, all around the party, little tufts of light blue flame slowly decended from the air. When the balls of flame hit the ground, they gently bounced and poofed into nothing. With the fire, sparks of light the size of a silver coin illuminated the area, shining brightly for a few seconds, then going out. Light fire flies. Or, more specifically, the stars in the night sky.
Tuto kept with this illusion for a few seconds then stopped, looking to the group with a hand gesture that said, 'Well? Too much?'
Greko looks up from tending to Gary "As I feared but thankfully not as bad....I feared they were already overrun and servants of Gannondorf and the Darkness. We came to help people evacuate to King's Landing. I believe that is what we should do."
Rum keeps his mouth shut as instructed whilst he watches Tuto's display.
"That will certainly get their attention, without us seeming a threat, friend Tuto", he says giving his smaller companion a thumbs up.
When Greko mentions evacuation though, he frowns. "I am not certainly they will want to evacuate, friend Greko. They seemed to be barricading themselves which suggests they will be attempting to hold fast and repel the foe".
Greko watches Tuto perform and watches the poofs of light dance to the ground. Greko smiles as a sense of calm come over him as he watches. The calm quickly vanishes as he listens to Rum. Greko sighs "If that is how they feel then all we can do is try to convince them and move on. We should not dawdle here."
Lelith had accompanied Rumble but she mostly stayed out of sight while she watched silently. On their return, they discussed what to do. Lelith looked annoyed. "If we are going to help these people then let us help them. If we are not, then let us move forward. We are not afforded the luxury of time and every second we waste is a second that could have been spent fighting what ails this land."
Lelith took Sorry's hand and started taking her toward the ranch without waiting for her fellow Embers. "I, for one, have already made a choice. Let us go, Sorry." It would leave a bad taste in Lelith's mouth if she were to go and finally meet the Princess while she left her people to die. She would spare them a moment and no more. It was not a permanent solution, Lelith knew, repelling one attack would not stop future ones but that would have bought them some time. And perhaps by the next attack, the Twilight Embers have the Princess which could put an end to all of this. If not and they died, that was that. At least, she could tell the Goddess' avatar that she did what she could considering the circumstances.
Greko follows on top of Gary thinking that Lelith agrees in her own brusque way with his assessment.
Rum turns to Tuto, “Well I thought your idea was great friend Tuto, and much safer for everyone, us and the townsfolk”.
He gets back on the cart and waits a little, letting Lelith get a decent lead before he follows, not wanting to risk Herbs and Spice getting hurt accidentally if the townsfolk mistake them for hostiles.
Sorry was still in a state of shock, even days after the battle for the Deku Tree. She went along with Lelith, her tiny hand clasped in the Elf's, and they disappeared into the dark and the fog.
The people of the ranch didn't initially notice their approach. They continued with their construction and shoring up the three houses, especially the south western most house, closest to the road. Five men and three women worked to pull boards from the barn and ferry them across the distance between the stables and barn to the houses. One of them begins working on a bon fire in the midst of the three houses, and another shouts something about 'bringing the hay over'. Someone else calls for 'Ella' to go look to see 'how close they are now'.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Ro watches as Lelith disappears into the fog with Sorry before turning to the rest of the group and shrugging his shoulders. Time was indeed scarce, but hasty action with a lack of group coordination invited trouble. "It seems our decision has been made," the wizard said before he whipped Penelope's reigns, signaling the horse to move cautiously towards Lelith and Sorry.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Lelith approached the villagers while holding Sorry's hand, she kept the little Kokiri close-by. Lelith did not really feel like introducing herself nor making conversation even if they were kin, elves like her in an elven kingdom. She had far too much on her mind to entertain them for now. "We will help you to the best of our ability against the next attack. After that, you are on your own. We'll get into position:"
The construction stopped for a moment as they turned to look at Lelith and Sorry, then got busy nailing boards back up. The work seemed frantic and driven by fear.
"All you can do is nail up boards and hope they don't get through. They're closing in. You need to put your daughter in the house, ma'am, and then help us haul boards over from the barn if you can. There's not fighting it. There's too many. They'll kill us if we can't get the houses nailed shut."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Greko who had followed Lelith in a little in front of the others pipes up "No that won't do. Staying and facing Ganondorf 's army is folly. Survivors of Hyrule Castle are retreating to King's Landing. We will aid you in escaping but holing up to die. If we move fast we can survive the onslaught. To stay is to die." Greko says earnestly before turning to Rum, Ro, Tuto, and Oten "They mean to stay and hole themselves up in their barn against an onslaught, if that is their choice, to die, then we should not stay. We have pressing matters to attend to. To stay gives another advantage to Ganondorf. We need to regroup with the survivor's and try to stop him or come up with a better plan." Greko says with a seriousness the others have not seen from the typical optimistic and jovial lizard
"Well, if you're going then go, we don't have time to deal with you." The man said, turning his attention from the approaching party.
A young woman, a girl, in a plain ranchers dress and with long, red hair, almost grown but not quite, stepped forward then, looking perturbed. She was obviously upset and was having trouble finding her words as she lambasted Greko.
"Go on then! Get the hell out of here! But we're staying! My mother is in there and she's been trying to deliver a baby since last night! And if all you've got time to do is show up and ridicule the only chance we have to save her, then get the **** out of here and don't come back!"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"Greko. These people are not suicidal. They know what they're in for. They wouldn't stick around and risk their lives if they did not have a good reason." Lelith explained quickly and gently to her companion, quite a contrast from her earlier annoyed and snappish mood. Her tone turned even softer as she turned toward the elven girl. "We've already made the choice to help you. Or well, I did at least and my companions are most likely to follow. There are many things that hinge on our actions in the coming days, the kingdom included, so many of us are understandably tense. You'll have to excuse my friend, he has spent more time tending to groves than speaking to people."
Greko incredulously looks on at the girl and then Lelith who was being.....kind.....Greko unsure how to react offers his services "Perhaps we can hep and leave at the same time....Is there someone here to aid your mother in helping give birth? If not I have aided in many births....We have a wagon, you have animals here in your service...." Greko trails off
Rum stops the cart as he approaches the others.
"It's a good job we didn't waste time discussing our approach", he whispers ironically whilst turning back to address Tuto.
Climbing down and approaching the townsfolk, he looks about trying to get the measure of what they are doing.
"Greetings, I am Rumble of Hunger, of The Twilight Embers. It seems our band has not made the best first impression", he says looking from Lelith to Greko and back to the girl, placing his fist over his heart and bowing his head to her.
"I understand time is short, and we would like to help", he says diplomatically.
"I would suggest Friend Greko, you take Sorry and check on the mother. Friend Oten and friend Ro, you might be able to help create and improve the defences. Friend Tuto, is there something you can do to help diffuse the tension? Lelith, we should go and scout out the enemy, see what we are dealing with and how long we have", he continues.
Turning back to the girl, "We also need to consider protecting our animals during what is to come".
With that he bows his head to the girl again, "Time is short, fellow Embers, let's move".
Oten nods, a hiss of steam escaping from a shoulder vent as his system begins to heat up.
"I am no expert on the emotional and supportive components of delivering a child, but I do have extensive knowledge of human physiology. Here, girl." Oten presses two plates on his abdomen, and each one detaches with a click. He spends a few seconds tinkering with the circuitry built into the back of the armoured plates and then hands them over to the girl. "Place these on your mother's lower back, on either side of her spine, here and here." He gestures to two spots on the girl's own back. "Bind them in place, and tap the right one to increase their effect, and the left one to decrease it. They will send... a special magic power between them which will help with the pain of contractions and allow your mother to focus on breathing through the delivery. The faster and smoother the delivery goes, the more people and resources we can devote to survival." The thoughtfulness of the gesture is almost immediately undercut by his pragmatic justification for it.
(Oten is basically giving the mother heroism by means of a jerry-rigged TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) machine)
His steel defender detaches from his back and begins to pace the perimeter while Oten gets to work shoring up the defences.
"The granny woman is walking her, trying to...well, trying to get the baby to come." The young woman said to Lelith and Greko, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. "She says the baby should come tonight but...it's been awfully hard, and the granny woman says mother needs to walk. And even if we could go tonight, we'll never get away now. They can catch us if they decide they want to."
It's Rum's Draconic Aura that catches everyone's eyes. A radiance glows off Rum as ethereal dragon faces appear in the light, only perceptible to the most astute watchers. The people gathered listened, but the young woman seems to be the spokesperson, and quickly points out the largest house in the northern most corner of the three that are there.
"We've hid some of our horses there. As many as we could save. Some of the others are mad with fright or...well. We can't save them all. We should have some room there, if you need it. But you need to hurry and make up your minds. And..."
She pauses as Oten hands her the plates. She pulls them to herself, looking down at them, and then back up at the construct man standing in front of her. She starts to say something, but then Oten is already off doing his thing.
"Okay then..." She says, then heads off toward the house.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Greko proceeds into the house to aid in helping the woman give birth.
Lelith turned to Sorry and nodded toward the building housing the pregnant woman, implicitly giving her permission to go help the mother deliver, before going out to scout ahead per Rumble's request.
-
With advantage on Stealth, the best result is: 1d20 (12) + 7 =
19