Valji looks to the others, then back at the cultist. "You're a piss-poor artist, but a worse cultist. I promised we'd let you live if you helped us out. Now get out of here. Go start a new life. Remember, I've marked you. You straighten up and fly straight, or you'll get pulled painfully to your grave by my magic. Got it? Now get out of here." Valji takes any obvious cultist symbols and robes from the man, hopefully leaving him some modicum of clothing and a small dagger so that he can find a little village and start over.

With all the dignity of a wet dog, the cultist runs off to the north in his under things. After a moment, there is a yelp of terror as he comes across the corpse of the kobold Skiaceq had killed only a short time ago. Then all becomes quiet on the camp turned battlefield. At the fire, the pheasant is starting to smell as if it is beginning to overcook, the comforting scent mixed with the smell of blood and the newly departed.

After the whelp has gone, Skiaceq nods to Valji. "No harm letting him go. They will know we are coming anyway. Two escaped.

"But what he said gave me some ideas. I think we can use their anticipation to our advantage with distraction."

Valji grabs the bird from the fire. "Mmmm...just right! Want some?" he asks the others, grabbing a small dagger to start slicing off a bite-sized chunk of meat and popping it in his mouth. After eating his fill of the roast pheasant, Valji helps loot the cultists and looks around the campsite for anything of value or use. Perception: 18

Skiaceq declines with a wave of his palms. "Thank you, but I prefer raw meat."

He rummages around the camp with Valji for valuables, particularly among the robes and equipment set aside by the cultists.

Investigation: 7

Searching through the corpses,  Skiaceq and Valji find 28sp, and a sack on one of the kobolds containing 3 pewter candlesticks, a silver serving dishes, and a small ivory carving of Chauntea. Taken together, it looks like the contents of a small family altar which have been looted.

The weapons of the cultists are of shoddy make and have seen a lot of use.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Darvin says, taking a big bite out of a leg of roast pheasant. "Valji, my friend, you can be truly terrifying when you want to be. I didn't know you had that in you."

"We should move on. The day is not getting any longer. Let's hope we can find an approach that doesn't take us through that likely ambush."

"OK. Hey Ski, can you get a bird's-eye view of the road ahead and steer us around the probable ambush site? I can't wait until I figure out how to fly...what a nifty power you have!"

"What do you reckon, two or three more days til you figure that out for yourself?"

"Terrifying he is, but perhaps we should have interrogated him more thoroughly... These are not the spoils of a raiding party." Skiaceq lets a few useless baubles trickle between his fingers. Not even a shiny apart from the dishes.

He turns to acknowledge Valji, beaming at the prospect. "All should experience true freedom in the skies. Walkers cannot know what they are missing. In the meantime, I will help."

Skiaceq takes flight and climbs high enough that he cannot be clearly distinguished from a bird by anyone on the ground. He circles wide over the road ahead, scanning for likely ambush spots before returning to the others.

Perception: 19

Skiaceq spots what he believes the cultist described a mile down the path, as well as a as more circuitous route while would allow the party to skip it entirely at the costs of an extra couple hours travel.

On the path towards the likely ambush spot, Skiaceq also spots two kobolds skittering towards the relative safety of the cults forces. They are close enough for him to catch, but too far away for Valji and Darvin to make it on foot. 

Skiaceq casts a glance toward his companions waiting down the road, then at the fleeing kobolds. In the space of a breath, his decision is made. There is no time to explain. His wings slice through the air to build momentum, then flatten against his back, sending him into a dive. The kobolds expand in his vision. He lands in a spinning slash, whirling toward the other and lashing with his talons.

Scimitar: 24 Damage: 7; Unarmed Strike: Attack: 24 Damage: 4

The first's head is cleanly separated from his neck, vaulting forward with a thud. Skiaceq lets the momentum carry him forward, lifting into the air and driving his taloned feet into the second kobold's chest, shredding scale and sinew and piercing its heart.

A quick glance around to ensure no watch noticed the execution, then he throws the bodies over his shoulders, grabs the severed head, and walks hastily back to the group.

"I fixed it."

The Kobolds never saw what was coming from their aerial predator, and were quickly dispatched by Skiaceq. Finding  nothing on their bodies, he heads back to his companions.

"Now we can skirt the ambush and not worry that they will be alerted! Excellent work, my fine feathered friend!" Valji beams. "Did you notice where the ambush might be, and if there is a way around?"

Skiaceq relays what he observed to Valji and Darvin, noting the longer route around the pass.

"We will lose time, and the main force is well ahead of us. But we will save energy otherwise wasted on fruitless battles."

Searching around for a patch of dense underbrush, Skiaceq deposits the corpses where they will not be easily discovered, especially so far down the road.

"Hmm... time versus energy. It's not an easy call, but I'm inclined to agree that we should save our strength, and perhaps retain an element of surprise."

OoC: Skiaceq is in favor of the circuitous route, but will not push for it if Valji and Darvin want to do something about the ambush.

OoC: nope, Darvin is on the same page 

(Ditto - thought Valji had already said that. Let's press on!)

As the party starts moving, Darvin adjusts his hat to look like a cultist again.