laid back apocalypse

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker looks at Ebele. He looks at the tissue. He looks back at Ebele, his expression flat. When she snorts and says s'not funny....his face that'd he'd been trying to keep firmly in "unimpressed land"....breaks into a grin and he shakes his head. "Yes...very amusing."  In a more serious tone he adds, "Humor is such an odd social interaction. It's very difficult to write contracts around acceptable levels, since its so subjective. One of my courses was on contracts for the arts, which dealt with subjective matters."  As he blabs on he waves absently to the trolls and heads north west, trying to keep Ebele engaged in the topic.

Kerric:

Moving along to the northwest as well, Kerric gives the creatures a wide berth, concerned they might suddenly decide to attack. Quietly to T'chal'fronack'zcinicker he says, “Let’s hope the trolls are out of earshot when we meet their leader, or we may get attacked on two fronts.”

Xalkas and Berd quickly follow the others not wanting to tarry and potentially deal with the pair of trolls by themselves. Xalkas makes his way towards the middle of the group with Berd just behind him. 

Ebele was unable to see T'chal'fronack'zcinicker‘s reaction, though when he’d admit some amusement, she’d wear a small smile. She’d lend a listening ear while the tiefling would compare humour with the subjective nature of art. It was a parallel she could understand even though she hasn’t enjoyed visual arts in some time. And as the group was being led along, the monk would reach her hand out to feel for the comfort of her ‘seeing eye dog’, Hawke. When she’d find him and feel his fur tickle her fingers, she’d pet and scratch absentmindedly as they progressed.

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker leads the group down the east WEST hall into the area Reghys spotted earlier. There’s an ancient fountain shaped like three dancing merfolk stands in the middle of this court. The fountain is dry, and the sculpture has been badly damaged — two of the merfolk are missing their arms, and the third is missing her head. There are hallways lead north and south from this chamber, and you’ve just come from the east hallway. A glimmer of torchlight comes from the north, and another glimmer to the east.

Meanwhile the trolls watch the Satyr’s companions begin to wander off while they stand attentively, waiting for any further instructions or discussions from Reghys. 

[edited to reflect corrections from errors]

Kerric:

Looking carefully down each hallway, and then inspecting the merfolk statue, Kerric asks, “Which way next?” since they went east instead of northwest.

Perception:22

(Sorry! >.< that was a DM typing/copy paste error, you did go west, not east. They type it as if you’re coming from the one direction when you guys came from the other. Apologies for the confusion. I won’t be able to map update until the weekend, but you went back out from where you entered C12, and you’re into C11 which has the south or north exit for you to choose from as I had you come from the east. Hope that helps.)

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker nods to Kerric, "Yeah. That would suck. Maybe we should go check out this dark south tunnel before we go north, just so we know if we have any escape routes before we run into more....denizens?"

Kerric:

”Sounds good to me.  I will cover the rear in case the trolls change their minds, and we can have our stealthy ones scout to the south first,” Kerric agrees.

Nodding, Lathna heads south, moving quietly and staying alert for any dangers.

Stealth:  9

Perception:  14

Lathna leads Kerric and T'chal'fronack'zcinicker through the southern hallway and comes to an intersection with a door to the east and an extended area to the west. It was safe to assume the door to the east was a door to the Troll's room they just left. Therefore, Lathna continues to the west. After all, that was the direction they wanted to go.

The hallway opens up to a more open area in which the canal passes through. Stairs on each side of the canal climb up to a stone bridge, which spans the canal fifteen feet above the water level. The sides of the bridge are carved in the image of dragons standing guard over treasure hoards. A single torch illuminates the bridge...

Once upon a time there were a few adventurers, who were to go up to a dungeon to make their pockets fat, and the name of them were The Argent Alliance.

On the way inside was a bridge over a cascading stream they had to cross; and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll , with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker.

So first of all came the young new adventurer Lathna, to cross the bridge.

"Trip, trap, trip, trap! " went the bridge.

"WHO'S THAT TRIPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?" roared the troll.

Kerric:

Lathna freezes and quickly retreats, her stealth skills having failed her.  She looks hopefully to Reghys, hoping he can talk his way out of this one too...

The large troll emerges from beneath the bridge. Water rushes down the length of his body and splashes onto the ground creating little puddles. “YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY FOR YOURSELVES?” He roars, looking unimpressed at the ‘scurrying flea’.

(If everyone’s good with waiting for when Nemo is able to post, all good. Just posting to keep the thread ‘active’ in notifications.)

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker steps forward, seeing Nemo in the midst of formulating a response, and says, "Indeed. It is us who are tripping over your bridge. Is there a cost for passing by this fine bridge under which you reside? Perhaps a fee, or some common usage contract we can agree upon?" 

“FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!” Spittle flies, almost like rain, as the troll roars hangrily and takes a hulking step closer.

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker raises his hand, a glowing smile on his face, "Excellent!  We have plenty of fresh, and some not-so-fresh food for you!  If you'd be so kind as to please stay here, we will return with a veritable bounty, such that we can then safely cross your bridge."  

Not sure if his words are going to delay the creature, T'chal'fronack'zcinicker gets ready to defend himself should the beast just outright attack.  (Full dodge action?)

Kerric:

At the stupendously loud demand of the troll, Kerric's blade is out of its sheath and he is standing between the others and the troll before he even realizes it.  Calmly but forcefully, he says, "My friends have offered you food, but if you make any move to attack or try and eat one of us, I promise you will regret it."

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker Persuasion check (with help from the threatening Kerric) : 27

The troll would take another hangry step forward when T'chal'fronack'zcinicker lifted his hand and first started rambling. Though, at the mention of food he’d pause and his ears would perk. Lifting his nose he’d start to sniff then lick his lips, eyeing up the others around the tiefling. 

A flicker of light catches Kerric’s elven blade, refracting into the trolls eyes as the warrior steps forth. Kerric’s voice echoes through the area as he commands the rooms attention to lay down the repercussions the troll could face if he dared try a bite.

The trolls grumbles, crossing his arms while mumbling incoherently, as if muttering and mocking a certain someone to himself. He then plops down with a hefty huff, sitting on the bridge. “I STAY HERE. WAIT.” He pouts, drumming his fingers as he does. Unless the group wanted to try going a different route, cutting through the water, or the troll, he’d be blocking the bridge until he was fed.

T'chal'fronack'zcinicker backs slowly away, surprised this worked, and then tries to gather the others to fall back.  Once they're away he says, "Well...we could....actually go get him some food...those monsters we killed, if we want to go that way.  Or...we could just go the other way."  

Kerric:

”Fine by me.  I like to make good on my threats…or promises.  Makes it more believable the next time.  I’ll grab the Nothic carcasses and bring them back,” says Kerric.  He sheathes his curved blade and heads back towards the scene of the battle, planning to hoist a carcass up on each shoulder and return…but he wouldn’t turn down some aid from others.

Lathna looks back and forth at the party and the retreating elven warrior, “Well, someone should go with him who knows how to dress a kill,” she says, wondering what kind of meat will be on the nothings and if the troll would consider the large central eye a delicacy.  Shuddering she moves to follow once more.

Ebele’s ears twitch as she hears the pair of boots step off back the way they came. Kerric and Lathna were heading back for the Nothics. After a brief pause Ebele’s head turns to the others. “Guess we’re splitting the group.” With a jut of her chin, she instructs Nayreen to stay with whomever else didn’t have any interest. She’d then step away.