Liberty Beguiling

Brim just looks down at herself, then over to her hand. She holds it up in front of her face, opening and closing her sharp little fingers a couple of times, before bunching them up into a fist. After a moment of staring wide-eyed at her own hand, she lightly punches herself in the cheek, holding her hand against herself before letting it fall to her side. "I don't think I have a very strong punch, though..." She mumbles, her shoulders slumped low as she drags her feet to keep up.

"Tell that to the Mites."

"...oh my god. "

Meanwhile, on the surface, Sval checks in with Aleixo. "They stole two of our horses," he says, jerking his chin back toward the tree. "That was their one chance. Next time we see them, they die."

Azul nods along hoping Petros will be to bring comfort to Brim, though his snout falls when the Hellenian mentions the Mites. The dragonborn shakes his head, his amethyst eyes a mix of discomfort and small but growing annoyance. His mind on the oath breakers and their ever growing lead on the party.  Trying to pitch his gravelly voice to a kinder tone he says  "My people often say that worthwhile work can help bring peace to one's soul. You have pledged to help Rikrak, free his people and bring back Old Sharptooth. Your efforts so far have freed the Kobolds who were imprisoned, let us now fulfill the pledge and bring sharptooth home to Rikrak's people. I'm sure once you see the celebration and the reignited pride of the sootscales, you will know in your heart your actions were just." 

“Worry not, little Brim!” Melanthios’ booming voice reverberates down the passage. Looking up, the others see that the light has been blacked out as the large firbolg squeezes himself down beneath the earth. “What Petros meant to say with his,” He turns to Petros and gives a heartfelt look “ Beautiful poetry, truly great by the way,” he turns again to Brim. “Was that you have come so far from the goblin you once were, who your kin still are. You put too much weight on these extreme notions of good and evil. I know it is in your unique nature to do so, but try to understand that life is chaos, mess, violence, love, sex, so full and bountiful! It is impossible for all those dimensions to fit into the two worlds you see. The way that I see it, unfortunate things happened today, but ultimately you did good .”

Aleixo nods. "Yes, they had their chance. We cross them again, they die."

Sval nods. "Good. As long as we're agreed. Now what?"

" Well, we could wait here and wait for the others to come back or we could go and join them. First though I'm going to see if there is any hope for these former prisoners." Xan answers before going over to the still forms of the kobold that had been carried out earlier. "I am going to have to train you in some basic field medicine too, my apprentice." the aasimir notes to Dawid, "it is always good to know how to help you friends when you have used all your magical energy." He kneels down by the closest of the kobold and begins to examine him.

Aleixo sits down on his shield. "I am weary from the battle and the smoke. I vote we wait here."

Craning her neck a bit to look up at the tall firbolg, Brim's eyes are that of a small pup as she ponders his words, "You don't understand! I took an oath. I promised! All those knights of the order I went to were counting on me! They said I could join them once I'd proven myself by bringing peace and redemption to all of Hellenia! Instead my hat is stained with blood and blast-feemy and I've broken my oaths and everything." She sighs dramatically, her arms slumping to her side, "I guess  some good mighta been done but I just don't know how it could be enough to change anything now..."

“You are right, I can not quite understand.” He steps closer and then kneels down, getting as close to eye level as he can. “I may be devoted to Dionysus, but that oath is a far cry from the sort that you have sworn. Yet still, I hear you speak of redemption so fervently, yet you don’t seem willing to offer that to yourself. If Dimitri or Jericho were to stray and do something bad despite having pledged themselves to this new life of good, would you forsake them? Would you not encourage them to get back on the path if they still desired redemption in their hearts? You must extend the same grace to yourself, Brim. Your oath is only broken when you choose to break it in your heart. You may have slipped, but nothing is truly changed. Let this day propel you even further, let it stoke the fires of devotion even brighter in your heart. You can still bring peace and redemption to Hellenia.”

As Melanthios starts to talk Brim immediately starts shaking her head, "No, no, but it's different for me! It's super different because... because I ..." she stutters, fumbling to spit out the words she heard in her head but could not feel in her heart. Her mouth, hanging open waiting for something to come out, simply closes instead. The little goblin slumps back down, her head lolling back a bit as she groans, " Mendokusai! This is so much harder than I ever thought it'd be! How can I make such a big mistake but then forgive myself and be okay? If I did something like K-I-L someone that's super bad ! But if I forgive myself then that's true to my oath! But forgiving myself wouldn't change that I did something real bad!  But not forgiving myself would ignore my own promise to give second chances. Aww man now my head is hurting too." Some moments pass in silence as she reckons with this cluster of logic. Eventually, she puts a hand on the ground to prop herself up with, looking up to Mel once more, her eyes narrowed and fierce, " Jaa!  I will... tentatively give myself another chance. I need to think more about it, but I can't keep holding the rest of you-" she turns to Rikrak, "-and you especially, Rikrak, back from this quest. Let's rescue what we came for and finally leave."

Azul grabs a hold of the knotted loops of roots that line the tunnel walls and begins to make his way up and around, climbing across the chasm. However, as he nears the northern end of the chasm a handhold tears loose and the dragonborn barely manages tingo catch another in time. A long hiss and a series of clicks emanates from the depths below him and an elephantine centipede scurries up the wall with two whip-like tendrils thrashing at the end of its tail.

Watching from the edge of the tunnel, Brim yelps in horror at the site of the massive creature, and takes a step towards the edge before truly realizing the enormity of the chasm before her. Not wanting to stand by and let it attack Azul, she quickly reaches for the crossbow on her back, clumsily loading a bolt into the firing mechanism and hastily aiming a shot. "Dimi! Hurry, Sir Azul is in danger!"  she cries out as she fires, the bolt finding its target despite her inexperience with the weapon. Unfortunately, the chitinous carapace of the massive beast simply deflects the blow, the bolt clanging  off before falling into the chasm below. Dimi himself runs up, scared at the sight of the massive insectoid, and his magical mutterings manifest in a mumbling mess that the creature hardly seems to register.

Rikrak howls and throws himself at the wall of knotted vines, advancing rapidly in small leaps, before stabbing wildly at the giant centipede in an attempt to defend Azul.

Melanthios attempts to harm the massive critter with a discordant note but it doesn't seem to notice.

Seeing Mel's strumming, Brim again lines up another shot, but the discordant note catches her by surprise, causing her to jerk back with a yelp. The bolt fires straight up into the roof of the cavern and dings off the rock with a dull plik  before tumbling in two pieces back down into the abyss below. Dimitrios again rings out his own chimes in the eardrums of the great beast but it barely seems to register the effect as it focuses its ire on Azul once more.

The centipede lashes snaps at Azul once again, this time clamping its fangs down on the dragonborn's shoulder. However, his armour protects him from any serious harm. The beast's tail flashes and for a moment it looks like the razor sharp tendrils will also strike Azul, but he raises an arcane shield just in time. Azul takes 16 piercing damage, reduced to 10 by DR -> 26/36 Vigour.

The dragonborn winces as the bug's fangs pierce through his armor and scales. Fortunately he is able to conjure a fiery shield just in time to block the beast's tail.  Sofia flies out and cries loudly as she flaps her wings in the bug's face. Giving Azul the opportunity to bring his blade down on the centipede unfortunately the beasts hide is thick and absorbs most of the blow.

Rikrak throws himself wildly at the giant centipede, but a flick of its tail sends the little kobold hurtling back into the side of the chasm. However, the Sootscale throws out an arm with preternatural speed, grabbing tightly onto the nearest root and pulling himself up before he can fall.

Brim lines up yet another shot, her muscles pulled taut with the string of the crossbow as she holds it aloft to fire. The stirrup releases and the bolt rockets down the groove and out across the chasm, striking true into the heart of the beastie. Brim nearly lets out a cheer of success before she notices the bolt has splintered against its arm, completely ineffective. She groans and motions to Dimi to try once more. The former bandit finds much greater success, as the creature lets out a chittering shriek at the sound of powerful bells tolling in its eardrums. 

Petros, having leaped across the chasm, feet aglow, speeds through into another room containing what appears to be a rough table with a battle map on it.  Without pause, he doubles back to the edge of the rift and calls holy flame from the gods down upon the centipede who merely wriggles out of the way.

Yet again ignoring Melanthios's enchanted tune, the centipede thwacks Azul with the razored lash of its long tail, trying to knock the dragonborn from the chasm's walls. However, he holds on for dear life, even as the monster sinks its teeth into him once more. Azul takes 14 damage, reduced to 8 by DR -> 18/36 Vigour

His gauntlets let out a piercing screech as his armored fingers dig into the chasm wall. Just barely managing to keep him anchored. Swinging down with all his might his saber again connects with the beast's hide, but the centipede proves resilient and continues fighting.

Rikrak jumps again, trying to find purchase on the monster's back, but this time only narrowly avoids a fall.

Melanthios’ normally harmonious song continues to devolve into a cacophony of disjointed notes. As the massive arthropod still somehow resists the magic, Melanthios grows frustrated and strums even harder. Finally as the song reaches a discordant crescendo the centipede sccumbs. The magical assault overcomes its senses and the creature is sent scurry back to the depths it crawled out of.

Brim's widened yellow eyes track the creature as it slithers down the chasm wall towards the bottom of the pit below, her crossbow simply tracking with it until it comes to a momentary rest far below her. She doesn't hear Dimi approach from behind, looming over her, "Should I keep channeling this magic Miss Brim?" The question is innocuous, but Brim leaps up in surprise, pulling the trigger on her crossbow in the process. The mechanism releases, sending another bolt careening down into the cavern below, where it lodges deep into and under the hardened carapace. A trickle of dark blood trails from the wound, and the creature writhes in increasing pain. Brim looks up at Dimi in shock, "You came out of nowhere Dimi! Oh my gosh... I didn't even see where I shot that." She turns back, attempting to scan quickly for signs of the bolt, but sees nothing. "Anyway yea keep it up! I'm clearly not cut out for this thing as it is." Dimi traces a line with his eyes from the crossbow Brim is gesturing with to the the bolt jutting out from the centipede. He raises a hand to and opens his mouth to object, but she shushes him, "It's okay Dimi-san I don't need the encouragement. Saving Sir Azul is more important!" The former bandit simply sighs before sending out another wave of sound towards the bug, only for it to ignore it while the pain from the bolt keeps it distracted.

In the darkness below, the chasm falls still and quiet. The wounded creature seems to have withdrawn.

Seeing the beast retreat does little to quell Azul's anger, the pummeling the beast gave him still fresh in his mind. Rearing his head back he conjures his magic and sends a bolt of fire hurling into it's hide. Illuminating the area enough for Azul to see that the beast is not moving, and is at or near death's door.

Abseiling down the roots lining the sides of the chasm, Rikrak makes his way to the dark pit at the bottom where the centipede lies eerily still. Slowly, the black-scaled kobold stalks towards the beast before leaping upon it and plunging his dagger in its eye. Satisfied that the monster is not going to move, Rikrak jumps up and down victoriously on its head for good measure.

“Well, now that this beast has been felled we can continue on, yes?” Melanthios ends his furious song with a few light twinkling notes on the cittern. Glimmering motes appear around him, blinking along with the tune, and the firbolg begins to float a few inches off the ground. “A little assistance please, my friends.”

"You betcha, Mister Mellie!"  Taking a few steps back, Brim narrows her eyes, steels her left foot up against a small rock behind her, and shoves off. She dashes forward, leaping into the air with her arms and legs splayed out as wide as the grin plastered over her face as she hops straight towards Melanthios. Her tiny form impacts softly into the larger firbolg and she quickly wraps herself around his torso, feeling the warmth of his robes and fur rubbing against her face. Immediately, the two of them are propelled forward through the air, up towards the other side of the cavern. Calling back over her shoulder, she turns towards her courageous companion, "Be careful Dimi! Oh and Sir Rikrak, you too!" The weary man only sighs before slowly and steadily inching his away around the ragged crevice in the earth.

Rows of wooden pegs line the earthen walls of the next chamber, some hung with tiny, filthy cloaks. In the centre of the room stands a rickety table held together with twine, covered with a filthy red-checked tablecloth and heaped with mounds of dirt and twigs and gravel, apparently arranged to form some sort of map. Sitting at the edge of the map, weighing down a scrap of paper, is a bloodstained ivory statuette of what looks like a crouching reptilian devil. A bulging burlap sack sits under the table. Rikrak comes scrambling up the side of the chasm and squeals gleefully when he lays eyes on the statue. "Old Sharptooth!" The kobold declares with excitement, rushing up to the table. He grabs the statue and hefts it victoriously above his head. "Death to Tartuk!" Rikrak lets slip, before clapping his hands over his snout and glancing about furtively.

Not at all expecting Brim to take such a dynamic approach, Melanthios is overcome with surprise and glee as the pair soar across the gap. "Woohooo!" he calls out. The ride is sadly short lived, and soon the firbolg and goblin are standing on the other side and making their way into the tiny war room. Melanthios is immediately wary of the small, bloody figurine, but he relaxes after scanning it with his fey senses. "Ah, so this is what you were after, Rikrak? Hmm, let us see what your adversaries have been up to." His eyes shimmer again as he inspects the small piece of paper and he reads it aloud for those present. "Could this 'them' refer to the kobolds? Or Capricornus' men? And what of this magic dust they mention?"

Sval joins Aleixo, finding a nice patch of dirt to rest on. As he looks at Aleixo, he sees the consternation and concern cloud the warrior's face. A few long moments go by. Sval is just about to speak when Aleixo suddenly darts to his feet.  "I cannot let their betrayal go," he says, looking in the direction of the horses, two of which the fleeing bandits had stolen. Sval grunts. "Peace, friend. They will meet their ends one way or another." "You are too reactive," Aleixo says with a shake of his head. "Your judgement will fall on them too late. They will go back to banditry -- back to Capricornus. We gave them a second chance. Whatever they do after that is our responsibility -- my responsibility." Sval grunts again and rises to his feet. "This is not your burden, misthios ," he says. "But if you feel like you must pursue them, then let us go. I will come with you." Aleixo shakes his head, looking around at the battlefield. "No, Sval. You are needed here. With these others. I will take Jericho, and we will track them together." He waves to the former bandit, who begins gathering his things.  "You will be missed," Sval says as we walks with Aleixo and Jericho over to the horses. Other friends may have listed platitudes warning the other to be careful or to use caution. But Sval knew the warrior well enough. He would return carrying his shield, or on it.  Aleixo mounts up and smiles. "We will be back. Tell the old man goodbye for me." "I will," Sval says. "And try not to do anything stupid while I'm gone,"  Aleixo says with a smile. Sval returns the grin. "How would I do such a thing? You are taking all the stupid with you." The warrior-poet laughs and flicks the reins on his horse. Without another word, he and his squire ride back toward the road, eventually disappearing into the savannah in a cloud of dust.

Azul heaves himself up along the knotted bed of roots that lines the chasm, until he finally arrives with the others on the other side. As the enormous dragonborn pulls himself up onto the ledge, he notices something sparkling and twinkling from just after the bend in the tunnel up ahead.

It’s been days, and Zizi teeters on the brink of starvation. How could they have been so weak to fall to the mites’ charm? That one blip in their defenses could cost them their life and soon they would be wandering the world just like the spirits that flock to them.  The sound of voices stirs them from their weakened delirium. It’s not the unseelie pitch of mites squabbling, but coherent Hellenian. “Hey! Heyyyyy!” Zizi slams against the glass of the bottle that contains them, finding renewed vigor through adrenaline. “HEYYYYYY!!! Is anyone there!?”

Grunting and shaking his snout, he gives a weary look as he sees Brim and Mel float merrily across the chasm. Azul's muscles straining as he hauls himself over the ledge. Climbing up in time to see Rikrak grab the bloody statue and call it Sharptooth. His snout nearly hits the ground, all of this over a statue.  He means to question the Kobold further about the statue & Tartuk. But a shiny object catches his eye. Figuring that Mel & Brim would be able to handle the Kobold, he follows after the shiny object.

Petros's eyes widen at the exclamation of 'Tartuk.' "Rikrak...this Tartuk.  Is he an annoying and wretched gnome by any chance?  About this high, dark and crafty eyes, ridiculously long eyebrows?"

Rikrak shakes his little head at Petros, clutching the the statue to his chest. "Tartuk kobold . Purple kobold. Shaman of Sootscales. No one like Tartuk. Even Chief Sootscale afraid. Nobody want to be cursed. So long Tartuk have Old Sharptooth, Sootscales stay scared. Sootscales follow Tartuk." Rikrak's pauses in his explanation for a moment, considering his own words. "...we bring Old Sharptooth to Chief Sootscale ? End curse?" Meanwhile, Azul finds that the light is coming from a little glass bottle stoppered with a cork. The bottle is resting on a slab of wood that seems to pass for a makeshift shelf and inside is a tiny little fairy that glimmers and shimmers. She has brown skin with iridescent blue and purple splotches around her face. A a large pair of diaphanous wings flutter on her back, as well as smaller pairs on the sides of her head and ankles. “HEYYYYYY!!! Is anyone there?!” She calls.

Petros nods, trying to follow Rikrak's story.  Kobolds were about the same size as a gnome...And the Tootch was some kind of wizard...surely he could disguise himself as a kobold if he wanted.   "Uh huh.  Kobold.  When did this Kobold show up?  And what curse?"   As Petros asks, he squats down and pulls the burlap sack from under the table.

The burlap sack contains a number of kobold-sized spears and a large pile of mixed gold, silver and copper coins. "If Old Sharptooth not returned to Sootscales, whole tribe turn yellow and die," Rikrak explains. "Tartuk... Rikrak not know. Is hard to remember."

Azul looks quizzically at the fairy in the bottle, this was not what he had expected. His amethyst eyes take on a wary shape, the fey were known for their trickery. Though from his readings he knows that there is a bit of animosity between mites and fairies.  Carefully looking at the bottle he announces himself "I am Azul of Clan Kassis. How did you end up here little one?"

"Azul! My hero! I'm not going to die in this damned bottle after all," Though the fairy is tiny, it's clear that the bottle is too small for them. Their shimmering wings and lithe body are cramped in the glass. Now they shift uncomfortably to their knees and clasp their hands together against the wall of their prison. "My name is Zizi of the Dreadpetal tribe. I was on a very important mission and, oh it's so embarrassing, these mites and their damned madness got the best of me. I swear this never happens, I'm a trained professional you see, but I'm really in a bind here and I could really use your help. Please, please, please won't you let me out?" They bat their lashes and put on their most desperate pout in the hopes of winning the dragonborn's assistance.

Hearing the fairy's plea, Azul reaches out with his armored gauntlet and pulls the cork out. His gravelly voice tired but friendly  "Of course little one, the Mite's are a treacherous foe. If I may ask, what was your mission Zizi?"

The second the cork is pulled from the bottle Zizi springs up towards freedom. Their body squeezes through the narrow bottleneck like putty, and somehow even their clothes and weapons are warped by the surreal fey magic. With an audible pop Zizi clears the glass and rockets up into the air. Now that they’re free, it’s clear that Zizi isn’t actually quite so tiny. They’re about the size of a goblin or halfling, though far slimmer. They stretch their limbs in every direction, and Azul can see they are clad in strappy black leather armor and equipped with numerous weapons including chains, a bow, and a curving blade that would be quite delicate in the dragonborn’s hands, but compared to Zizi it almost resembles a greatsword. “She is free , baby! Ugh really I can’t tell you how grateful I am,” They flutter down to Azul’s eye level and continue to stretch their arms and pop their tiny joints as they talk. “So, yes I guess I can tell you why I was out here in the first place. I mentioned that I’m a professional right? Well some might call me a professional problem solver," she drags one spindly finger across her throat suggestively. "If you catch my drift. I come from Lelistrel, where many other fey live, and sometimes fair folk from all across Arden reach out to us and ask for assistance in dealing with all manner of problems. I’m here on behest of one such fey in the region who requested help in dealing with a nuisance humanoid, some sort of wannabe bandit king.” Zizi pauses and gives their rescuer another once over. “Oh no, please tell me you’re not a bandit. I mean you really don’t have the look of it...”

Azul smiles wearily "No Zizi, my companions and I hunt the bandit you seek. We have been sent to bring order and stability to these lands." His scales rippling with pride he says "I have been named the Justice in the North, and fight alongside Petros the lands new lord.  Soon we shall tear down the coward and his band of cowards  " Shaking his snout the strains of the day weighing him down "I apologize little one, the day has been long and strenuous . Follow me and I will introduce you to my comrades. We will hopefully be taking our leave of this wretched place soon."