It had been a long, hot day. But the day is cooling as it turns into evening, the sun having just set so the sky was quickly darkening.

The little fox bard Emerald had recently befriended some capable adventurers in hopes of setting out and finding out what happened to the local dwarven hold.

Currently, Emerald is leaning back in her chair, feet up on the table and fanning herself. She is in halfling form (The girl can shapeshift) for maximum air intake on her skin. Thunder can be heard in the distance and Emerald pauses. "....Is it gonna rain too?"

  Chekin has much less in the way of disguise, though reserves the right to inflict violence upon those who make jokes about health code violations and 'instead of bugs in the soup, we have soup in the bug!'.

  "One could hope, Emerald."

Mittens, and the little devil and little cherub versions of herself on her shoulders, Imp and Cherub by name, are enjoying the dropping temperature.

"'It was a dark and stormy night...'" Imp begins to narrate, "Purrrfect for adventure!  Let's go!"

"Um... I think our friend would rather stay indoors during a storm," Cherub offers.

Big Mits finishes a bite.  "Evil never rests!  And doesn't take shelter in the rain either.  It just wallows in discomfort just to make life that much more challenging for the goodguys who set out to catch them.  So... likely we won't have a choice but to go out and get wet in the dark in order to save the day."

"Rain?  I hope not..  My plummage isn't made for doing well when wet."  She takes a gulp of totally-not-booze-juice and hehs softly, "Which is fine for when I've got all day or night to dry off.  But against surprise.. well surprises, not so much."

She hmms a bit at the Imp, Cherub, and Mitts before looking to the foxy-fox.  "So tell me more about this hold, if you don't mind?"

Emerald looks up towards her allies and nods to them each as they make their comments. Then says, "If it *is* going to rain, I suggest we head out now and hopefully make it there in time to have some decent shelter from the rain."

She wags a map. "I know how to get there, so just follow me."

Emerald hurries out the door with the others and continues, "Coppernight Hold was a dwarven mining operation. But when things got quiet, the mayor of this town sent a couple militia guys. They should have reported back by now and have not. We are the second wave to scout what has happened. I suspect someone has taken the mine by force and isn't welcoming visitors."

  Chekin would much rather deal with the rain, but then he's also of the mindset where dealing with too much sun involves more dice rolls than are in this setting.

  "Knowing how things seem to go, it is likely they are all dead by now."

Cherub hovers over emmy so her wing flaps help cool her.

Imp cheers.  "Adventure!"

Mits nods.  "Hurry.  Yes.  I agree."

Flare finishes chugging down her mug of juice and slams the cup down on the countertop with a satisfied sigh.  "Okay, okay.  Get there hopefully before the rain starts.  Sounds good to me."  She stands and stretches, the firebird adjusting her wings as she thinks about the situation. "Maybe the dwarves decided they wanted the operation all to themselves?  Though if that's the case the guards should've come back by now.."

Emerald says, "Bingo." and continues on with the team. She looks up towards Cherub and says, "Thanks, by the way." before shape-shifting back into a fox.

Emerald is sure to make light conversation. She has nothing but positive things to say about her new friends, although she doesn't exactly lay the compliments too thick. It is clear she is friendly, but not a butt-kisser. Nice, but not obviously buttering people up.

Upon arriving at the fenced area, Emerald says, "Judging from the sounds... and silhouettes... I think the people on the other side of that fence are around my size."

  Chekin is just a simple country pizza laywer Bugman, though aside from his obvious biological differences he seems relatively normal.

  "Would that be height or weight? Dwarves would be that tall." Chekin no why are you asking a lady that.

Mits headshakes. "Doubt it's overly unwelcoming dwarves.  So... the traditional enemies of Dwarves are Giants aaaand..."

"You're welcome!" Cherub answers Emmy with a smile.

"I don't think that's a real monster race..." Imp mutters.

Flarewing conciders, "Would giants want a mineing hold?  Maybe as a house for their pets?"  Though when Ememrald mentions that the sounds suggest them being fox-ling size, there goes the Giant Pet Daycare and Mineral Emporium idea.  The firebird smiles a bit, "So, shall we attempt diplomacy, just in case the guards were victem of a tragic misunderstanding, or do we start burning them out?"

Emerald doesn't seem offended at Checkin's statement, but rather corrects him. "You are mistaken. Dwarves are my height like Goliaths are your height, Checkin. A dwarf has anywhere from 1.5 to 2 feet on me. And at my height, that's 33% to 66% my entire height taller than me."

She nods in agreement to Flarewing. "Let's try."

Upon seeing the adventurers, all attempts at diplomacy fail. Combat begins.

A kobold charges Checkin while another hops over the fence and charges Emerald. While he does manage to injure the fox, Emerald shows her complete lack of concern for the not-danger these guys pose as she heads off northwest, provoking attacks that miss her.

More kobolds gang up on Checkin and only hit armor or chitin.

Emerald sings about how her team rules and the kobolds' team drools. This seems to make one kobold look real upset like he is in pain.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Tue 19 May 2015.

  Chekin might be outnumbered, but he is not outARMED (we are so sorry) as he spears one kobodl through the skull with his weapon, and punches out two more with his smaller secondary arms.  He totally didn't miss the fourth one, his shield just meant he only had three limbs to spare, yes, that's it...

  "Is this where we demand surrender and they refuse until only one is barely alive?"  This said as he expects the others to be able to handle one lone (minion) Kobold as he walks over to one of the slingers.

"STICK HIM!" one slinger yells as he throws a pot at Checkin, missing horribly. Another slinger, however, the one Emerald ticked off, slings a pot at Checkin and glues him to the ground. Oh and the pot hurt too.

"Well we tried the diplomacy thing and they answer with lethal force.  I think that qualifies these as villains."

Mits fires a boxing-glove-tipped arrow at a kobold and knocks it out.  Meanwhile Imp and Cherub fly over toward two others to harass them.  Mits fires a much sharper arrow at a slinger and hits it in the knee.

Flarewing stares as the Slingers sling pots at her bugfriend.  "What kind of attack is that?"  She narrows her eyes at the kobold that actually managed to hit Checkin and lets loose a bolt of eldritchy fire type magic at it, "This is how you attack someone twinkletoes!"

The slinger near Checkin hops back and slings another pot... and does horrible.

Emerald sings, "One slip, and down the hole we fall // It seems to take no time at all."

This seems to magically cause the kobold to stumble past Checkin, giving him a chance to attack and harm the kobold!

  Chekin's freakishly misshapen hand (FIVE Fingers!? what madness is this!?!?!?!?) lifts the slinger by the throat, pauses for the nonexistent crowd, and chokeslams the kobold into the dirt.

  He points at the remaining slinger.  "Last chance for surrender, no takebacks."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Tue 19 May 2015.

The last remaining kobold says, "Surrender! I surrender! I like my limbs where they are! I like breathing! Yes! Spare me?!"

"Goood booy!" Cherub commends.  She gets to tying him up.

"One distinct advantage of archery is you don't have to clean the blood off your bow after every fight," Mits says, "Awesome work as always, everyone!"

"Not foolin anyone, Mits," Imp says, "Your love is for swords and magic."

Mits grins sheepisly.

Flarewing frowns at the kobold.  "I say we burn it.  They had the chance to resolve this peacefully, and they declined.  It's no less than the punishment it'd recieve from the higher authorities anyway, so might as well get it done and over with now."

Emerald says, "Perhaps... but he surrendered when Checkin asked it of him. If word got out we slaughtered enemies who surrendered, our reputation would prevent future surrender. Worse, word would get out we can't be trusted since Checkin's offer of surrender suggests survival. I'm in favor of tying him up and at the very least, getting info on the rest of the hold so we know what we're dealing with. If his information endangers us some way, we kill him. If not, he goes back to the village with us and has a chance to do life community service; making himself useful to good rather than a waste." She eyes the kobold, "But alive."

Emerald looks at Flarewing. "Don't get me wrong, Flarewing. You are right that we would be justified in killing him. But reputation is more valuable than a dragon's horde. And sparing those who surrender to us would be a step in the right direction for earning the reputation we will need in the future."

She then looks at Cherub. "Thanks for tying him up, dear."

Then looks at the others. "Can we all agree to keeping him alive until we're done here to see if his information was valuable?"

  "While tempting Flarewing, it is rare enough that people surrender that the mere novelty of it is worth letting them live." for the moment.

  Going mostly paragon also means getting away with those renegade options you really really wanted to take.  Saint, saint, saint... Punch reporter, saint.