Balrok starts to try Undercommon before the two arrows take the creature in the throat.  "Hey, elfy!  Ain't fair!  I did'na say 'go' yet."  Grumbling, Balrok walks up to the corpse, eyes it suspiciously for a moment, then brings his axe down hard to decapitate it!  Looking immediately more cheerful, he says to Ovi, "Had tu be sure."

Turning towards the man, Balrok will go fish him roughly out of the tents if he doesn't come out on his own.  If he does, Balrok will stand, glaring at him, cleaning the gore from his axe slowly, sharpening it, looking like he wants to split more heads, and otherwise seeming very intimidating.  If the man doesn't answer Ovi's questions, Balrok will "encourage" him.

23:54, Today: Balrok rolled 17 using 1d20+5. Intimidate.

With the thump of the axe, and Ovi's coaxing, the man peeped out from under the edge of the tent but started to jerk back when Balrok started forward.  Finding nowhere to go that Balrok wasn't waiting for him, he curled into a quivering ball.

Ovi approached gently and made his introductions and started asking questions, but all he could get out of the man was his name, which was Kesheir.  When Ovi kept pushing for answers about what had happened, the man could only stutter out, "The kuro... the kuro... they took..."

Leaving the questioning of the man to those better suited to the task, Nikolai paces the camp, trying to determine from the various tracks and spoor something of what happened here.

OOC: 08:03, Today: Nikolai rolled 21 using 1d20+6. Track.

What did dey take? Better not be da gems. Balrok an' I 'll have der heads fer dat. Hell, we'd have der heads anyway. You dun have t' worry. Jus' 'xplain the situation t' me an' we'll take care o' it.

Ovi will attempt to get as much detail as he can out of the man.

What happened with the kuro? What did they do? What did they take?
When did it happen?
Where did they go?

Any other relevant information. He will do his best to reassure the man and will suggest they'll make sure nothing bad happens, provided they get information. He will provide some information on Balrok and his role as formal representatives of the Church of Vergadain, to lend credibility to his position. He will also leverage Khalid's name, if necessary.

Candlewick will do his best to reassure the man, although that might amount to standing around looking nonthreatening ...

Nikolai's search found signs of struggle scattered around the camp, and a few signs of blood, but no living people except for the one Ovi was talking to.  He also found signs that looked like some group, probably kuro, had come through the stone framed portal, gathered people and anything else portable and had gone back through the portal.

Ovi's patience got him a little bit more information, though the man was clearly struggling to talk through his emotions.

"Gems?  Yes, they took the gems too, but they took everybody!  All miners, overseers, everybody!  My son!  He'd just come to camp to visit.  They took him too!  Help him!  Help me!"

He wound to a halt, gasping for breath with tears streaming down his face.

Nikolai heads back to the others and quickly summarises what he discovered while scanning for tracks, then circles the camp to scout for any abandoned supplies.

"Bloody ogurkh!" Balrok curses, though at the fact they took the man's son or that they took the dwarfs' gems, it is hard to say.  Grabbing the sobbing human, he drags him to his feet and props him roughly against a tree.  "Pull yerself together, lad.  Firstly, what sort of fool of uh father has a kid visitin' him in a Chultan strip-mine?  More important, if yu want to help yer kid, why in the Nine Hells are yu blubberin' an' screachin'?  Get 'hold of yerself or yu might just cry yer kid's way intu an early grave!"

"Now ye've got potential help standin' right here."  Balrok gives the man another shake for emphasis.  "Calm yerself down, fer Moradin's sake, an' give us some details.  How many bleedin' koro were der?  Did they mention where they were goin'?  Do yu remember any uf du sounds dey were makin'?  Wikky here is uh language xpert, he might culd translate.  Did they have any distinctive markin's or banners?  When did this cursed magic portal pop up, anyways?  Anythin' yu can think of."

The man visibly pulled himself together. "What kind of ...?  A miner, that's what kind brings his son to a mine, of course."

"The kuro came through the magic portal.  We found the stones while we were digging, and the headman said to set them up and we'd see what was on the other side.  He led hunters through when he saw the temple thing, but he never came back.  The next night..."

He stopped and shook, struggling to keep his control.  After a minute, he continued, "... the next night, the kuro came... swarms of them.  I couldn't see them all, but I'd say there were at least thirty of them, led by a big ugly one with red eyes.  They took... they took... everyone and everything!"

He broke down into sobbing again.

Balrok turned and looked around, whether to spare the man's feelings or out of exasperation, and saw a face looking out of the portal at him.  It was human, and had the distinct look of a native Chultan human.

Balrok elbows Ovi and points.  "Looks like du natives 'r restless, heh.  Well, dey ain't kuro.  Yu wanna talk to 'em, brudder?  He might know where du kuro went, an' if he turns out tu be hostile...." Balrok grins.

Nikolai says nothing, but holds his bow loosely, ready to provide ranged support if necessary.

Sure t'ing, brudder. Ovi approaches the portal, looking at the man behind it.

'lo der. He says as he waves, though he is careful to keep his hand positioned so he can use his chain if needed.

Da name's Ovi. I'd introduce da rest o' me companions, but first it'd be nice t' know if ya be friend er foe. He says, with his customary grin.

No sound carried through the portal, but it was clear that discussion was going on on the other side, and they were trying to communicate with you as well.

"Hell with it, brudder.  Magic or no, if dose koro went dis way with our emeralds, I'm fer goin' through.  I'll test it out.  If it zaps meh gud, I'll put uh good word in fer ye with Moradin an' Vergadain--gods know ye will need it with all yer chasin' after beardless human wemen!"

Balrok pauses a moment to glare suspiciously at the portal again, as if daring it to try and obliterate him.  Then, with his axe shouldered, he steps through the portal.

A pebble tumbled through the portal, thrown by the dwarf on the other side.

Balrok had already steeled himself to go through though, and stepped in, his axe riding ready on his shoulder.  It felt like stepping through a cool waterfall, but he wasn't wet when he came out.

Those who remained on the camp side of the portal could see Balrok alive and unharmed.

OOC: Balrok, let's move you to the other thread for a moment.  I'll write your arrival there as well.

Ovi and Candlewick, I need Spot checks from you, and you might toss in a Listen check as well.

"Interesting, I've heard of portals such as these, but I wasn't aware of any in the jungles of Chult!"  He stares intently at the portal as Balrok strides through, not paying much attention to the surrounding area.



08:25, Today: Candlewick rolled 8 using 1d20+1. Candlewick Listen Roll.
08:25, Today: Candlewick rolled 6 using 1d20+1. Candlewick Spot Roll.

11:28, Today: Ovi rolled 11 using 1d20+4. Listen.
11:28, Today: Ovi rolled 23 using 1d20+4. Spot.

OOC: Sorry, Nikolai, I missed your name on my request for Spot checks.  My fault.  If I do something like that, please point it out if you notice it.  I'm noticeably hard to offend, and all too human...

In the interest of time, I went ahead and tossed it through for you.  I hope that's ok.

Though Candlewick was involved in studying the portal, Ovi and Nikolai caught the signs of movement from the trees you'd come through to reach the camp.

A quartet of kuro stalked from the trees, but they didn't move with the loping speed you'd seen before.  Instead, they moved at a shambling stroll.  As they cleared the trees completely, you could see that they looked much like the four you'd seen before.  In fact, they were the four you'd seen and killed.  Even the red-eyed leader shambled toward you, axe at the ready, his body marked with the wounds that you'd inflicted before.

Nikolai hefts his bow once again and looks sideways at Ovi. "Zombies maybe? Do we stay and fight?"

OOC: If you DO decide to stay and fight, give me initiatives with you next posts, please.

"Hmm, I've heard of reports like this before, all second-hand of course.  While I would like to stay to investigate this matter, perhaps we should join Balrok on the other side?"



07:17, Today: Candlewick rolled 12 using 1d20+11. Knowledge: Religion for Candlewick.

Ovi grabs the man by the sleeve and tugs him in the direction of the portal.

I'd come wit' us lest ya want t' find dose buggers off yerself.

Let's get a move on. Sounds like da portal might lead us to our goal. Dis camp sure ain't showin' us anything but trouble.

Ovi will attempt to lead the man through the portal and will step through himself.

Nikolai nods curtly, and turns to slip through the portal. Just then, he catches sight of something moving on the treeline. It is hound, painfully thin, the collar hanging loose on its neck.

Perhaps the dog once belonged to the miners and has been living wild for a while. Evidently the encroaching undead have driven it back into the camp. Nikolai whistles sharply and catches the dogs eye, and a moment of silent communion passes between them. Moving slowly, its belly low on the ground and head bent submissively down, the hound approaches its new master.

Once the animal is close enough to touch Niklai reaches out and grabs the collar, whispering soothing words in elivsh. Then he draws his new companion through the portal in search of Balrok.

Candlewick, Ovi, Nikolai, and Nikolai's new friend turned and slipped through the portal to join Balrok and the others.

OOC: And I'm going to move everything to the other thread now.  I'll come back shortly and move all the Group A threads to Group 8 if the merge works out well.

done getting info