Welcome to Dice-ember day 14. Today is the continuation of one of the precious days but from a different point of view but before we get into it I want to touch on that subject.
Changing the point of view from a simple idea, hook, twist or encounter can change the direction you were going with it entirely. The goblins who are seeing traps and leading wolves and bears to the parties camp may be trying to stop them from getting to a sacred site where goblin mother’s have their children. So the warriors want to try and dissuade the party from getting too close but dont want a full out battle with them. By asking why something is happening the way it is can change how the players experience to he encounter and can enrich their game.
Cat and Mouse
15GrEs
“I’ve got a flight of green dragons, strength seven, five and three” Kane said smugly as he placed down the last of his his flight causing the other two, Locus & Jason, to sigh and throw down their hands. The scraping of coin across a wooden desk towards Kane.
“One of these days Kane I will beat you at three dragon Ante” Jason muttered as he drew more cards and placed one down to begin his next flight.
Across the warehouse a halfling secured the last of their hall carefully in hidden compartments under a cart topped with hay. As she tightened the last strap to stop anything from jingling as the cart moved she heard a light tapping at large double doors to the warehouse. Letting out a call like a barn own, not uncommon creatures in this part of town, the three other members of her crew scattered dampening laps and hiding any sign that they were there before moving into carefully selected hiding spots in the rafters. The halfling climbed into the top of the cart and buried herself under the coarse strands of hay that covered it. Moments before the door creaked open she wrapped her enchanted cloak around her fully and peered out a small section.
In the dim light by the dwindling moonlight she noticed a small bird like creature scamper in before disappearing into the shadows. Reaching her hand up away from her knife she formed an “o” with her thumb and index finger upon which sat a chunky ring that had cat like eyes carved into it. Immediately anything she viewed through the circle her fingers made was revealed as if she had darkvision.
It took her a moment to spot the creature across the warehouse but the soft tap tap tap of claws on wood revealed bipedal feathered bird like creature climbing up a beam into the rafters. Its head swung this way and that as if looking for something before jumping, and gliding down some distance to land next to the table where Jason, Kane and Locus were sitting. After a moment, and a bit of bread being taken from a plate that was left it scurried left and right as if searching the room for something other than food.
Curious, she thought as she watched the creature moving through the room. As she was about to break cover and go and capture the creature she noticed a pattern in how it was moving, it wasn’t aimlessly searching for food, it was deliberately appearing to move as such whilst honing in on the position of her three crew members. Reaching to her hip she grabbed a small hand crossbow and a bolt from the case. Raising it up and placing the bolt in her teeth she slowly pulled the string back and with a click it snapped into position.
The creature whipped its head towards the hay cart and with surprising speed darted towards the cart, shocked by the burst of speed and apparent aggression of the creature she barely had enough time to put the bolt into the crossbow before it disappeared under the wagon.
“Ahh shit” she heard from Kane as he dropped from the rafter with Jason and Locus, who was in her human form for a change, all of them drew weapons. Locus drew the darts she never parted with whilst Jason and Kane drew short curved sword.
Tap tap tap came from under the cart before she heard the sound of snapping leather. The creature had found the hidden compartments!
Jumping out of the wagon and summoning a orb of light, one of the few spells she had memorised at all times, she landed hard on he side and shot at the creature the moment it came into view. He landing scattered a basket of apples across the floor and helped to break her landing.
Twang! the bolt flew towards the creature who jumped and used its wings to latch onto the bottom of hte cart for a moment before climbing and darting out the open door.
“Well that will teach it. We wont see that little rat again” Kane said wiping his nose on his sleeve.
“I doubt that it will return, we best check the door is locked next time though” Jason said.
“Interesting. The bird like creature also appears to have scales as well” Locus said as she picked up a scale that shimmered with its iridescence in the halflings light.
Sighing she stood up and went over to pick her bolt from a strap of leather, had the creature positioned itself so to use the broken straps as a shield. This thing was smart, cunning and new what it was looking for. “We’ve been made. Time to move with plan B. Locus go to Laura and request the second set of items that we held in reserve. We will need to be gone by dawn.” she mentioned as all three of her crew snapped to attention and scurried around. Locus shifting form into a half elf, he cloak shifting to resemble a different style and colour as she moved out the door. Jason and Kane quickly packed all their belongings into sacks and started to pack up their make shift camp.
Who ever that creature belonged to was good and was on their trail she thought. Grabbing out the plans she had documented she quickly put them into a cauldron and with a snap of her fingers she caused the papers to start burning brightly before moving to the other items she would need to destroy before moving on. Stopping she picked up an apple and bit into it, still sweet and ripe she thought with a smirk.
“Well boys, we couldn’t have it too easy could we now?” she mused and she threw an apple to both of the men who we watching her with curiosity, neither of them would ever be able to work out how her mind worked or keep up with her but that’s what made her the leader of this crew and why they followed her to this city in the first place.
Well that’s all we have for tonight. Not much for a post write-up thought tonight except to thank you all for sticking with it and coming back each night. Don’t forget to come back again tomorrow for another glimpse into this season of Dice-ember. If you like how this is going why don’t you consider letting me know so I can consider doing this for next year (or maybe periodically in the future) creating this style of content.
Don’t forget to keep coming back to the conclusion of Dice-ember and as always, don’t forget to roll with advantage,
The Brazen Wolfe
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