The Stinking Bugbear Cave (Intro)

[Pulpatoon]

Thamansa holds her hands out greedily for the amulet. "Oh, you lovely bauble, you!"

[Urson]

Horsefly
The old goblin lets out a high pitched whistle. Wait,alla youse! We makes sure we all knows what we is doin',we all lives longer! Imma goes with the sneaky spies. We maybe find easy way in. What youse be doin'? And iffen you decide to charge in, we has to bury youse.

[Pulpatoon]

Thamansa: "Yeah, slow it down. Make sure we're all on the same page. Spell it out slowly, as some of us ain't got the brains of rot grub. What I unnerstand is a bunch of you are going to attack one part of the Keep's defense, while th' lil' bat and I fly overhead and scout things out. Then what? What goods our re-conny-sance gonna do if yer already attacking? After we take a looy-loo, we need to formulate a plan based on it, hah? But if'n you attack, they'll just move everything around.

"Sneak first, plan second, attack third, right?

"I say first the bat and Horsefly and Shozbot an me go. I'll carry the goblin—with a name like that, you ain't afraid of heights, is yuh?—and we'll look, while this fine stack of orc holds our exit point, just in case we need 'im. We'll be back in a few minutes, and then we'll know a thing or two. If you want us to drop some lovely fire while we're at it, then brew us up some Molotov cocktails*."

*

Molotov was a goblin who's still made the most potent hootch in the Caves, and, after getting a candle too close to an open jug, is now a thin layer of carbon coating the inside of his brew-cave.

[OGRE MAGE]

Nardgrog perks up a little once strategy is discussed, though he starts to get annoyed by the noise building up outside of the cave.

He dangles the blood red amulet in front of Thamansa, teasing her a bit as he does so. He leans in and whispers a single word into the homely bugbears large ear, staring into her eyes with the utmost seriousness. "This is NOT yours!!! This is the property of the bugbears and I will be taking it back! I know you and your pesky desire to covet magic."

He points to the northwest corner of the stinky deerskin map. "This is where the amulet will bring you. This is where my scouts found the opening in the cliff wall. That area should be checked first! Before anyone attacks!" He glares at Othrod again, hoping his offspring can control his blood lust long enough to find out where the tunnel leads.

"Do not make noise or get seen! If you are seen, they will know an attack is coming. The humans in the keep are not as stupid as some of us think!"

As the discussion continues, so does the orcish revelry growing outside of the cave opening. It sounds like a large group of very happy orcs are about to join the meeting. They growl songs of victory as they approach. Horny Carl, still near the entrance, spots a group of about a dozen very happy orcs about to enter the cave. They are lead by the orc tribes chieftain, Dramglug.

[Computer +1]

Shozbot

In Blackspeech Scout group need not be seen. Other group must not attack, need to distract only. Maybe have giant and bugbear fight each other outside of range of tower. Draw eyes but not arrows. Humans not know we all together, make look like fight over space or somethin' He looks at them both, Just no kill each other.

[Starbeard]

Loopis hops lightly from foot to foot around the cave with excitement. "Hmm-hmm! Hmm-hrr! 'Scout, Plan, Attack'. That's good, that's good. 'Scout! Plan! At-tack!' 'Scout! Plan! At-tack!'"

However, after looking the map over, the winged kobold doesn't like what he sees. "This is no good! Lookit all the big towers! Difficult to know where they can and can't see just from the map. We pop up there to scout the tunnel, and nobody knows whatcha gonna find or how easy we can sneak. Gotta have us flighty beasties up in the air first, then we know the best way to scout the ground. 'Scout! Scout a-gain! Plan! At-tack!' That's what I say."

[Pulpatoon]

Nardgrog [...] dangles the blood red amulet in front of Thamansa, teasing her a bit as he does so. He leans in and whispers a single word into the homely bugbears large ear, staring into her eyes with the utmost seriousness. "This is NOT yours!!! This is the property of the bugbears and I will be taking it back! I know you and your pesky desire to covet magic."

When Nardgrog snatches the amulet back, Thamansa snarls at him, but immediately catches herself and turns the snarl into a sycophantic simper.

[Scott308]

Kermut

Realizing he will likely not be going anywhere for a while, the gnoll sits back down. In orcish, he speaks to Loopis.

Flyers go scout now. We wait, then plan when you find all defenses.

[Rusty Tincanne]

The large minotaur sits silently, slowly deciphering what is being said, mumbling and grunting either approval, disapproval, or confusion. It's hard to tell, really. He doesn't like the attitude of the big bugbear. Narbdrawg? Garbdob? Guard Dog! he shouts, totally out of context. When everyone looks his way, he snorts and grunts, Uhh... More orcses are comin'. They invited, or we gonna fight?Or we gonna blink away? He sizes up the giant and other bugbear. Them make a good fight. But not all three of us, and not all three fit in tunnel, right?

He puts his head to his sword and nods. . Yeah. Me most wonder is why you waited 'till now, an' not before when could'a got men in fields, or on carts pulling stuff? Why the Keep with men in iron clothes and swords?

He looks back out the cave at the orcs and lows once in warning.

[Rex]

Othrod

"If we fake fight, Bull and giant best option. I am big, but sneaky too. Send flyers now to scout."

[Rusty Tincanne]

Horny Carl looks around the room for "Bull." Finally his eyebrows arch as he realizes to obvious.

[ravenn4544]

Ondrake shakes his head at all the talk. His hunger and eagerness for a new home growing. "What wait for? Attack and take tower!"

[Urson]

Horsefly

Horsefly grins at Thamansa, showing his many broken teeth. Nope-nope. Horsefly was Mama's favorite snack 'fore I was born. But I been high before- don't mind lookin' down.

He casts the bones again, nods, and puts them away. Scout. plans, attackes. Aways best routine. If you can't stay to that routine, maybe I needs zap you to keep you from gettin' us all killt. He lays a hand on the wand in the dagger sheath on his belt.

[OGRE MAGE]

With the majority of the group agreeing that scouting can be done while the tunnel is investigated, preferably before any attacks are made, the excited orcs burst into the cave, totally disrupting the meeting. They appear very pleased with themselves, making no threatening moves towards the attendees. Dramglug, their chieftain enters with his bodyguards and scowls at Shozbot across the table.

“You claimed the Red Eye clan was no good! You just wait! They are sending a powerful weapon! From deep in the borderlands! It will be here by tomorrow! This weapon is said to move mountains! And they are GIVING it to me, to use for this mission! And I......will give it to YOU!”

He points at Nardgrog who cocks his huge head back in disbelief, though a gleam of interest still shows in his eyes. He scowls at Dramglug as he gives his reply.

“A weapon that can move mountains? That is a powerful thing, and would be very useful in this attack! We could break a hole into a wall, or maybe even knock down an entire tower!”

He glares at the orcs again, not sure why they would offer such a treasure with no demands for themselves. He catches the chieftain giving his captain a knowing nod, as do a few others at the meeting.

“I don’t trust you Dramglug! Never have! But we can use all the help we can get in this raid! I am sure you have some reason for this sudden generosity, but I don’t care!”

He addresses your entire raiding party once again.

“We cannot waste a whole day waiting to scout the keep until tomorrow! I suggest you take the rest of today to prepare, unless you want to go there during the daylight?”

“At sundown, we meet back here again! You can use the amulet to get to the keep. It won’t be a pleasant experience, but we have never lost anyone on the way there before.”

“Spend the night searching the tunnel and gathering any other information you can. Then you will have to blink back here in the morning to discuss your options and wait for this weapon from the orcs!”

“Are there any objections to that?

If that plan is agreeable to everyone (and please feel free to come up with any other options you like), let us know and we will pick this up again once everyone’s posted.

[Rex]

Othrod

With a snarl "Agreed!"

[Rusty Tincanne]

Horny Carl tries to remember if he has ever crossed Nardrog before - giving a reason to try and kill the minotaur. In the end, he comes up empty and decides that maybe the amulet won't just disintegrate him. Sure. Meet here in night time. He rises and steps out of the cave.

[Scott308]

Kermut

In orcish:

I be back before dark.

He then walks out of the cave.

[Pulpatoon]

Thamansa waits until she feels she has Nardrogs permission to leave, and then scampers off to prepare her hexes and potions. Along the way, she will try to scrape together materials for a few molotov cocktails, just in case.

[Urson]

Horsefly

This is goot- I agrees. let's go sneaky-spy...

[Starbeard]

Loopis flutters his wings excitedly. "Tonight we fly and peekaboo!"

The kobold hops out of the cave to stretch his wings and take stock of the weather.

What's the cloud cover like? Looking in the distance, can we tell what sort of weather we'll have at sundown?