The Nature of Predators - Krev DND (3/3)

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The party followed Mavai to the edge of the hallway, catching a glimpse of the Trombil-built metal guardians. It was like looking at an armor stand, which made the motion seem unnatural; it wasn’t fully understood in Evrel how they were stitched together and acted on a directive, yet with a mind of their own. They were bound to the Slayers’ wishes to keep any unwanted visitors out, so there was no option to persuade them. It would be like convincing a forge not to smelt melt placed inside it; the only way through toward the sunsteel repository was to get past them.

“Finally! Some combat,” Blessa cheered. “Hey, the Trombil are like dwarves in this? I would roleplay a great dwarf.”

Juvrelor sighed. “What crazy—ahem, out of character—nonsense are you on about? We could try sneaking past the metal guardians, instead of risking death where it’s not necessary.”

“We can’t all burrow like Toddel.”

“She has a point,” the Smigli agreed. “You guys have fun with those big metal guys. I’m chilling. See you in the next room; I might have to carry if you all die.”

Lenelda snorted, lips curling up enough to reveal her fangs. “You’re starting to sound like Tay—Blessa. Such arrogance just from literally bypassing the whole mission.” 

“We all picked our classes. Some people picked better than others, by virtue of trying to be interesting.”

“Our chatter is going to alert them!” Juvrelor hissed, doing that adorable human shushing motion: one itty-bitty finger raised to his plump lips. “Let’s whisper a plan. Thankfully, there’s no Toddel bullshit that could ruin—” 

Blessa raised her claws happily. “Why doesn’t Toddel poke their head out and lure the metal guardians away? They can just burrow back down out of reach if it gets dicey. Then, we all walk on by!”

Mavai’s expression was one of exasperation and disgust: the Resket warrior hated the cowardice and cheap tactics he saw on display, and soon, might rethink his prior persuasion that Blessa the Nutripetrologist was worthy of being a slayer. Was the Krev even actually a Nutripetrologist? He hadn’t seen her do anything related to her speciality. This kind of nonsense wasn’t going to work when they had to slay a firefossil at the end of this all. Toddel couldn’t just lure it into a cage—”

“Why not?” Blessa demanded.

“Yeah. Why not?” the Smigli seconded.

Mavai despaired that these buffoons were interrupting even his internal narration; they weren’t taking this seriously at all. He was very close to disbanding this whole mission, regardless of how critical it was to the land that they eliminate the monster. The Resket could also just forge on alone and leave them to bumble around to their own devices. He was there to hold their paws during their first foray into combat, but they clearly didn’t need him: they had Toddel. Spectacular.

“No, don’t leave us,” Blessa protested. “What’s important is that we make it to the sunsteel, right? We’re just civilians of Kamta village and we’ve been through a lot. If we can think our way out of a few encounters, that is taking it seriously. Like Juvrelor said, we don’t want to risk death if we don’t need to, right?”

The Resket sealed his eyes shut, reassembling the last remains of his patience. He regretted everything. “One last chance. Any more nonsense and I don’t care if today’s adventures were supposed to be longer; I’m at my obor enterprise limit.”

“Do Reskets even have the saying ‘obor enterprise?’” Lenelda demanded.

Mavai gave her a look that could kill. He reluctantly went along with the party’s idea to find a hiding spot, and pointed to an alcove in the wall. Blessa whispered if there were any cardboard boxes to hide in, which struck the Resket as a dumb idea even for her; he might be missing some context, especially since that was NOT a medieval item he’d ever heard of. Lenelda suggested they squeezed behind a stone statue of a Slayer, carved down to the smallest details on his sword hilt. 

It was time for Toddel to work their “magic,” if you could call popping up and hiding below the ground any time danger surfaced that. A part of Mavai’s soul and the weight behind his priceless reputation, as a respected servant of the Emperor, had died in these ruins. He watched the ratchety metal beings follow after the Smigli. The statue and dim lighting provided a bonus for stealth, as well as the fact the hostiles had been alerted earlier.

The party still took a cautious approach, waiting and peeking to ensure that Toddel had lured all of the guardians away. One, however, hadn’t followed the burrowing Smigli and continued to prowl the room. They never left the chamber completely unguarded, and the one left behind jogged Mavai’s memory after he succeeded at slight perception. This metal protector was the largest of the bunch, which meant it would be harder to take down and had more power behind its swings as well…

“We need another distraction. Can I roll to seduce the guardian?” Blessa asked, striking a provocative pose.

Mavai nearly choked on his own tongue. “What? No! We’re done for today; this session is being cut short, and everyone will know it’s your fault.”

“We were scheduled to play for another hour. Don’t be a stick in the mud.”

“I don’t care if we were supposed to play way longer. We’ll pick this up next time, when I’m prepared for how to squash your nonsense. I have been a Chronicler for many years, and never had a campaign derailed like this!”

Lenelda…Quana snickered. “Still love your ‘cute primate’ humans, Gress?”

“They are cute and can get away with it, but only in small doses at once. I need to detox.”

“Hate the game, not the player,” Cherise chuckled. “If you’ve never had problems like this, honestly, the Krev must be pretty narrow-minded on uses for the Earthshaker abilities. That’s the only limit in tabletop games.”

“I guess I’m too narrow-minded to account for everything. All of my hard work, just ripped up, circumvented, and disregarded. I wanted to give you all ample opportunities for immersion, and weave a lovely little yarn…”

“Don’t give up, Gress. You’ll be more adaptable and quick on your feet at the end of this. Your planning is admirable.”

“I haven’t planned for all the ways everything can be abused. It seems humans excel at finding those.”

With the metal guardian encounter brought to an early close, the fate of the Crawlers and Firefossils group was still up in the air. Gress would need to evaluate the storytelling strategies that had served him well for years, until humans were brought into the picture. He would have to decide if it was worth it to continue these weekly meetings and tell the rest of the story despite the challenges. 

A/N - Krev DND 3 gets taken down shortly into the session, as the group disbands early and swiftly due to Taylor’s strategies and the failure to heed Mavai’s last chance. Toddel once again proves to be the cornerstone of skipping all encounters. Do you think Gress should continue his story? How do you feel about a Krev Chronicler struggling to keep up with the human penchant for loopholes and antics?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting! On a meta note, do let me know if you guys want to see more of this; with the numbers it’s pulling (or not pulling), I’m on the fence about continuing it. I don’t want to release content that doesn’t appeal to the fans, you all are most important to me!