Nate took a swig from his beer, checking something behind his divider. While Sean waited, he let himself get lost in Nate's features. Nate had such soft features and bright eyes. Nate raised his hand to crack his neck and Sean watched how his fingers lingered along his jawbone, then traced over his soft lips. Sean raised his own hand subconsciously to cover his mouth as he licked his dry lips. Watching Nate do little things like that was having a strange effect on him. Nate looked up at him suddenly, causing Sean to quickly lower his eyes to his character sheet. Nate cleared his throat casually, carrying on with the game. "So, you leave the Inn and head toward the South-West of the village. There you find decently sized wooden sheep pens and set off from the village is a large swamp water pond, set just inside the wood line of a dark murky forest." Sean visualized the image as much as he could, asking him curiously. "Can I see anything? Things like tracks?" 

Nate smirked, telling him clearly. "Make a perception check." Sean inhaled deeply and rolled his D20, answering hopefully. "Thirteen?" Nate nodded, continuing on for him. "Good. So, as you search around the outside of these sheep pens. You do notice some sunken foot prints in the mud leading to and from the pond. The foot prints aren't in the mud very deep. Suggesting that the creature doesn't weigh a whole lot and walks on two legs. The tracks appear to be a few hours old and appear to be made by a creature with webbed feet. You even notice a slimy green residue on one of the wooden fence posts." Sean thought for a long moment, mumbling out almost to himself. "The tracks lead into the water?" Nate gave him an approving nod. Sean tapped a finger on his beer bottle, then asked him. "I want to walk around this pond and see if it got out at some point." Nate checked something, answering with a wicked smirk. "I need you to make a Initiative Check."

Nate rolled a dice behind the divider, adding out for him. "For this, roll your D20 and add the modifier points to your... Reflex throw. So, roll the D20 and add your Dexterity modifier to it." Sean rolled his dice, exhaling out under his breath. "Oh fuck... It's a six... What did you do to me?" Nate chuckled to himself, telling him in his storytelling voice. "Ok. So, as you are making your way around this swampy pond. Your attention is so focused on finding those same wedded footprints, that you walk into the tall thick reeds. As you do, a small scaly figure jumps at you in surprise!" Sean dropped his face into his hands, grumbling out. "Oh shite... I'm dead." Nate laughed, adding out innocently. "Not yet. Now this little guy's roll was an eighteen. What is your AC or Armor Class?" Sean peeked between his fingers to check, answering. "It's fourteen." Nate tried to suppress a smirk as he told him. "Well then... The little guy pierces your armor and now gets to roll for damage."

Sean shook his head, mumbling out playfully. "That's just great... A rogue assassin... taken out by a god damn... What is he exactly?" Nate finished calculating the damage, answering thoroughly amused. "Well, as you are knocked to the ground on your back in the mud. This little reptilian humanoid stabs you in the shoulder with his little spear for... eight damage to your Hit Points or HP. You can see this little creature is about the same height as a small child and you know him as a Kobold. A crocodile looking humanoid. You know they get much bigger than this, but this appears to be a young one. You know from your mentor that these young ones are scavengers and tend to hunt in small groups to survive." Sean lowered his hands to narrow his eyes on Nate, muttering out. "I knew you were going to kill me with something tiny." Nate chuckled, checking his character sheet and stating innocently back. "Hey, you're not dead. You still have ten HP left. I'm sure you can take him."

Sean straightened up, taking another sip of his beer, before telling Nate confidently. "Ok. I'm going to Assassin's Creed his arse then. I'll put my hand on his neck and trigger my wrist dagger." Nate chuckled to himself, telling him. "Alright. You'll need to roll your D20 and see if you hit his AC." Sean gave Nate a pitiful puppy look, stating meekly. "But... I'm hitting him at point blank range... It should hit." Nate shook his head, retorting firmly. "That's not how it works. His skin is like armor and for all I know... You could be a terrible shot." Sean rolled his eyes and rolled his dice, answering curiously. "Sixteen." Nate gave him a thumbs up, informing him lightly. "Good. You pierced his thick scaly skin. Now roll your damage. Which is the weapons attack die. Which for you is a one D4." Sean crossed his fingers and rolled the little D4. When he peeked, he bit his lip, asking nervously. "It's four?" Nate's eyes widened, uttering out in shock. "Oh, wow. You killed him. He only had four HP. So, Your wrist dagger slides out into his neck. Killing him instantly and quietly. Now what would you like to do?"

Sean let out the breath he was holding in relief, telling Nate hopefully. "Ok... I would like to set his body down and sit up into a crouch. Since I know that these creatures don't hunt alone... I don't want to attract anymore attention to myself. I want to stay hidden." Nate took a sip from his beer, replying honestly. "You can do that. Anything else?" Sean looked over his character sheet closer, asking unsure. "Do the footprints I saw by the sheep pen match this creature?" Nate shook his head with a wicked smirk, telling him. "Nope. The Kobold has smaller feet and only three toes. The footprints have at least four long thin webbed feet." Sean tapped his dice on the table, mumbling out to himself. "That means these guys didn't take the sheep... Damn it." Nate leaned his elbow on the table, continuing on with the story. "Around this time, you can see more of these little Kobolds just inside the wood line through the tall grassy reeds your hiding in. The ground is covered in a thick early morning fog that is making them hard to see, but you hear them talking to each other. You can hear one say..."

Nate cleared his throat doing his best impression of a frustrated high pitched voice that slurred its 'S' in a hissing sound. "Gripclaw! Ssstop ssscrewing around! Help me drag thisss!" Nate's voice then returned to normal to inform him quickly, before doing the next Kobold's voice. "You see a Kobold peek out from behind a tree to stare in your general direction. His bright yellow eyes scanning the reeds. Probably looking for his companion, or maybe he heard something. You're not sure. Either way, Gripclaw keeps scanning the reeds and shushes a companion that you heard, but can't see. Then he softly tells his comrade. 'Little-Bite hasss been gone too long... Two-Toe, we ssshould go check on him." Nate picked up his dice, rolling it quietly to himself, before stating out. "Gripclaw, does not see you, or his dead friend in the reeds. However, he does start making his way cautiously out toward you. While Two-Toe yells after him. 'We don't have time to wassste, Gripclaw! The beassst will be back any minute! Let'sss just take the kill and go! For all we know, it'sss back in the pond now looking for it!"

Sean raised a hand to point at Nate in mocking seriousness, scolding him playfully. "Nate! No! Don't you fucking dare! I swear to god, if it grabs me from behind and pulls me into the lake... I'll... I'll tell Rylo that your not his real dad!" Nate dropped his face into his hand to laugh heartily. Rylo heard his name and trotted over to the table, his tail wagging happily. Sean pet Rylo's head, relaxing in his seat with a laugh of his own. After regaining his composure, he asked Nate calmly. "Do I know if these guys can be reasoned with?" Nate calmed himself down enough to tell him. "Umm... You know that they are lawful evil. So, you can... but if you attack them, they will fight to the death. Why? What do you want to do?" Sean sighed heavily, answering nervously. "I want to try and talk to them and see if they know what this beast is. Since they seem to know of it."

Nate shrugged, admitting to him neutrally. "Ya, you can do that. You want to step out and ask them? Or stay hidden?" Sean thought about staying hidden, but feared that the Kobold body would be discovered. Taking a sig for courage, he told Nate only semi-confidently. "I'm going to carefully make my way out of the reeds being as nonthreatening as I can be. Asking them if they know where this 'beast' is and what it might be?" Nate checked his book, before informing him casually. "I'm going to need you to make a... Diplomacy or an Intimidation Check. Whatever one your character is better at." Sean snorted to himself, muttering out. "I guess, I'm going to be intimidating them into telling me... But I have a feeling that I'm going to roll low and realize that I can't speak Kobold, right?" Nate laughed, giving him an innocent shrug. Sean shook his dice, then held them to Rylo's nose for him to blow on for luck. It was silly, but he needed all the luck he could get.

Rolling the dice, Sean held his breath. Peeking down at them, he told Nate softly. "Fifteen?" Nate threw up his arms with a smile, regaling out to him. "You emerge from the reeds. Slowly, straightening up to your full height. Gripclaw freezes before you. He has to tilt his head back to look up at you, his eyes wide as you ask him and his comrade your questions. Behind the tree that Gripclaw came from, another Kobold appears. Hissing out to you. 'Big beassst makesss trouble for everyone! You wisssh to kill him, yesss?!" Sean gave Nate a nod and Nate continued on. "At this point, Two-Toe will creep out from behind the tree and point a short ways into the woods. From here, you can see it is a large cave in a mossy hillside. Gripclaw looks you over, before telling you angrily. 'He chasssed usss out, he did! You kill him good! You do thisss and clan Bloody Meat will honor you forever!' Behind Gripclaw, Two-Toe will nod rapidly, butting out. 'You kill big ssstinky face!"

Sean bit the tip of his thumb in thought, before telling Nate curiously. "They didn't tell me what he is..." Nate grinned back at him and Sean could almost see the devil horns on his head. He wasn't going to tell him. Sean licked his lips again, staring down at his character sheet. While telling Nate that he wanted to creep toward the cave to see if there was any signs of the creature, Sean decided to play his own head games with Nate. Under the table, his foot found Nate's. Rubbing his foot lovingly over his, he then slowly moved his foot up Nate's leg. Nate's smug smile fell away as he glanced down at his lap. Sean extended his long leg out along Nate's thigh, simply resting his foot between his legs. Nate shifted on his seat, taking a hard swig of his beer as he breathlessly told him. "That is cheating, you know." Sean folded his hands to rest his head on, giving Nate a wicked smile as he retorted back with devil horns of his own. "I don't see it as cheating. I see it as bribing a god for good fortune." To Be Continued...