Luthiel

No problem. Anyway, just saw the post about closing to new applications, so I'll pass on this one.

Hmmm, I haven't done 3.5 in awhile. I'm kinda in the mood to roll a dread necromancer, but it doesn't look like Heroes of Horror or Libris Mortis are on the list of approved books?

- Ratfolk Rogue 1 AC (CMD): 15 (12) | HP: 6/10 (6 non-lethal dmg)| Init: +4 | Perception: + 8 | Fort: +2 | Ref: +6| Will: +2 | Speed: 20 | Conditions: Fatigued, Unconscious Tik watches Tannus and the other bigfolk - Ichiro, he reminds himself with an effort - head off towards the water source, carrying the group's crude waterskins. Though his inclination is to head off towards the distant, oh-so-tempting gleam, he realizes that his shorter stride will just slow the two bigfolk down. With that, he turns off towards the rocks with the remainder of the party. By the time they finally reach the base of the slope, Tik is visibly sagging as dehydration begins to take its toll. Weakened by the heat and lack of water, the little ratfolk struggles up the rocks, making it halfway up before losing his grip and rolling back down to the bottom. Tik lies in a heap for a long moment, head swimming, before rolling slowly to his feet and laboriously struggling up the hill again. Again, however, the climb is too much in his weakened state, and this time the fall leaves him motionless, battered into unconsciousness.

Rollin' Edit: ah, crap, forgot to subtract 1 from the climb check from fatigue, that's a failure. Edit 2: craaaaaaap, I'm getting my ass kicked by gravity. 🙁

Sooo... we have two votes for the cave and one vote for heading directly to the water, yes?

    Tik - Ratfolk Rogue 1 AC (CMD): 15 (12) | HP: 10/10 | Init: +4 | Perception: + 8 | Fort: +2 | Ref: +6| Will: +2 | Speed: 20 | Conditions: Fatigued Tik awakens from a restless night's sleep, rubbing his eyes blearily. Though the much-needed sleep helped assuage his fatigue somewhat, the lack of water is just as draining. His dry tongue darts out of his parched mouth briefly, involuntarily, as the hope that today's travels will bring them to water flits across his mind. He lends Grace what little help he can as the group sets out again, though his size means that what aid he can offer is more in the way of encouragement than physical support. After staggering to the top of the rise, with the sunlight gleaming off the distant water, Tik sags to his haunches for a long moment. So close, and yet so far away! It takes a moment of gazing across the arid landscape ahead before he spots what looks to be a cave, and his whiskers twitch in consternation. "It looks like it'd be cooler in there," he mutters to no one in particular, "but who knows what might be living there already?" Tik rubs his eyes again, willing his heat-addled thoughts into some semblance of concentration. "I think..." he says slowly after a long few moments, "maybe we should... skip the cave for now? It... it doesn't look like it's that much closer than that water is, does it?" He leaves unspoken the thought that he really doesn't want to risk the uncertain terrors of the cave, especially not feeling so drained and thirsty. OOC      

Rollin rollin rollin, poor Tik's lips are swollen....

Sounds like a plan. Tik's too slow to keep up with the bigfolk (damn little legs!), so I guess he's staying with Grace and whoever else isn't going for water.

Hmmm. Dog-hide parasols to keep the sun off of us? Elegant and barbaric at the same time! 😝

I'm guessing that as a ratfolk, Tik probably has a somewhat... less discerning palate, shall we say? So eating the dogs, at least, seems like a good plan. We can save Frood for later shouldn't eat NPCs, though. Because that would be wrong. 😝

I vote we gut Frood like a fish and drink his blood!   (Kidding.) (...mostly)

    Tik - Ratfolk Rogue 1 AC (CMD): 15 (12) | HP: 10/10 | Init: +4 | Perception: + 8 | Fort: +2 | Ref: +6| Will: +2 | Speed: 20 | Conditions: Fatigued Tik stands and stares out into the gloom, waiting for the next attack to come. When it becomes clear that no more dogs are willing to try their luck against the group, the adrenaline wears off and the ratfolk slumps down into a quivering ball of fur, fighting desperately to maintain his composure. "They... they won't come back. Right?" he finally manages, his breathing still ragged, eyes darting around nervously. It takes Tik a few moments before realizing that another bigfolk had joined the group during the fight, and he tries - unsuccessfully - to hide his shock and anxiety at this unexpected arrival. The belated recognition that said bigfolk was another former resident of the facility mollifies him only slightly. Still, it's clear that the bigfolk - Lassen, Tik hears him called - came to the party's aid during the attack, so there's that to be said for him. Tik glances down and realizes his small blade is still coated in blood. With a little shudder, he stands up, steps over to the body of one of the slain dog and fastidiously wipes the dagger clean on a relatively clean patch of fur. OOC      

Don't forget that flanking gives a +2 to hit... I did. 😝

    Tik - Ratfolk Rogue 1 AC (CMD): 15 (12) | HP: 10/10 | Init: +4 | Perception: + 8 | Fort: +2 | Ref: +6| Will: +2 | Speed: 20 | Conditions: Fatigued Tik is surprised by how easily his small blade sinks in to the dog's side. Scarcely pausing to think about it, he stabs at the animal again as it attempts to flee, but he narrowly misses making contact. Another dog comes in hot on the injured one's heels, though, and Tik is forced to leap back to avoid the snapping jaws, swinging wildly with his dagger in a frantic attempt to fend off the beast. OOC First attack is the AoO on the retreating dog. Moving to flank the new attacker if necessary and possible without provoking an AoO myself. I didn't include the 1 point of non-lethal damage in either damage roll.    

Hey, at least you don't have a size penalty, too. 🤷‍♂️