The skeletal undead aren't exactly known for their climbing skills so you promptly head over to the steep rockface and set about climbing to a point beyond their reach.  You are almost at the top when the skeletons reach the base.  The attempt to climb but as you had hoped, they are substantially less successful than you.  One of them responds to the situation by tossing his hand axe at you and you move your hand just in time to avoid it.  You make sure it stays stuck in the rockface so it doesn't get to try again, then pull yourself up and over the top. 

 
You are glad to be away from those damn things and now that you are at a slightly higher elevation along the mountainside, there's a good chance you won't be seeing them again.  Just got to keep your cool and remember to be stealthy.  You continue your journey in the same general direction but keep to this elevation for fear of encountering those undead creatures a second time.  After a while, you begin to smell a rather curious smell up ahead.  As you approach you discover a camp situated in what is probably the only forested ledge on this entire mountain range.  You don't initially see anyone there, but you keep your distance and eventually see something hop down rather quickly from one of the trees and go behind another.  You didn't get a good look at whatever it was and you are hoping they haven't seen you. 

 

Nightfall comes and now the occupants of the camp are coming into view.  You never believed that at any time in your entire life you'd ever lay eyes on the creatures you are seeing.  The grippli, a race of humanoid tree frogs standing at 2 feet tall, have organized this camp.  There aren't more than a dozen tops, but grippli are known to be considerable fighters when they need to be and there is no way of knowing if there are more of them in the trees. 


They often prefer to fight with poison darts, nets, and bows as they would prefer to keep their enemy at a distance but a few bear swords.  You see one of them adorned in considerably nicer garb than the others and commands quite a presence from them so you surmise it must be their leader. 

 
Suddenly it occurs to you.  These creatures are in Craxil territory so odds are they work for the Craxil.  That means that instead of wandering the mountain range aimlessly you ought try and extract information regarding the Craxil's whereabouts from the grippli.  Ideally, you could get your hands on their leader but that is going to be easier said than done.  There may not be many grippli present, but each one is a challenge in his own right and you have no way of knowing how many may be in the trees to see what you do.

 
Eventually, the captain retires to his tent as do many others.  Three grippli remain near the campfire out front and again, you have no way of knowing what is still in the trees.  The captain's tent is near the back.  You surmise you could go around, giving the camp a wide berth, and sneak into the captain's tent.  However, you feel like you should at least do SOMETHING about the three on watch or you may be the one getting captured instead.  This is quite a dilly of a pickle indeed.

You construct A Pit Trap And Lure The Three Out Towards You

You need to dispatch with the three grippli keeping watch but you cannot do that in the camp or you will almost certainly get attention.  Therefore, your only real option is to lure them out and eliminate them somehow while they're away from camp.  Even if you do lure them away from their camp though, three grippli are more than a match for you so you are going to have to construct a trap of some sort.  You remember seeing a small drop off in the middle of the path you just came down and that gives you an idea. 

 

 
You take about a dozen of your arrows and plant them firmly in the ground (arrowhead up) at the bottom of the hole you encountered along the path.  You only lightly cover it with what little large leaves and vines you can find, then cover this foliage completely with sand and small rocks (enough to cover the vegetation but not enough to make it fall into the hole).  Your hope is that you will be able to lure your three grippli out here away from the camp and then fall in on top of your arrows.  The only thing left to do is figure out how you are going to lure them away from the camp without them alerting the camp as well.

 
You decide to mimic the sounds of the small prairie dog like creatures out here and toss small pebbles around the corner where they would see them.  You seem to have their attention as they are too bored to really entertain themselves with anything else.   Unfortunately, the prairie dog gag isn't enough to make them come so next you imitate the sound of a ewe while making loud pawing noises at the ground.  For whatever reason, this one gets their attention and they start approaching quietly with their weapons drawn. 

 

You continue making animals noises but move back slowly at the same time.  At point for them is a hunter brandishing a bow.  The other two apparently believe in the sword.  Maybe that's not as atypical for a grippli as you thought.  You are careful to remain unseen but back up slowly and continue leading them forth with animal noises.  Eventually the game is up as the hunter seems to get suspicous and notices you are there.  You turn and run using the indentations in the rockwall to your right to help protect you from arrow fire.  You take your position behind a rock on the other side of the trap and to your glee they are running straight for it. 

 
YES!  The sound of your cover giving way under their weight is music to your ears, as are the ribbits of pain emitted shortly thereafter.  You surmise they are dead until one of them jumps out of the pit with only a leg wound.  He pulls out his sword and glares at you.  You feel like facing him like this, it would be an even match.  Still, you would much prefer some kind of advantage whereever you can get it.  You draw your sword and begin to think carefully about how this is going to go down.

You rush The Creature And Try To Push Him Back Into The Pit

You realize that if the pit was good enough to kill the other two then knocking him in again ought do the trick pretty quick.  Plus, he's still standing only a few feet from the edge.  You charge in at him and strike your sword vertically at his face.  He parries as you knew he would, and now you prepare to push his 2 foot little keister back into the pit. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

The problem with this strategy is that it is predictable.  The grippli knew what you were doing as soon as you began the charge.  It hopes well out of the way and launches a charge of his own.  He cannot match your strength (which is saying a lot coming from you) but he is so damn fast that you can't react to his moves in time to avoid getting stabbed.  This persists for a while until finally you drop to the ground looking like one of Freddie Kruger's victims.  With a sense of pride, the 2 foot little froggie bastard walks off back to camp no doubt to brag to his friends what he just accomplished.

 
THE END