[X] Turn back to Andoran, you'll have to pay a one fifth tithe on the adamantine, but at least no more than that
I'm fine finishing the Arc like this.
I'm honestly more worried about Urgor, since he's the only one who actually needs the maximum possible amount of coin for his plans to pacify an entire fallen Dwarfhold.
Honestly, that's the kinda thing better done with a full army eather than some adventuring mercenaries.
It's always best to assume both stupidity and greed in a noble, especially one so well known as having a gambling problem and being in serious debt. Our adamantine and gear would be a very tempting prize for that sort of asshole.
So you would prefer a competent opponent? If we can't manipulate a stupid noble, what are those social Skills for?
It's not merely a matter of defeating the guy and his escorts. We have our party, Leontas' mercs, the Dwarves, and three Ohancanu. Instead, we would need to watch our backs the whole trip and worry about the noble arranging for backup once we're deep into Taldor, where his power and influence would be more solid.
Deep in Taldor is also where the duchess' influence should be greatest. Who's going to support us if we go back to Andoran? Thanks to rat-guy, everybody knows about us.
I also want to pick the social battle because it looks more interesting than fighting random bandits and thieves.
[x] Snuggest that the caravan should get off the road, you trust Gorok's scouting to see you through, even in these spirit-haunted woods
-[X] Gorok prepares Speak with Birds and Deadeye's Lore.
I'd like to switch out Gorok's combat spells for spells that help with scouting if we're off-roading. If we don't go off road then I'd vastly prefer paying the higher tax over trying to cow a desperate noble who is really looking for a way to pay his debts.
Considering any intimidation checks we'll have to make: Remember that one of those places on Gorok's belt is occupied by a Horned Demon's head. What circumstantial bonus is that going to give us?
So you would prefer a competent opponent? If we can't manipulate a stupid noble, what are those social Skills for?
Deep in Taldor is also where the duchess' influence should be greatest. Who's going to support us if we go back to Andoran? Thanks to rat-guy, everybody knows about us.
I also want to pick the social battle because it looks more interesting than fighting random bandits and thieves.
The noble that is present is almost always the one you have to worry about rather than the one who is far away chilling in their castle somewhere.
She has more power, but she isn't on the scene. If he thinks the payday is big enough, he can claim authority in her name and expect to get his way while being able to sweep any issues under the rug doing so causes.
We might be able to manipulate him, we might even be able to do it long enough to avoid any major issues. We might not, however, and if it goes wrong it could go really wrong.
I would rather just go back to Andoran, pay the taxes, and wrap up the arc. Paying the taxes are not necessarily a bad thing, either. Gorok's tribe are soon to become Andoran citizens, so the optics of him bringing such a large infusion of wealth into the area paints them all in a good light.
Heading back now also works in our favor because we have Leontas' mercs coming back with us. They'll be getting a big payday, but they might like another job without having to wait around or worry too much about who their new employer will be. Maybe they would be available to escort Gorok's tribe back to Andoran?
The noble that is present is almost always the one you have to worry about rather than the one who is far away chilling in their castle somewhere.
She has more power, but she isn't on the scene. If he thinks the payday is big enough, he can claim authority in her name and expect to get his way while being able to sweep any issues under the rug doing so causes.
Good luck convincing soldiers to attack us while we wave our demon head in front of everyone. It doesn't sound like he has a big incentive to offer anyone. The loot, if they succeed, is already spoken for.
We might be able to manipulate him, we might even be able to do it long enough to avoid any major issues. We might not, however, and if it goes wrong it could go really wrong.
It could indeed go very wrong. But what makes you convinced that the Andoran choice is safe?
I would rather just go back to Andoran, pay the taxes, and wrap up the arc. Paying the taxes are not necessarily a bad thing, either. Gorok's tribe are soon to become Andoran citizens, so the optics of him bringing such a large infusion of wealth into the area paints them all in a good light.
Heading back now also works in our favor because we have Leontas' mercs coming back with us. They'll be getting a big payday, but they might like another job without having to wait around or worry too much about who their new employer will be. Maybe they would be available to escort Gorok's tribe back to Andoran?
Good luck convincing soldiers to attack us while we wave our demon head in front of everyone. It doesn't sound like he has a big incentive to offer anyone. The loot, if they succeed, is already spoken for.
It could indeed go very wrong. But what makes you convinced that the Andoran choice is safe?
Those are good arguments. But we've already been there. I would rather go somewhere else.
We have to go back for several reasons, namely to get our payment from the Pathfinders and to arrange transit for Gorok's tribe. Those are priorities, IMO.
Andoran is friendly to us and we're going to have a lot of wealth to spend. Between our various paydays, I would like to do some gear upgrades and maybe sell some stuff before we head back out. Need to prepare to help Urgor soon, too.
[x] Snuggest that the caravan should get off the road, you trust Gorok's scouting to see you through, even in these spirit-haunted woods
-[X] Gorok prepares Speak with Birds and Deadeye's Lore.
I trust in Gorok, and I think we can deal with any locals if needed.
[x] Snuggest that the caravan should get off the road, you trust Gorok's scouting to see you through, even in these spirit-haunted woods
-[X] Gorok prepares Speak with Birds and Deadeye's Lore.
I trust in Gorok, and I think we can deal with any locals if needed.
Gorok and the rest of the party could probably pull it off with a minimum of trouble, barring really bad luck, but half the reason I want to go back to Andoran is because it aligns with our other goals. The longer we delay moving Gorok's tribe, the greater the chance for something bad to happen to them in Cheliax.
Gorok and the rest of the party could probably pull it off with a minimum of trouble, barring really bad luck, but half the reason I want to go back to Andoran is because it aligns with our other goals. The longer we delay moving Gorok's tribe, the greater the chance for something bad to happen to them in Cheliax.
Also, now that I think about it, moving through the forest would probably be very difficult. Our party could manage pretty easily since we're a small group with various relevant skills, spells, and abilities, but we also have the mercs, the Dwarves, the adamantine, the wagons, etc. I'm not sure how well we could lead all of that without leaving a huge trail to follow and going extremely slowly.
[x] Snuggest that the caravan should get off the road, you trust Gorok's scouting to see you through, even in these spirit-haunted woods
-[X] Gorok prepares Speak with Birds and Deadeye's Lore.
The news that you might encounter one of the more 'fragrant flowers of Taldan aristocracy', as Mina puts it with an uncommon amount of heat for her, is not taken well. Urgor doesn't want to give up a fifth of the adamantine to the Andoran taxman, even though that would be less than the cut of the Consortium would have taken, Leontas seemingly has his own reasons for wanting to head east instead of back west, and both of them wonder why Gorok can't find a way through the woods when he was able to find a dragon on the wing. The fact that you were the ones to bring the bad news and could be constructed to be in some way responsible for this new obstacle does not help Sirim's arguments for caution. Maybe Gorok shouldn't have worn the demon's horns around his neck, come to that.
"We are not even heading into Northern Tandak, my lady," Leontas says, looking at Mina even though he'd been talking to her familiar. It's a good thing Sirim's pride does not manifest in a way that's bruised by such things. "We'll be crossing into the Verduran Province, which hasn't had a governor since the Even-Tongued Conquest and the break up of the Empire. It's druids and 'keth' on this side, druids and 'keth' on the other. If this noble knight wants to challenge us for the contents of our wagons, he'll have to do it with nothing but his escort behind him. Given what we've set ourselves against in the last few days, I think we can deal with some Taldan house-soldiers."
The way he says it is rather more insulting than the Taldans would like, you suspect.
"If he can find us he'll have to dare fight us, and if the dandy dares he'll have to actually fight us," Urgor agrees. Judging from the the grim smiles on the faces of dwarves and man there's little more to say.
Finding a path for heavy wagons off the road is easier said than done, not least because the widest ways through the forest are traveled by creatures sundry and strange. More than once Gorok blows a borrowed horn once to stop and twice to turn back at once at the sign of some mark best avoided, and through the long dark nights twice over you have to wake and harness the horses at once at the sight of strange lights among the trees. The Mendevians call them wisps, Mina calls them Gallows' Lights, but both agree they aren't to be followed by any who does not wish to walk with the Lady of Graves.
On the fifth day out from the crashsite though you come upon a sign both more solid and more worrisome of something. On the banks of a stream cutting north and south towards the plains bones lie, strewn haphazardly. No wolf or bear's feast this though, the few scraps of ruined clothing can attest to that as well as the tooth-marks still on the small bone. This, according to Gorok, had been a hunting party of kobolds pinned against the river by larger fiercer foes, ogres. Some of them had tried to swim across, but they must have been easy marks for throw stones from the bank.
Gorok Survival to Navigate (DC 23): 1d20+11+4 (Dead Eye's Lore) = 31 (Success)
Gorok Survival to Identify the Remains (DC 25): 1d20+11+4 (Dead Eye's Lore) = 23 (Failure)
Gorok Survival to Identify the Remains Re-roll (DC 25): 1d20+11+4 (Dead Eye's Lore) = 32(Success)
"Serves the tunnel rats right," Urgot mutters into his beard, somewhat to your surprise. When was the last time his kin had even met a kobold, much less he himself, and this tribe in particular? Maybe the old saying's right and you shouldn't try to match a dwarf for spite.
Mayhap you are not the only one to think so. A stone comes flying out of the woods and strikes him on the helm with a hollow clang.
Sharp are the eyes of dwarves at dusk, though not quite as sharp as yours. You spy the patch of roughly kobold-shaped warmth up among the branches of one of the larger trees, oak you think, even though he's covered in green paint. You also spy one of his ankles is twisted and swollen.
Might have gotten away from the orgres, but you don't think that kobold's long for life, especially if those lights come back.
Good thing we still have fey giant guys with us, and I'm sure they would love to fight ogres.
We have been giving them good fights lately.
[X] Call out to the wounded kobold, you could use some local knowledge and he could use someone to look at that ankle
Urgor likely to be ignored about this, given the little shit slinged a rock at his head, but his knowledge could be helpful and kobold npcs tend to be fun!
Would be cute if he and Cob got along like a house on fire... which they likely would start themselves.
I'm genuinely fine with this. While loosing 20% would have been painful, I thought the caravan would have been more annoyed with risking the forest (on our say-so). Never feels good to fail a roll, but this was a lesser failure, provided it doesn't make the caravan think less of us in general.
Anyway, Local Knowledge get!
@DragonParadox, the 'Call out' reads as a Diplo option, if it is, would the subvote below be enough to avoid the curse? [X] Call out to the wounded kobold, you could use some local knowledge and he could use someone to look at that ankle
-[X] Mina readies fortune on Kori
-[X] [bluff]"Our guide - our friend, that knew these lands was slain by Ogres four days ago. [non-bluff bargain] If you would advise us the best you can to the dangers here we'll heal up your leg"
This might end with us fighting the local ogres who killed this person's group, and that's fine. Kobolds are cute little guys. They deserve mini-hoards and warm blankets.
I'm genuinely fine with this. While loosing 20% would have been painful, I thought the caravan would have been more annoyed with risking the forest (on our say-so). Never feels good to fail a roll, but this was a lesser failure, provided it doesn't make the caravan think less of us in general.
Anyway, Local Knowledge get!
@DragonParadox, the 'Call out' reads as a Diplo option, if it is, would the subvote below be enough to avoid the curse? [X] Call out to the wounded kobold, you could use some local knowledge and he could use someone to look at that ankle
-[X] Mina readies fortune on Kori
-[X] [bluff]"Our guide - our friend, that knew these lands was slain by Ogres four days ago. [non-bluff bargain] If you would advise us the best you can to the dangers here we'll heal up your leg"
This might end with us fighting the local ogres who killed this person's group, and that's fine. Kobolds are cute little guys. They deserve mini-hoards and warm blankets.
[X] Call out to the wounded kobold, you could use some local knowledge and he could use someone to look at that ankle -[X] Mina readies fortune on Kori -[X] [bluff]"Our guide - our friend, that knew these lands was slain by Ogres four days ago. [non-bluff bargain] If you would advise us the best you can to the dangers here we'll heal up your leg"
Motioning to the others to stop and to the giants for quiet, since trickery doesn't seem to be their sharpest skill, you call out to the remaining kobold with a story you hope will allay suspicion at least; a guide killed in the night and dragged off by hungry ogres, leaving the whole company with naught but woodscraft and what sight of the sky can be gleamed between the branches by night and by day. What you did not expect was the reptilian head to pop up between the branches, slitted orange eyes wide and exclaim in broken but understandable Taldan: "It's Gnashes! Gnashers took your guide-man! Like Gnashers killed my hunt-band! I can show you where to find 'em so's you can kill 'em!"
Cob's eyes light up at the mention of killing and, one assumes, looting the giant-kin, but he's the only one. Urgor glares up at the tree with such vigor that if he could set it alight with naught but his gaze it would be cinders, Leontas sets a hand to calming his horse, but doesn't look too convinced as men and dwarves alike seem more worried about a kobold ambush than the ogres coming back, to judge from the sudden buzz of chatter.
Under Mina's arcane ministrations the scout, who introduces himself as Sweep Tail, explains with only a little prompting that his tribe, Soot Eyes, so named for the black markings they paint around their eyes to protect from the glare of the sun, are new to these lands. They had migrated from the north last summer, chasing rumors of a dragon, for of course kobolds are kin to dragons and seek their company when they can find them. Having no caves to call their own, something your new acquaintance seems shamed by, the tribe made due with tents of hide and temporary burrows dug into the side of low mounds. That last bit gets a rough laugh from the largest of the ohancanu, and it's not hard to guess why. If they had been so unwise as to dig into one of the fey mounds, it probably played no small part in the trail of misfortunes that, for this one at least, ended in the fateful meeting with the ogres.
"They was going somewhere, they was going after the dragon too. 'E said, the big one with the red hair all matted 'n blood, said 'e was gonna eat right, said 'e was gonna eat dragon's heart," he says, the little fellow shuddering at the blasphemy.
"Why eat... dragon?" Gorok asks the reasonable question for someone who has just witnessed a dragon, be it one as young as Sylestrix, fight. "Eight ogres... "
"Nine," Sweep Tail snaps out nervously. "Why they want? They're mad an' hungry maybe. They're gorgers, not smart, not-love Great-Ones," you can hear the emphasis in the words, though it's hard to tell if he means dragons or something else.
"To test themselves," another giant rumbles. "Dragon is strong, yes? Beat dragon, eat dragon, kill dragon, wear hide..." He motions to the horns around Gorok's neck.
"No offense to more curious folk," Leontas speaks up, his tone quiet but firm. "But why do we care?"
Because she might know more of the City of the Faceless, of things that might have made it through the calamity of Earthfall, you open your mouth to say, than close it. Why would be care for your search? Truth be told you still wake up some nights surprised you managed to find dour companions who care as much as they do.
"If the ogres have left heading, west and south back the way we came, than all the better for us that we will not see hide nor hair of them," the captain continues. Then, as a kind of appeasement maybe, he adds. "I'm sure we can find some supplies for your new friend there. That the news was good did not make it any less worth hearing."
At that Cob looks very put upon that he does not get to fight any giant-kin, but you worry.
"I don't suppose you know of any spells we can use to send her a message?" you turn to ask.
"I can speak to the birds and ask them to bear a message back to Fusil, hope the townsmen know where to find her and dare to look," Gorok answers after a moment's stillness. "Birds won't get near dragon though, not for any words I know to say."
What do you think of this?
[] A message is all you can do
[] Go back and try to warn Sylestrix
[] Write in
OOC: Sorry this took so long guys, my internet decided to croak at a bad time again.
