Ta'de-win of the Gale |
"In nature their should be a balance. They have done the work of harvesting the plants. If we simply take them, there is an unbalance that will need to be resolved on the part of the goblins, which they may choose to pay in blood at a later time.
"We have defeated the goblins though, and as such are entitled to a portion of their spoils. I would believe the information they have given would suffice for their defeat, but if you feel that is not the case, then we could claim their harvest as well. Of course they may feel differently, so while we still believe a balance exists, that may not be the case.
"We are to act as a group. Thus far it would appear that Green and Furiel believe a trade of our food is required for their harvest. I would be inclined to agree as well. Since we offer for what we take, I would also believe the goblins will see the balance of what we offer, even if we do not seek their agreement. They are the defeated in this case. True their motives may have been underhanded, that does not change they did do the work. What say you, Norton?"
Norton Ambrosi |
"I thought when a bigger predator comes on the pray of a smaller one he just takes it, without paying any fee. But I don't care for the food, let's give it to them, it will be fun to see how confused they get from that: first we say there no threat and we talk, then we slay them, now we feed them in exchange of poisonous berries. At least they will have a good meal before being beaten up by their master for not accomplishing their duty."
Norton gives part of his rations to the little green creatures.
"Here you are, with compliments from the blue-cloaks."
He hopes the minions are so confused they don't remember him saying he is not a blue-cloak and will tell their master that the Stag Lord people attacked them.
Bluff check 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
Ta'de-win of the Gale |
"That is true, but they do not take more than they can eat. That is the balance. If a tiger hunts all the game even after his full, then he shall go hungry in the future.
"For us, this is the same. If the goblins had discovered us first, they may well have attacked us. But we discovered them first, thus our better preparations were balanced by our advantage in attack.
"Our assault and victory on the goblins provided us information we did not otherwise have, but there is no balance there as we did not have to attack them. We could have avoided them. But as we chose the attack, their must be balance. We could choose to end their lives, as their death would be balanced by our lives. But since we choose to allow them to live, a balance must still be struck. In this case it is the knowledge they too have gained.
"The raidshes themselves were not part of that balance, though we could claim it to be so. The balance isn't always clear, which is why we must use caution when we judge such actions."
Rogar Valertis |
Rogar follows his companions debating for a long time, growing amused and incredolous at the same time. After a while he decides he has heard enough and chimes in:"It's all very well wanting to respect goblins, and kobolds, and other kinds of misundestood monsters... but can we please send them away and decide what to do next? The Stag Lord is addicted to alchool and probably much worse substances, maybe we'll be able to use this to our advantage one day, but until then why do we care? Do as you want, I'll search the corpses here and I'll check on my horse, when you are finished debating how to trat little green-skinned killers fairly I'll be waiting for you"
Rogar will search the bodies and then go back to his horse
Bregor Rowain |
I wonder why he is so sure that goblins are killers but women are not? Civilized men are hard to understand.
"Balance in all things, that is natures way.
But I guess that in civilazation there must also be some balance, perhaps I as well as Goodlady Ta'de-win are not able to understand that balance yet, as we are not from civilazation as it were."
DM Bloodgargler |
The goblins happily trade the fruit for a few rations. The scurry off .. cautious only the first few steps...
On the dead goblins you find nothing of value (dogslicers, a few copper, cheap spears)
On the hairy hobgoblin you find under his ratty tunic a mithral shirt, a falcata, a necklace with three large red-orange beads, a hand-drawn map, a spellbook and 35 gold.
Norton Ambrosi |
Since I got some time, while you loot I start discussing the plan.
"It is my understanding" starts Norton "that there are already two competing forces around here: the Stag Lord and this Goblin Master. Maybe we can use this at our advantage: whilst two dogs strive for a bone the third runs away with it." He then continues "Hopefully the goblins will mistake us for Stag Lord people and tell their master a few of them had been slew. We have Kressle that seems to dislike everyone, Stag Lord on top, and we have a load the junky wants."
"The Goblin Master will soon starting to get ready to fight, if we move quickly and send the Stag Lord a message that will make him move against the warlock we can wait to collect the remain. Green, you had made friend with Budgie, do you think we can send him and Kressle to the Stag Lord with these fruits and tell him the goblin were harvesting them on Goblin Master orders?"
Furiel |
Furiel speaks as the party completes their survey of the area, "Excellent idea Norton except for the part where Kressle goes free. I think you can do this without releasing her. Sending one of us (Green maybe) to the Fort would be a great start towards the infiltration plan."
"The Stag Lord had two gnomes and many humans don't look at us closely. I could do it too with or without Green."
Norton Ambrosi |
"We are talking about infiltrating the Stag Lord's den. Green is unknown to them and if he gets caught his skin will be turned into a carpet. Sending Kressle offers better chances with very little drawbacks. We send her to tell the story, she has lost all his men, so there is no place she can run back to: she can play along or she can betray our trust. In the first case she could bring the plan to accomplishment without we taking any risk, or she could fail and die by the Stag Lord hands, both way we win. In the case she decides for the latter option we will finally find out she is beyond redemption and next time we kill her along the others. One more blue-cloak is not going to turn the tide."
Furiel |
"As a man of honor you are not thinking sneaky enough. We have much to lose. Kressle has shown to be extremely loyal to the Stag Lord. She has seen our home base, knows our abilities and defenses, it would be an intelligence nightmare to have the Stag Lord know what she knows. She was taken by surprise and she is not of small ability. I do not want her to be prepared and on the side of our enemies with her knowledge and abilities."
"I have advocated that leaders are a commodity of value here. That is why the hobgoblin had to go. Kressle was a valuable lieutenant that allowed the Stag Lord to extend his power without leaving his fort. We need to keep Kressle out of play until he is defeated."
Bregor Rowain |
Nope, didn't realize that. Guess Green has started talking to himself then.
Casting detect magic
"Um, I don't want to be...what is it you call it..."a wet blanket" here, but the Staglord is the bandit lord of these here parts, so he is likely powerful enough that he has no real competition.
I doubt the Staglord fears the "goblin master", especially if he is a wine laden sod.
And if a tribe of kobolds could drive the goblins away, then there is probably not enough of them left to make an attack on the Staglord any point right?
For all we know, they might be a small band like us, with a few goblins thrown into the mix."
The Green Man taps his chin thoughtfully.
"I think some of the plan makes sense, but I also agree with Furiel to some extent.
We might not be able to get the Stag lord to come out in force against a bandit gang he knows of, but imagine if he learns that Oleg has sheltered people who stood up to his men?
We can't be sure it was an exaggeration when they said he had 30 men with him, and possibly much better trained.
He might come like the fury of the storm to burn down the trading post as an example to everyone."
"I think we should get some more information before we really sit down and agree on anything.
We probably have time.
And we should use that time to learn more, about the land and the forces in it.
What say we finish exploring the nearby areas for a few days, then return to Oleg for a little war council?"
Furiel |
Furiel nods his head as Green speaks. "Quickly exploring the plains around Olegs for security reasons makes good sense. We can map much clear area in one day."
He addresses Norton again, "I think she knows you ride a horse and fight mounted, Ta-De Win uses nature magic, I use sorcery, Rogar is capable with a bow and sword, Green can heal and fight, we tend to fight enlarged, and Alice fights unarmed. I think she would report these facts and more including the reinforced garrison at Olegs she saw arrive."
"Oh, and she will betray our trust--don't doubt that. Mainly because I give her some credit for not even claiming to have our trust."
Here Furiel is being argumentative again. Well, he is supposed to be a gnome that if one word was chosen to describe him it would be BRASH.
Brash-definition
1a. Hasty and unthinking; impetuous.
b. Rash.
2. Lacking in sensitivity or tact.
3. Presumptuously forward; impudent.
Rogar Valertis |
Seeing the others debating still, Rogar joins them again and when he's sure none of the bandits his listening he speaks up:"Sooner or later we'll have to deal with this Stag Lord. At the moment we may lack the resources to deal with him directly, which is why we chose to map the area around our base of operations. We can't hope the Stag Lord will stay quiet for long once we really start to set things right out here. But we MAY influence how he reacts. I think Ambrosi's plan has his merits, and Kressle doesn't really know much about us. She knows we can fight and that we are receiving help from Brevoy. We might very well feed her false information making us seem like a much more formidable foe, we might even pretend one of us his her friend and wants to throw his lot with the Stag Lord, allowing her to escape and offering to work for "him" as a spy. That way we'll know how and when he thinks of moving against us, and we get rid of the impasse with Kressle. The only thing I fear in this plan is he might just decide to kill her because she was defeated. Monstruos barbarians like him aren't known for their respect of the fairier sex after all..."
As for the loot, I'd like to claim the armor as it upgrades my gear perfectly, but as I already claimed the bow I will leave it for someone else if he wants it
Bregor Rowain |
"Now I am a little worried, the beads on the necklace are magical. I think these bandits may be more formidable than WE think.
Look, let us go back to exploring for now; I need to take my mind of this whole thing for a bit.
Besides, we may come up or find something that changes our plans anyway."
"For the record, my main objection to the plan is simple, I want to avoid the Stag lord finding out that we are even here for as long as possible.
When we return to Oleg's, I'll have to ask Budgie how soon they were going to send the Stag lords cut to his fort.
We have at LEAST that long before they even realize something is wrong.
We should use that time well."
Norton Ambrosi |
"We can do this way" Norton makes sure the former bandits aren't in ear reach "I can go back to Oleg's with the fruits, there I can sound Kressle out and see if she can be brought to our side. When you come back somebody can, as Rogar suggested, fool her into escaping. My anticipated lonely return would enforce the idea our group is falling apart. I bet our two guests too" Norton points to the two bandits with them "will, if questioned, confirm that we had a fight." Norton pauses a moment then resumes "Infiltrating the Stag Lord den isn't going to be a safe ride. I won't force anybody to apply for this."
Furiel |
Furiel talks outside earshot of the former bandits.
"I would take the risk of infiltrating the fort with our two new recruits. They have seen gnomes before. Green probably could be passed off as a new demihuman recruit too. Once Kressle goes in the place will be on full alert."
Furiel looks at Alice and Ta-De Win. "Once again I go to the experts for the best information. Do you ladies think we can trust Kressle? I definitely cannot claim to even understand female gnomes let alone female humans."
Rogar Valertis |
Rogar nods and smiles widely:"Excellent, great minds think alike. And Furiel... we don't need to "trust" Kressle, we just need to fool her into believing some of us are willing to serve the Stag Lord as spies and the proof of our trustworthiness and usefulness to his cause is we are willing to allow her to escape before she can be hanged... if she believes us, and the Stag Lord takes her back then they will want us to spy for them... only we will know what we want them to know and what we don't want them to..."
Bregor Rowain |
"But that plan all hinges on her even WANTING to return there, what proof do we have of that?
Maybe we should find out one thing first, if the Stag Lord is the kind of leader who do not tolerate faliure and would cut her head off, or if he would put blame on us and not her?"
Norton Ambrosi |
"I don't share the belief you all seem to have about her betraying us for sure. I think she, like most other people, do what is useful to her, find what she thinks is useful and use it. She hates us, but she hates the Stag Lord as well, if we can let her think, at the end, we are going to be the winners, she will try to find a way to please us, she doesn't strike me for an idealistic person who keeps alliance out of morality."
"As Green says maybe she will be scared to go back fearing punishment, but a good load of berries should smooth the junky. Besides, if you were the Stag Lord, upon the arrival of a new recruit what would you think? I bet the spy will be interrogated, and proof of his/her good intention requested. Let's say the Stag Lord want's the spy to burn Oleg's down to ashes, or kill one of us, how should the spy react?"
Rogar Valertis |
"If she just decides to flee... well we get rid of her. And I don't think anyone should go to the Stag Lord hideout for the moment. Just make her escape and promise fealty, we'll earn some time at least and possibly they'll believe they've got a spy among us..."
Ta'de-win of the Gale |
We might be too far out. We can try finishing and then seeking shelter. I'll throw up a Survival roll to see if I can find something before it hits. If we can make it back, though, fine with doing that.
Survival: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28
Ta'de-win of the Gale |
"The winds say we should be able to finish our mapping and seek shelter before the storm arrives. Our, I believe 'friends', have seen kind enough to provide us with the means to aid us. Our visit should be short. And indeed, a little water can feel quite refreshing."
DM Bloodgargler |
You finish mapping and take shelter for the storm. Just the edge of the curtain of rain catches you. The bulk of the dark clouds pass north of you -- a few bolts of lightning strike the plains near Oleg's.
A light drizzle and overcast skies persist after the thunder and lightning pass.
updated explore map on campaign info
Furiel |
Furiel decided to tell a funny story about the longest Entmoot. The story he embellishes by trying to put branches in clothes to act out the parts of talking trees.
The ghist of the story is all the ents don't arrive on time so they argue about when they should start the entmoot. Some argue the entmoot had already started while others disagreed, but by the time they agree to start the entmoot over a year had passed. The lead ent started a motion to disband the entmoot but more argued the entmoot hadn't truly started and they couldn't do that. By the time they agreed it had started and could disband the entmoot another year had passed. This two year entmoot had resolved two things, an entmoot had been started and it, therefore, could be disbanded. They quickly spend another six months agreeing to adjourn the entmoot.
Performance untrained 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Rogar Valertis |
Rogar laughs at Furiel's story:"Sure these Ents are slow! I hope you are not telling us this to mean we risk being like them ents! Anyway, to avoid that I suggest we move west tomorrow. We'll need to explore another patch of land before going back at Oleg's"
Rook the Hunter |
After Rogar speaks of moving west, Rook asks to see your >map< .. "Here is what's known as bluecloak territory (circled in blue on map)... here was my main hunting grounds (circled in yellow) ... just west of the hunting grounds .. the wood's is different .. its 'old woods'" he uses a sylvan phrase for old woods that has multiple difficult to translate subtexts (.. magical, mystical, impossible is possible...)
"South of the river (points to just below yellow circle) is where you find the less agreeable hunting .. brush dogs can get nasty, especially out on yer own. They're getting worse too - killing all the good game. .. used to cull 'em .. but no one hunts out there anymore... balance is all catawampus... "
Bregor Rowain |
"These lands have a story, from what I have heard in villages I have passed through, they have never been tamed despite several attempts.
This is a wild land, where any man or woman can make a future if they have the strength and tools for such work."
Furiel |
Map another clear hex - east. West leads into the forest. We can do a clear hex a day mounted. Plus I wanted to scout as much cleared land as we can. If we go east and then north east we stay close to Oleg's and make sure there are no immediately threats to 'home base'.
Ta'de-win of the Gale |
Well, I guess I'll vote south just to disagree then :) But seriously East sounds good to me, I like Furiel's reasoning.
Rogar Valertis |
Well, if you want to go east then I'll accept the vote, no problem, the important thing is we decide and move, Rogar will say he wants to go west, but won't be dead set on anything
Rogar looks at the rest of the company:"Very, well... what now? I think we shall go west and check the woods a bit more, what do you say?"
Bregor Rowain |
"It is a fine day indeed, feel the scent on the breeze. This I must think is very different from the scent of a busy street in a large city.
All those people packed in tightly, with no thought how to handle refuse and filth...
There must be a way to keep the scent and air fresh even in a city..."