She sort of shrugs and looks back at Ravan before looking back at their leader, "I don't know, let me ask. Do you want something else for it ma'am?" She asks as she glances back at Ravan with a slight smirk on her face.
"What else do you have?" Ravan asks.
Pulling back the canvas covering the large pile in the center of the boat, the young man revealed a large quantity of ivory tusks. "Mostly this. Some foods."
She looks at Ravan, "Food is good."
"That works. We wll trade with you." Ravanalona says with a smile.
Without looking back at their leader she sort of looks at Ravan while keeping her head partially lowered in a seemingly subservient way. Taking the thingy to her that Cyrus had said was not food, she holds it out to her as though offering it someone in charge for inspection. While not really looking up, Ravan can kind of see the half smile of amusement on Eri's face as she plays her newest part in their adventure, "There ye are Ms. Should I be takin' some food from them then Ms?" She asks with a hint of curiousness to her voice, as though unsure of what she should do and waiting for "instructions". She had been bored on the ship, so this was just a bit of entertainment for her anyways.
After trading the seal hides you collected earlier, the tribesmen set off towards the south.
A couple days later, you arrive at the ice-choked entrance of the River Taiga. Without the Captain, the crew do their best to navigate the ship through the field of floating ice, scrapping against some of them occasionally.
After several nerve-wracking hours, the ship clears the hazardous flows and glides down the river through the forest that to your knowledge has no name.
Miles and miles of picturesque frosted pine trees finally give way to a vast mountain range, which the river cuts through via a giant rift, adding to the foreboding look of the grey slate.
Navigating the rift, you come to the inner sea known as Lake Tarik. Staying close to the northern banks, you come to the camp of the Bugbears the Cardinal had informed you about.
The only place to land is a crudely constructed pier with four hulking bugbears waiting for you. They don't seemed pleased to see the ship.
As you step off the Frosthamar, they approach rather menacingly and hungrily.
She whispers to Ruedo, "They look mangy and gross. I don't think I'll be eating them. I don't think I should reveal myself just yet, should I?"
Their menacing approach gets her hackles up, but she maintains her guise for now. She didn't want to tip her hand too early, unless they gave her no other choice.
Ruedo shakes his head. He would let one of the more charismatic ones deal with the bugbears.
Still in her disguise she goes to stand next to Ruedo and appear as small and non threatening as possible.
She just kind of stands there quietly, waiting to see what Ravan and Cyrus would do. She wouldn't do anything unless one of them told her to.
Striding forward with demonstrable arrogance, Ravanalonna looks at the bugbears with absolute disdain. "Alright, speak up! Which of you louts is in charge?"
The four Bugbears just laughed.
"You think we're gonna tell you that Hummie," One of them retorted.
"Leave that one for me, I want to play her," Another chimed in.
A third one pointed at Eri, "That one looks tasty, I call a leg."
Shaking her head she says, "That's it! I've had it with these mangy pups" Striding forward she shifts as she approaches them. Looking up at the one who talked about eating her leg she snarls and barely growls out, "I'd be very careful about who you think might eat whom here. You will take us to Sakkarot fire axe right the hells now, or you'll be wearing your innards on the outside. Do I make myself clear ya mangy mutts?" She says while grabbing her axe with one hand and extending her claws on the other as she looks at them menacingly.
Growling in anger she nearly spits at the one in front of her, "And in case you're too stupid to notice, I ain't no human either."
The Bugbears stopped laughing, and one took a step back. You're fairly certain they haven't seen anything like that before.
Her patience quickly wearing thin she takes another step forward, "Are you as deaf as you are stupid?! I said to take us to Sakkarot Fire-Axe, the leader of your clan. Or did you forget? We have his shipment and if you don't take us to him right now.....I'll make sure he knows who's responsible for it's delay. Got it maggot?!" She snarled as she flexed her claws, letting them slip in and out in front of his face.
Almost as if on queue, a great black-furred bugbear wielding an axe that carried an ember glow. The four 'toughs' parted, allowing the imposing figure to step closer.
Pointing his axe at Eri, he demanded in perfect unaccented common, "Who sent you?"
Seemingly unimpressed, and without even flinching she bows slightly and says, "Why Cardinal Thorne of course Sakkarot Fire-Axe. I believe you've been waiting on what we have brought for you?" She retracts her claws but keeps a hold of her axe as she looks at him with a slight smirk on her face.
Ruedo stands silently, letting Eri do what she does best.
The Bugbear smiled a toothy grin, "Then you are welcome here."
Turning to his followers, "These humans are my guests. Any harm comes to them, and those responsible will wish they were dead a thousand times over when I'm done with them. These are our allies!"
Walking by the group and on to the ship, he cracked open one of the crates, pulled an axe from it, walked back to his previous position, and tossed the weapon at one of the four Bugbears, "Behold! They bring us steel!"
A cacophonous and terrifying chorus of howls and cheers ring through the assembly. With a signal from Sakkarot, the boat is unloaded and the weapons begin to be distributed.
Bekoning you to follow him, the Bugbear leader takes you to his large tent. On the way you see the holds more than just Bugbears. You see fur-clad goblins running around hooping and hollering, the occasional lumbering polar bear that seemed to snort in derision when a goblin got too close, and even some giants.
Reaching the tent, Sakkarot began barking orders to prepare a great feast in your honor.
The feast is a brutal and savage affair. Seated at Sakkarot's table, you Bugbears battling one another and other monsters in attendance. The highlight of the evening though came when a freshly caught dire boar was dragged into the feast, still kicking and squealing. Standing and making his way to the pig, the Bugbear leader raised his burning axe and beheaded the beast in a single stroke. Very little blood was seen as the wound was cauterized by the enchanted weapon.
The beast is spitted, cooked and served to all at the feast.
Before Sakkarot leads them off she shifts back into her human skin suit and turns off her stupid dwarf disguise. Getting a little scowl on her face she tugs on his arm and looks up at him, "I'm not a human, don't lump me in with them. We need to recover something from the ship that belongs to us. Could we look for it before we go celebrate?" She asks while batting her eyelashes at him innocently.
Looking at Ruedo and Ravan she says sort of apologetically, "I didn't mean nuthin' bad bout you guys by that. I mean...you're okay as far as humans go." Smirking slightly at Ruedo she says, "Some of you even more than okay. I didn't mean to sound that way...it's just...most "humans" that I've had contact with have been jerks so...." She just sort of trails off, hoping that she didn't hurt Ruedo or Ravan's feelings with her remark.
"No offense taken," Ruedo says, heading off to search the ship for the money.
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"I understand completely Eri, most of the worst monsters I've ever met were human." Ravanalonna says with a smile.
She just nods as they search every nook and cranny of the ship for what the cardinal gave the captain. She knew all too well what Ravan was talking about, but she was trying so hard not to revisit those memories. Rubbing her eyes she starts sniffing for the cardinal's scent as she tries to block out her past and focus on finding the money.
It didn't take long for Eri to find the Captain's chest. Unlocking it with his key, you find the Cardinal's payment (6000 Gold) neatly stacked in a wooden box beside a pile of flea-infested clothing. Underneath all of that, she found a small silver statue of a nude mermaid and an additional 115 gold in loose coinage rattling around. There is also a box labeled Emergency Rations.
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Seeing the flea infested clothes she jumps back immediately, almost colliding with Ravan. Grabbing her arm she points to the pile of clothing, "Ravan...can you please get rid of them? Fleas are the last thing I need. Please Ravan?" She says As she stays well away from the irritating pests.
Looking down she shakes her head, "I ain't touchin' nuthin' till those nasty fleas are gone." She says as she practically hides behind Ravan.
With an understanding smile, Ravanalonna steps back, guesturing with one hand as the filthy flea infested clothing floats up unto the air bunched up unto a ball by her will. With a snap of her fingers, the fabric bursts into flames soon becoming a burning sphere until it is entirely consumed.
Looking down at the box, the sorceress shifts her vision, searching for signs of magic. The captain was just the type to trap something labeled rations to harm any greedy bastard going through his things.
"That was simple enough but we still have to deal with the loose ends. I recall something about fire and death before we move on to phase two." Cyrus says.
Letting Ravan deal with the box, she quickly divides up the money between the four if them and hands everyone fifteen hundred gold each, "There, that should be fifteen hundred each. I'll put the stupid statue and the loose coin in a party fund for us." Looking up at Ravan she gives her a grateful smile, "Thanks Ravan, I hate those pests."
She thinks as she listens to Cyrus, "I thought that was gonna happen after they sailed us across to the other side of the lake to where that watch tower wall thingy is?"
She thinks for a minute or two while Ravan investigates the box, "At least that's what I think he meant. I don't know, it's hard to remember exactly everything he said since he gave so many different instructions at once. You should be happy that I was even listening to the old fart." She says as she shrugs her shoulders slightly.
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"A ship and a crew isn't easy to come by," Ruedo says. "I say we leave them be for now, perhaps take the time for Ravan to figure out which one would be suitably loyal to us and let him keep a handle on matters while we deal with business."
"It saves us money, should the need ever arise again," Caliban says in agreement.