"It's not cannibalism if we just eat the horse part....."
Terra shudders at Alephs comment just thinking about manhorse meat turns her stomach...
"More for me...."
"Don't make any slurping noises while we talk to the horse-men, willya? No need to catch any more trouble out here than we really need to."
It takes a few minutes for the centaur party to get within range. There are four of them, their hooves tearing up the ground as they gallop up. Their lower bodies are those of powerfully-muscled, shaggy-haired grey horses and their top halves of wiry, muscular, deeply-tanned men (and one woman), their hair matching their coats. They wear no clothing, although their bodies are adorned with abstract tattoos - circles, collections of dots, swirling patterns and the like. Weapons hang from leather straps across their torsos, and they have bows in their hands. The horse-men seem about to run down Hasren and Heimoth as they approach to parley, but they pull up and around them at the last moment. They begin circling the two half-elves, their faces scowling, holding their bows and a handful of arrows each and ready to fire at a moment's notice but out of reach of melee. One of the males, perhaps the leader, snarls something in Elven.
"Good afternoon!" Heimoth puts on his friendliest face as he answers the centaur in Elven. "We certainly did not intend to cause any inconvenience or offence, and we are terribly sorry if we did so. We are hunting human bandits. You wouldn't perhaps have heard of a man who calls himself the Stag Lord?"
Aleph chills. Diplomacy is not his forte.
Before speaking, Hasren observes the centaurs' reactions to Heimoth's greeting.
Marc watches the approach of the centaurs bravely.
From behind Hasren and Heimoth.
From his bold defense of the rear, he stands nonchalantly, his arms crossed over his chest. He watches idly, as if this sort of negotiation happens all the time, and he simply wonders how long it will take this time.
The centaurs are slightly taken aback by Heimoth's smooth use of Elven. Marc exudes confidence and shows no fear, which also seems to dampen their belligerent spirit somewhat. Their leader replies in kind.
"Who is this lord of the stags of whom you speak? We have seen no bandits, and if we had met them, we would have slain them!"
Two of the centaurs, the other two males, circle around the party's two spokesmen. They end up interposing himself between Hasren and Heimoth and the rest of the party. One nervously fingers his bow while the other stares at the other party members. He blatantly eyeballs the two elves, looking at their equipment and frowning, and then at Marc. He walks slowly over to Aleph and then halts, nostrils flaring. He calls to the others.
Marc eyes the two Centaurs who are examining the back group. He raises an eyebrow at the the centaur's sniffing of Aleph, but merely gives a small smile and nod when they look at him directly.
"Perhaps sniffing is their way of polite introduction?" He muses to the others aloud. He considers briefly, then decides against trying it himself. Yet.
Terra guffaws at the 2 nearest centaurs... and replies in Elven "If you think he smells funny you should get closer to this one, after he's been near an ogre..." Terra points at Marc....
Terra replies to Aleph in common as neutrally as possible.. "They think you smell funny Aleph you are making them nervous."
Terra walks over to stand by Marc and points at the female centaur... "Why don't you send her to talk to us?"
The female centaur stiffens and looks at Terra haughtily with cold eyes. The other centaurs become very still. The centaur spokesman replies in a low voice.
Making no further efforts to hide his examination of the centaurs and their behavior, Hasren acts out a show of realization & then leans over to Heimoth and whispers "She looks to be in charge. I'm not sure if it's wise to address her directly though."
Reacting to the change in behavior, Hasren attempts to assess what could have changed the situation.
Not having a clue Hasren asks "What just happened here? Should Terra not have pointed out who is in charge? Or was it her laughter? We are new to the area & have never met your people. We freely admit to being unfamiliar with your ways."
Heimoth initially ignores the two prowling centaurs and concentrates on the spokesman, deciding to keep the tone friendly but serious. "Not everyone that speaks Elven dwells in the forest; my mother, for example, is something of a city elf. And as my friend Hasren here can testify to, human-elven relationships are far from uncommon. Just look at our group: two humans, two elves, and a pair of half-elves, traveling the lands of men and elves, and now, those of the centaurs."
Uh oh. His good mood abruptly vanishes and is replaced by despair as Terra stomps all over his attempts at diplomacy. "Ah, amusing? Please do not be offended - I don't think any of us have ever seen a centaur before, much less four."
"It's my aftershave."
insight
history
In Elven
"Cleary I've offended you but I know not why... it was merely a continuation on a joke after we took care of some Ogres yesterday.. I'm not much for people or centaurs for that matter I grew up out in the forest far from here so I apologize for any offense... I did not mean to be flippant"
The centaur woman finally speaks. In Common she says to her companions, "They do not seek to give offence. They are simply ignorant."
She turns to scrutinise the two half-elves. "But I do not believe you are here to look for bandits. Others of your kind, east of here, build a village on our lands, near the mountains. They fight our braves. Long have the humans coveted the land of the Nomens. I think you seek to claim these plains for your 'city people'." The last two words are spat out, as if disgusting. She then folds her arms and waits for a reply.
The centaur woman finally speaks. In Common she says to her companions, "They do not seek to give offence. They are simply ignorant."
She turns to scrutinise the two half-elves. "But I do not believe you are here to look for bandits. Others of your kind, east of here, build a village on our lands, near the mountains. They fight our braves. Long have the humans coveted the land of the Nomens. I think you seek to claim these plains for your 'city people'." The last two words are spat out, as if disgusting. She then folds her arms and waits for a reply.
Deciding it is better to act as a unified group and not a motley band of individuals, Hasren leans over to speak to Heimoth.
"I think it best to let her know that we are also exploring the area on behalf of Brevoy in addition to hunting the bandits. We should also let her know that we will mark these lands as belonging to the Nomen centaurs.""It would seem to me that if the lands we have explored are to be settled, it would be more advantageous for such a settlement to trade with the Nomen rather than take up the expense of trying to develop the area while under attack by hostile locals. I think we should let her know this will be the position of any settlement WE will be involved with."
"Obviously, we don't know who is settling in their lands, so we should make this clear. It might do us good to offer to speak with those settlers & attempt to resolve the situation, but then again if we cannot convince the settlers to leave, then it might also diminish us in the eyes of these people. I think any negotiation, should we decide to offer, should wait until we deal with the Stag Lord."
Getting the cue from Heimoth that it's ok with him if Hasren speaks up:
"With all due respect Honored Lady. You can believe what you like, but we are in fact, looking for bandits lead by one known as the Stag Lord. I do acknowledge though that it is not the only reason we are here. I and my companions have been chartered by the Swordlords of Restov to explore & map these lands. It seems to me that our explorations have discovered lands claimed by your people & I see no reason not to recognize those claims. Especially since you did not immediately attack us. That signifies to me that you are a reasonable people & I hope it is possible for us to be friends and allies."
She looks at Hasren thoughtfully. "I know nothing of this 'Stag Lord' you seek. You say that Restov wants to explore this land. If not for conquest, then for what?"
She looks at Hasren thoughtfully. "I know nothing of this 'Stag Lord' you seek. You say that Restov wants to explore this land. If not for conquest, then for what?"
"I guess we won't need to search for him East of these markers then."
"I am not privy to the plans of the Sword Lords so I cannot say for certain. However, given our charter, I suspect they wish to find out which areas are safe & which are not. Possibly they wish to settle in the safer areas? I don't think they are looking to conquer these lands. To do so, they would need to build up an army, and I think that would cause trouble with northern lords and the Irovetti King."
"Hasren's right." Heimoth gives his shoulders a self-effacing shrug. "The high and mighty in their stone castles don't let the people in the field in on their long-term plans. Myself, I always thought they would use the surveys to establish a trade route going south to Kyonin and maybe Galt. To do that, they would need some sort of compact with the Nomen, so it was a good thing you found us."
"You seem to know little of you master's motives," she replies coldly.
"Very well, you are leaving Nomen lands. Do not tarry. When you return to your leaders, tell then the Nomen will brook no intrusion on their lands. Tell them they will need their armies to take these lands from us. And tell them we shall destroy them as we have others that have come here. Tell them that, and do not return here!"
She barks an order and the centaurs all wheel and gallop away.
Marc sniffs as the centaurs run (ride?) off.
"Not the friendliest we've met out here, are they?"
"Not the UNfriendliest. But not the friendliest." He adds in a murmur.
I'm for north then;....."let's go to the moss side of the trees, fellows. We'll dine on centaur another day."
"The centaurs don't seem like they'd be happy to see us again on their lands. Since it seems faster to get out by heading North, I agree that we should head that way."
"Any direction is as good as another to me, I will follow."
The party rides hard northwards, tracking along the side of the clifftop. After a few miles, the land begins to descend into rough and broken terrain, with upthrust boulders and deep gulleys which the horses must pick their way through. After a few more miles of thise they reach the edge of the escarpment and the cliff peters out into the plain. The riders turn south again to meet the river once more after its descent, camping that night beside it, hopefully free from territorial centaurs.
Yeah. D 24 is my next step to world domination.
I liked him. We should party with that guy.