DM Jesse's Kingmaker PbP (Inactive)

Game Master Jesse Heinig

Carinna looks back and forth to Korinne, Telmarni and the kobolds.

"What they are saying? Are they friendly or not?"

She did not like being in the dark, not knowing if she should relax or get ready to attack. She put her and in her sword when she had noticed the sudden change in the kobold's behavior.

Telmarni glances over to Carinna before looking to the Kobolds again. "They are out of sorts...? They claim the field now, but it sounded like earlier, they did not. They're telling us to leave. And, Korinne is trying to get them to trade with us. And..." She tilts her head slightly. "I might had made them slightly upset by pointing out their stomach troubles."

"Yes, that's right. They claim this is their radish patch and want us to leave," Korinne adds over her shoulder. "I thought maybe I could talk them into trading with us, though!"

"What did you offer in trade?"

"This isn't right, they are clearly lying... Kor, please translate to them what I say: 'We know you are lying. And this isn't right. We won't fight you, unless you attack us first. That being said, we won't be intimidated by you. We are in this lands to stay and it would be better if we manage to contact your kind peacefully, your choice though, so think well'."

The kobolds start backing away slowly from your position, clutching at their stuffed bellies. One of them grabs one of the makeshift baskets, but the group of them keeps retreating, watching you as they head for the treeline.

As they reach the treeline they seem quite nervous -- they are, after all, tiny and outnumbered -- and then they dart into the woods, fleeing.

For a moment, you think that was just too easy... but then you remember that the wanted posters specified that there's a whole tribe of them out there somewhere. If these lands were to be civilized at some point, then kobolds could be a problem; to a community with children, they might be a real threat. But maybe they can be negotiated with? Certainly, when they are in a weak position, they are quick to back down.

You are able to pack a large number of the radishes among your gear. You think that Svetlana will have more than enough to see through the next few weeks, with your find.

Vance says, "The river cuts a little west of here -- we could set up a different camp there along a tributary stream. Camping on the river itself is risky; folks will follow a river if they're looking for settlements."

Based on your map, that would be about a hex over to the left, so something for the next day.

"Oh...that could have went better," Korinne observes as the kobolds scurry away, "but I suppose it could have went much worse, too."

She turns to the others. "At least we know where to find radishes now, right? "

Watching as they flee, Telmarni just shakes her head at the sight. Sheesh. They are very nervous creatures when they do not have the upper hand. Good to know. She then turns to Korrine and shrugs. "I got a feeling I might have had a hand in that... Oh well." She looks over the field of radishes and nods in agreement. "And we will have to make sure to mark it on the map for later then."

Telmarni checks on her horse to make sure it is doing alright. Seeing that it is, she looks towards the others. "With that over with, we should continue exploring before we decide to camp for the night. Maybe also see about other good camp locations too." She readjusts a saddle strap on Zypher to account for the additional weight.

"We shouldn't stay here tonight. Animals will come to forage th' radishes - same as th' kobolds did - an' predators will come for 'em. Where did ya wanna map next? We should get a start on headin' in that direction," says Vance.

"They said they'd be back eventually and that we'd better not be here," Korinne adds for the benefit of the others. "Maybe we'll have better luck the next time we run across any."

"And that seems like a good idea," she nods to Vance though she also looks to Cassandra for confirmation that it's a good idea.

Cassandra picks up one of the radishes and inspects it. "Those posters mentioned Kobolds causing problems here. If they like the radishes so much, maybe we should keep a few if we have to negotiate later." She then turns to Cobb and Sareah. "You guys were farmers? Can you grow more of these? If there is another patch, we have something to trade with them later."

Then, on the subject of camp, she follows Vance's lead. "I agree."

Valeska gathers up the radishes. "We'll definitely want to take these. Let's remember this clearing, too. It could be a good place to start a farm, once we deal with the kobolds."

Which hex next? :D

The one Vance said?

I think I agree since I can't see the hex map. So it is to the... Western Hex that Vance said? And I also agree that we should have a separate link for the hex map itself so we can check it when we wish.

Telmarni mounts Zypher and waits for everyone to get ready. When she feels everyone is ready, she turns to Vance. "I think we'll do your suggestion. Might as well, since it seems close."

Carinna also mounts her mount and gets ready to leave.

"I wish we find more creatures that speak common... I hate to not understand them... also, I hope these kobolds decide to make peace with us and not attack us because of this radish patch... I can imagine my grand-children reading in their book stories 'and that was the start of the Radish Wars'."

"Aw, don't worry Carinna. If you're interested in learning the language I'm sure Telmarni and myself can teach you," Korinne replies, giving the warrior a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "And anyone else that wants to learn. Besides, if we end up with kobolds as neighbors you'll probably want to know it anyway."

"And I'll see if I can remember whether I've heard much about kobolds or what they'd most likely want from a trade," she adds as hops onto Aggie once more. "The radishes might be a good start though. Maybe shiny objects...or wait, maybe it's magpies that like shiny objects..."

Kn. Local (Kobolds): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Yes, let's check out the area that Vance mentioned. I think it's the hex to the left of our current one.

You get a few miles under your belts before settling down for camp at last. The next morning there's a light drizzle just before and during dawn. Somehow, Vance has already gotten up in the predawn light, lit a fire, and skinned a hare that was caught in a trap the previous night. Spirits are generally good -- Cobb and Sareah are talkative and more upbeat, and even Hatch, who usually has trouble waking up in the mornings, gets up relatively early and studies the map intently.

You spend the next day exploring to the west-north-west (hex C7). I've put red circles around the parts of the map that you can see or have visited, but have not fully explored yet.

You find where the Thorn River continues on its winding way through the forest, and you know that if you needed to you could follow it back down to the old bandit camp further south. You find that the woods here are mostly old firs and pines, very majestic trees that have the weight of many years behind them.

As you move through the stands of pine and fir, the sunlight dapples through the branches in fits and starts, leaving odd moments of glare and causing sudden flashes of golden light that is both beautiful and unnerving. You find a good place to ford the river, which Vance notes would also be a good new campsite -- but as you are trying to scramble up on a large boulder from which you can get a slightly better view of the terrain around the river, you hear a strange hollow clacking noise over the gurgling of the water. Among the trees near the river you spot several hanging wind chimes, apparently made of small, hollowed-out pieces of wood and hung from the trees with tiny bits of twine and leather.

"'s faerie-work," says Vance. He eyes the forest much more suspiciously. "The wee folk may not show 'emselves, but they make their presence known in other ways. Leavin' tricks an' strange things aboot. Be on yer watch. If'n the Fair Folk're about, 'tis dangerous for the unwary -- ye could step into a trod and be whisked away to the land under the hill, or stuck by a faerie-dart and put asleep fer seven and score years, or turned from a man inna a lass or a lass inna a horse."

As the sun sets on this day of exploration you get the feeling that for all that Vance really exaggerates the work of faeries, he may have reason to be concerned. Even one wild run-in with the Fair Folk could probably scar a mortal for a long time, after all.

You set down to the next camp in good spirits but with a bit of suspicion.

"D'you really think it's faeries?" Sareah asks Korinne as you are having supper. "Vance talks about them a lot but I've never seen anything that he talks about," she adds dubiously.

Hatch keeps looking at the maps until the sunlight is gone, after which he busies himself being useful by cleaning horseshoes and dirty dishes.

Cobb and Vance mostly keep together at dinner, Vance occasionally regaling the younger lad with some wild story about faeries; Cobb's eyes grow wider and wider and you get the feeling that he won't sleep much.

That's another day and another 100 xp for exploration, plus 100 for driving off the kobolds; what's next?

Valeska licks a bit of stew off her fingers as she nods. "It certainly could be. They do hang around from place to place. Most of the time they're happy to leave you alone if you leave them alone, but you don't want to trespass on their land or take their things. So it's prudent to be on the watch for signs that they're around. It's just polite."

Checking her pack, she adds, "How are people doing for supplies? I just want to be sure we've got enough food to last us. Although, Vance does make survival out here much easier. Thank you for that, Vance."

2 xp? Can I kill a rabbit or something for level 2?

Cassandra hops down from the boulder and walks over to the wind chimes to examine them. Such a pretty sound, she thinks as she listens to them. She even waves her hand through ones not moving just to hear it. This would be a lovely place for a camp. And any fae that would put something that beautiful sounding up must not be too bad. "This will do nicely I think. If you set up your own chimes with trip wires as early warnings it will be hard to get the drop on you here," she says as she walks back to the others.

During the evening, she is surprised to find Hatch so interested in the maps. "Did you want to try?" she asks holding out a writing utensil and blank page. If yes, she shows him some basics on mapping techniques.

She looks up from the training session to address Valeska. "Going to have to hunt soon for me. I think we should make things liveable here then head back to Oleg's. It's been a few days. Maybe he'll be more open to reformed bandits by then."

That would be on the 3.5 experience table -- in Pathfinder, even fast progression is 1,300 xp for level 2! Character advancement

Cassandra finds Hatch surprisingly receptive. When he concentrates on the maps, he seems to have an amazing memory for minutiae -- although he is not really great at artwork, but he is very focused on trying to get the details right and he seems to always be aware when two elements of the map are inaccurate relative to each other, which is both uncommon among a novice cartographer and extremely useful.

The words for it don't exist in Golarion in its current day and age, but Hatch is essentially mildly autistic. He is not "dumb," your characters will eventually realize, he just doesn't interface socially with people in the expected way, and he has different priorities and a tendency to focus obsessively on details of things that interest him.

Kn. Arcana (Fey?): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

"Well, all sorts of things are possible," Korinne adds in response to Sareah's question. "I've heard that they're beings of magic, but not much aside from that. I think Valeska is on the right track though - you don't want to be rude to them." A pause. "Then again, you really shouldn't be rude to anyone. It's just good manners."

"And I know it's hard to do when we're not sure how our next meeting will go, but we should probably try to decide how we want to deal with our kobold neighbors," she adds as they continue to eat. "They're territorial and really not very nice...but they'll at least keep their agreements unless a really good reason to try and weasel out of it presents itself. So, if we could come to some sort of deal or arrangement with them, they'd be likely to keep it. I'm just not sure what we could offer..."

Knowledge (local) - Kobolds: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

"We could offer them gold... if I remember correctly, they like shiny things. I know it is still a lot to do before we start to really build things, but when we do we'll need stones and I don't recall of hearing of any dwarven mine nearby."

Carinna spots a mysterious thing in her meal and discreetly drops it from her plate.

"They could provide us with stones and even metal and in return we pay them... probably much cheaper than it would cost us to import it from Brevoy... for them, it would also be safer than rob people."

It seemed Hatch wasn't as stupid as they said. He had a great eye for detail, at least with maps. And the level of focus he put into it was admirable. You just had to be patient. Seems there was an extreme lack of that in the people around him. She was able to update the details of her growing map thanks to him. "Thank you Hatch. You are very good at this."

"Are they any good with farming?" Cassandra asks of the others. [/b]"What if we promise to farm the radishes and give them a good deal?"[/b]

As the conversation continues, Korinne finishes filling everyone in on what she was able to remember about the kobolds of the area. "...and so, I don't know how much good they'd be at farming but like I said, they're usually good miners. Maybe if there's anything to mine in the area, we could offer them gold or some territory if they'll help work it?"

Feel free to scroll up a few posts and read DM Jesse's spoiler on kobolds; should've done that earlier.

I did not know we were on that track. Thank you for letting us know GM.

A Fairy Beginning
With finding a campsite for the night, Telmarni does her best to help out setting it up. But she can't help to overhear stories of Fairies being told by Vance and knowledge of them. She can't really believe it due to finding out what 'mites' were. When she finished eating, Telmarni looks around. She is finding herself drawn to the wind chimes as they have curious sounds, not something she has heard before.

When the discussion moves over to the Kobolds, she nods in agreement. Working with them would be beneficial than trying to remove them. They were here first after all. "From what we found out today, I don't think so. They are miners, right? They probably hunt more than try to farm." Telmarni notes of things said today. "I think, maybe if given a fair deal, they might mine for us if there are any mineral deposits in the area. Aside from that, I don't think we can get much else from them." She looks back at her tent and sighs. "I'll keep watch again tonight. Unless someone else wish to have me cast Keep Watch on them instead."

I did not know we were on that track. Thank you for letting us know GM.

Actually I use the medium track -- I was responding to Cassandra asking if there was some way to get 2 xp to push up over to 1,000 total. In Ye Olde Days of 3.5e that would be level 2; in Pathfinder, for a normal game, it's 2,000 xp for level 2. I was simply noting that by comparison even if we were using fast advancement it'd still be 1,300 xp to level 2!

Telmarni keeps watch through the dark night. Fortunately there are no encounters with kobolds or bandits -- just the occasional curious raccoon or owl skirting the edge of the campsite.

In the morning you get ready to continue your expedition, and check your gear and your rations. It looks like you might want to do some hunting to supplement your food stores! Dunno if you guys have been updating your character sheets, but a quick look showed that Telmarni had two trail rations, Korinne had 4, Cass had 1, Valeska had 2 and Carinna had 5. I don't want to turn this into "grocery wars the RPG" so the simple formula is that it's 2.5 gp per day to feed the five PCs. Since you have horses you don't have to worry as much about the encumbrance of carrying food. So, that would be 17 gp 5 sp for a week of trail rations. If that's about where you wanted to be, you're now starting Day Five, and it's probably worth considering heading back for more supplies -- if anything goes wrong and you wind up stuck out in the wild for an extra day it could get a little dicey. The longer you wanna be out, the more you have to prepare in advance...

As Cobb is getting some dried fruit from one of the saddlebags, he struggles slightly with the bag of fruit, which seems to be wedged oddly in the saddlebag. He finally gives it a hefty yank, which pulls it out, and causes a huge puff of flour to blast outward. Cobb yelps momentarily and then stands there blinking haplessly for several seconds, with his face covered in white powder and just his eyes peering out from underneath.

Vance hurries over, suspiciously watching the area, and helps Cobb get cleaned up with a damp rag.

"Sure as s+*& we can't stay here now," Vance finally says. "Do ye wanna try to map more of the woods, or head back to get more supplies, or what?"

Also, Korinne, fey are Knowledge (nature)!

I have been deducting rations. realized I didn't have enough.

K:Nature (Fey): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

"What?" Cassandra says as she jumps up bow ready. Noticing the only casualty is a bag of flour to the face, she lowers the weapon. "What do you mean can't stay?"

"If the Wee Folk are aboot, we could get sucked into their world," Vance says spookily. You're not quite sure whether he's hamming it up deliberately, or if he really is that superstitious.

** spoiler omitted **

Whoops! That works better anyway though; makes more sense for folks like Cass or Valeska to know more about such things.

Korinne blinks in surprise as flour bursts out from the saddlebag and covers Cobb. "Was that one of the tricks you were talking about last night, Vance?" She peers around, curiously. "If so, that's amazing! None of us noticed a thing."

She then checks Aggie's saddlebag and furrows her brow in thought. "I think we were going to head back for more supplies, but I guess we'd better try to find a slightly different spot for a secondary camp...but do the uh, wee folk really suck people into their world? And why? Just another joke?"

I've been trying to keep track, but I've probably been forgetting since this is the first game I've had in awhile where ration management has been a thing :)

Oh.

Cassandra cocks her head at Vance, wondering if he was paranoid or pulling their leg. After Vance's colorful stories last night, this could have been someone's idea of a joke but she doubted that. She didn't think they were to the point, as a group, to mess with each other like that. That meant outside influence. "I don't doubt some might do that, but this is a harmless prank. I think we are dealing prankster fey rather than the 'suck you into their world kind'".

She goes to over to the booby-trapped bag and sniffs around, trying to find something other than the smell of fruit, horse, or Cobb.

Survival: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15 To find a scent or tracks from whatever did this and follow it. If i find a scent i believe I get a +4 to track.

Carinna laughs at the presumed prank.

I think I already like this wee folk!

She then looks around and speaks to the wind.

"Hello there little friends! Nice prank!" She bows and then sits again, working with the whetstone on her blade.

Valeska giggles as she looks at Cobb.

Knowledge(nature): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

"Oh, Vance, they won't suck you into their world. Well..." she grins and adds huskily, "Not unless they like you."

Checking her bags carefully, she continues, "I think we should head back to Oleg's, and prepare for a long supply trip. Hatch, Cobb, Vance, Sareah, you'll all need some supplies, too. We can't just have you all just walking around. Well, you'll be fine, Vance, but you know how to survive, and that's why we'll pay you."

Telmarni had 25 rations on my horse Zypher, when we left Oleg's a couple days ago. So aside from a few days use, should have 20 days worth of rations left. Minus the need of others, we should have more than enough for a couple more days. Though I just updated Telmarni's Profile and marked off the five days worth of rations for myself.

Pranks in the Forest
With a new dawn, Telmarni stretches her body as she sees everyone waking up. She packs up her tent and helps with others with their gear.

Later on, Telmarni sees Cobb get a face full of powder. Her eyes go wide and seems slightly dumbfounded by the sight. When she regains herself, Telmarni walks over to Korinne. "I do have a few extra rations that I bought from Oleg's before we left. Maybe a bit much. If you or anyone need any, just ask." She walks back to Zypher and gets out a ration for today and sits down on a rock near Carinna. "I don't know... It is amusing, though." She tilts her head after munching on a few pieces of the ration. She will repeat what Carinna said in Sylvan.

She looks around a bit and continues.

Valeska whips her head around at Telmarni's comment. Calm yourself, nothing wrong here, just...

She decides to remain silent, going back to communing with Tzerny.

"Oh, good thinking Tel! I guess I didn't pack quite as much food as I should have, but now I'll know for the next time."

As Korinne continues to pack the rest of her gear into Aggie's saddlebags, she looks up as the strix begins speaking in an unfamiliar language. "Is that the fey language? It sounds so...so...different from other languages I've heard! You'll have to teach me when we get some time."

Telmarni tucks her wings against her back and tilts her head when Korinne asked about sylvan. "Erm, yes. It is called Sylvan." She takes a little bite from the ration of the day. "It is rather lyrical, isn't it? I can try my best to teach you. Though, if we can get a book on it would be best, since it is also a written langauge." She wraps up the rest of the ration and moves over to Zypher and puts it into the saddlebags for later. "Shall we get going? I agree with getting more rations. Not just for us, but for everyone else."

"Oh, of course, of course!" Korinne nods. "Maybe we can put in a special request the next time that merchant visits Oleg's. It probably wouldn't hurt to start gathering some books and such for a small library. And yes, I think we're all just about ready to go."

You decide to return to Oleg's trading post. This takes about a day, now that you have an idea of the terrain and are traveling about 24 miles with horses.

When you stop for lunch around noon, you're settling in to chat about what you are planning to purchase next and where to continue your explorations, and Carinna suddenly spits out her cup of water.

But in the interests of not slowing things down...

You conduct a quick search of the area, but find no signs of anyone around -- nobody answers your calls. Frustrating, to be sure. Eventually you finish your meal and continue on your way to the trading post.

You arrive at the trading post again in the late afternoon. You see some of Kesten's soldiers up on the towers, watching, and one of them waves in your direction as you arrive. The gate opens to admit you and Oleg and Svetlana bustle forth to offer their hospitality once again.

"Glad to see you back in one piece!" Oleg says happily, shaking your hands, patting you on the back and helping you down from your horses. "Things are definitely moving now! It's like your arrival has opened the floodgates. Point of the spear, eh? First sign of Restov taking an interest in these parts!"

Svetlana likewise seems overjoyed to see you back. "I knew you could do it!" she says. "These parts will be safe in no time. You're setting a great example."

As you unpack your things and gratefully take up spaces in the guest rooms that Oleg has reserved for your use, Svetlana notices the radishes, and practically beams. "You found some!" she says. "It looks like you found a few bushels! Oh, thank you! I will make some soup with these -- you're welcome to some if you like. Though I hear it has certain... intimate properties," she says with a wink. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure nobody else is listening while she continues, then says, "I've been setting aside a large sum for ah... special occasions, and this is definitely it! Just a moment." She hustles off to the storeroom, then comes back and hands Korinne a basket with some folded burlap sacks in it. "It's in the sack in the bottom," she says. "I keep all of the folded sacks here just so it won't jingle and give it away."

In addition to the usual folk, you notice that Kesten Garess is having a short discussion with a man you don't recognize -- a fellow who looks somewhat rumpled, balding with a small amount of hair over his pate, a thick moustache that turns down around the corners of his mouth and a few days' stubble on his chin. This man is not nearly as muscular or tall as Kesten, but the soldier seems to be listening to him and nodding occasionally. Oleg doesn't seem to pay him any mind, as if he's a known guest.

Oleg helps you get the horses to the stable and says, "Tamric is still on the road, but he should be back in a few days! Very exciting, your first order from the city should be coming in soon now!"

Any thing on the survival checks or scent to find the culprit?

The "culprit" seems to have a smell sort of like honeysuckle. Trying to tie your scent and tracking together, the best you can tell is:
* It's fast
* It's flying
* It's invisible
... basically, all the worst possible combination of qualities when trying to track, except at least it has a scent.

Valeska grows increasingly worried once Carinna spits out her water. She starts chewing on a few grasses and humming small tuneless melodies.

She is visibly nervous by the time everyone is back at Oleg's. Something about Svetlana and the radishes makes her blush.

Drat. Okay then.

Cassandra looks mildly concerned over the spilled water until it is revealed it's nothing more than another prank. In fact, it is her nose that deduces the cause of the foul taste. They weren't pressured for water and it was still drinkable but the fact that whoever was doing this got to their water without notice was a concern. It proved they could do a lot of bad but chose not to. That alone told her they were not dealing with something inherently evil. But Vance was paranoid enough not to care.

As usual, Cassandra avoids most of the people and all of the animals. The charade was getting annoying. Thankfully, the blush on Valeska's and, probably, Korinne's faces, was enough to brighten her mood. They were very skittish about sex. Just to bother them more she asks Svetlana for a little more detail. "Do you prepare it a certain way to eat it or apply it? How long does it take?"

After her fun she stocks up on supplies and opens discussion on what to do next. "I think we need to head back to our second chance camp and settle this thing with our prankster. Whatever it is, its small, invisible, and can fly. Smells pretty nice too. It followed us out of the forest so hopefully it won't affect them yet, but I doubt Vance will want to stay there long, even if the pranks are harmless. Is there anything we can do stop it, at least for him?"

I'll buy 10 rations this time. How much did Svetlana give us for the radishes?

You go through the basket full of sacks and, true to her word, Svetlana left a small pouch in one of the sacks -- it has 250 gold pieces in it.

Knowing what Svetlana thinks of the properties of moon radishes, Cassie suspects that they are quite important to her for reasons that can easily be deduced.

Also, I should've added but forgot...

When Vance and the other former bandits first arrive, there's a moment where Oleg looks shocked. "I... I know you!" he says, pointing at them. "You were with those bandits!"

Kesten hears this and his hand drops to the hilt of his sword. "What are your plans for these criminals?" he says gruffly to Carinna. "I presume you wouldn't bring them here without a good reason."

Vance raises his hands and looks somewhat dubious as he glances about the outpost. Hatch is almost comical in his attempt to avoid notice by 'hiding' behind one of the horses, while peeking out to see what happens. Cobb and Sareah hold each others' hands, looking very worried as they see the sour reactions of the locals.

Then Svetlana pushes past Kesten and grabs Cobb and Sareah's hands as well and says, "You poor lost birds! You've been stuck in the woods for how long now? And without a proper meal or a wash or so much as a clean pair of socks!"

Oleg looks skeptical and says, "They're brigands! The only clean socks they get are the ones they take off of dead people's feet."

Svetlana snaps back, "And they have no mother to knit fresh socks for them nor father to keep them aright! Oleg Leveton, you have a lot to learn about how to care for youngsters."

Cobb stammers, "Um, we're not children... miss? We're just..."

"A pair of youngsters shoved out into the wild with no way to fend for yourselves and nobody to care!" Svetlana says adamantly. "Well that won't do under my roof." And with that she bustles the pair into the main building, doubtless to wipe off their grimy faces and stuff them with her fresh bread.

~~~~~~~~~~

Returning with the moon radishes is, as noted above, worth 250 gp, and 100 xp each for question completion. (2,000 xp to level 2 at medium advancement rate.) Moon radishes are said to have a slight soporific effect; they can promote relaxation and digestion, and in some people they produce a slightly euphoric state -- which means they are occasionally associated with aphrodisiac effects (as people under their effects are more likely to be relaxed and happy).

Telmarni is rather glad to be back to Oleg's after their little trip to the wilds. Everyone looks happy when they arrive, doubly so with Svetlana when she sees the radishes. She can't help to turn away when she understood her reasoning for wanting them. But things changed when Oleg recognized the former bandits when they rode in with them. "They have agreed to work with us to map out these lands Oleg. And Honestly, we have paid them to do that too." She scratches the back of her head before continuing. "So that is the reason they are with us. We came back for-" Telmarni stops mid sentence as she sees Oleg and Svetlana argue a bit before Svetlana leads Cobb and Sareah into the main building. "Um... Well, we came back for more supplies since we were running low. We did not mean to cause..." She looks back and forth at the other charter members. "Strife. But I think things will work out."

Cassandra was going to stay out of things but this was mostly her fault. She advocated their second chance. Best to own up. "We interpreted the charter in their favor, as is our right," she starts. Oleg had said many times that it was their decisions by authority of the charter. "It says unrepentant banditry. They are repentant. We have seen that. They have proven that. And they'll be useful. Hatch will aid in creating an accurate map of the area. Cobb and Sareah are knowledgeable of farming and can grow more radishes, something we found the kobolds around here enjoy. And Vance will teach all of them how to hunt and survive. And they'll be paid for these services. They'll earn from now on rather than take."

Korinne can hardly keep herself focused on any one thing, what with there being another stranger at the fort and then there's the surprisingly large payment for the radishes which apparently were useful for intimate activities and then the initial tension when Oleg and Kesten see the former-bandits and now Svetlana's sudden mothering mode and and...

"Ugh...there's a lot going on," Korinne winces, rubbing at her temples. "We're happy we were able to give you a hand with the radishes. Might also explain why the kobolds we found in the patch were behaving a bit strangely...well that and the fact that they obviously got greedy and ate way too much. But anyway um, hope they're good and they do what you want them to do," she says, face flushing slightly.

"And Cass and Tel are right; these folks have been true to their word so far and haven't caused us or anyone else any trouble. In fact, they've all been doing a great job," she beams. Then her expression falls slightly. "We did have one that sneaked away from the rest, though. I guess maybe he didn't trust us to keep our word. He didn't have any supplies with him so we didn't bother trying to chase him down."