DM Talomyr's Kingmaker

Game Master Talomyr

"So the hill giants don't like you because you like trolls. Why did the trolls kick you out?" Tove asks, taking on a more soothing tone for the despondent drunkard.

"Trolls think Munguk stupid..." the hill giant complains. Although based on your conversation thus far, you'd be hard pressed to disagree with the trolls.

Rhiannon warily watches the exchange, prepared to strike at a moment's notice should the giant's childish mood swings veer toward violence.

Azen watches the exchange, wondering if they should offer the giant a job. He would be a great boon to building a settlement, and if they kept him busy and fed, maybe he could live a fulfilling life, even though he was clearly mentally impaired.

Garethane watches the exchange wondering if he could find enough wolfberries to convince the hill giant to help them rid the land of some pesky trolls...

"Thank you for your time Munguk. Now where might I find these wolfberries you're after?" Tove inquires, eager to get back to her companions and discuss the next move.

The giant gives Tove a cross look, "If Munguk know where berries are, Munguk have berries!" he exclaims before scratching his head before more quietly adding, "Usually next to river..."

Celebeth leans over to Azen and says sotto voce, "Y'know, we don't necessarily have to win him over today. Just make a good first impression, then maybe chat with him again later when we're better prepared to make a deal."

Azen responds to Celebeth

True, true. So many possibilities with something like that on our side, but also so many chances for disaster. Where would he stay, and could we soundproof it enough to not keep the entire area awake from his snoring? And exactly how dumb is he? Could we keep him happy, and is he smart enough to make friends and value his meal ticket, or could he just up and drunken rampage over the entire town one day? So many possibilities and dangers wrapped into one...

"If we do make friends, maybe we could make a magic item that would help make him smarter. Hopefully that might make it more reasonable to deal with him?"

"or make him more dangerous. If he is kept in the wilderness as a sort of extension of the borders and we are able to keep him cooperative to warn us of coming troubles, might not be a bad thing, far enough away to not cause too much trouble, close enough to deal with any he does cause... can wolfberries be farmed? kalaman puts in quietly to the sisters

Continuing their low-voiced conversation, Azen responds

Farming wolfberries is an excellent idea, and I don't see why not... we could plant bushes near water sources closer to home. They grow wild here, so it shouldn't take much maintenance... just time to let them grow up and produce fruit. ... Meanwhile, he might like more traditional alcohols as well, which we could control the alcohol content of, and perhaps make sure he gets less drunk.

I also like the making him smarter idea... hmm. It doesn't have to be enough to make him super brilliant, but a standard item to jump him up enough to not be a danger to himself and others is a good call.

"Is anyone considering that if he thought joining the trolls was a good idea, given the danger trolls pose to everyone, making him smarter might be dangerous?" Rhiannon asks quietly.

"Well yeah! But it also potentially means it might be easier to get him to see the value of mutual cooperation. There's no way to know until we try. We don't really know him, his personality, his motivations. If he's purely driven by hunger, rage, and drunken bouts, he's sure to be trouble. But if he can get beyond that... well, we don't know what his motivations might be like."

Krezzik whispers, "Much honor is killing such a powerful foe."

Celebeth shoots the lizardfolk an annoyed look.

Wasn't he just trying to join the trolls because he felt rejected by his own people? I feel like he is just looking for a sense of belonging, not that he is besotted with trolls themselves. After all, they mocked him, so he stopped following them. He just wants someone to be nice to him, I think.

Rhiannon nods, and continues to study the giant in stoic silence, knowing that it would likely fall to her to put him down should he prove a danger to the settlement.

So what's the plan with the big guy? Tove is currently engaging him in "conversation" while the rest of you have your own conversation a bit further away.

Not going to lie, the idea of getting him an intelligence boosting item and turning him into the "Knight of the Wolfberries" is quite appealing.

"Azen, we are forming a kingdom where all sorts are welcome. I don't know if a hill giant is a step too far, but it may be a grand experiment. Also a dangerous one. If he can help rid us of a troll problem before it endangers any of our settlements, that might go a long way towards warming the reception others show him."

"It's up to Tove. Once she's finished chatting with him I'm sure she'll come back to page us for our thoughts, and then work up a plan."

Having bid the giant farewell, with a promise to return with his wolfberries, Tove does just that.

After filling the rest of the group in on what little she gleaned from (Sir) Munguk (Knight of Wolfberries), she listens to each of the others in turn.

"So, it appears we have some options before us, although many rely on whether we can increase the poor sod's intellectual capacities. In the meantime we can cartainly search the riverbanks for some of his beloved berries and see if that's enough to get him on side against the trolls."

Azen sets out in search of wolfberries, as ordered by their fearless leader.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Azen goes a bit further upstream along the river, assuming that Munguk had not been there yet as you hadn't seen him on your journey while you were previously travelling along the Shrike.

After a bit of searching and about half an hour's travel, Azen does indeed find a small patch of wolfberry bushes. If making moonshine from the berries required similar amounts of fruit to other fermented fruit juices, if she were to take all the berries available, somewhere around 10 gallons of Munguk's preferred drink could be produced.

Celebeth, of course, goes along with her sister, as she'd never leave her alone in the dangerous woods.

With her handy haversack it's an easy matter to carry 20-40 pounds of berries in the side pouches!

Roughly an hour after their departure, the sisters return, laden with wolfberries.

For his part, Munguk continues to mope along the river's edge, seemingly beginning to be in a bit of pain - the after effects of entirely too much wolfberry moonshine.

"I feel bad enabling this..." Tove mutters, watching Munguk. Even so, she thanks the sisters for retrieving the wolfberries.

"Hopefully these cheer him up a little and we can star to talk about future plans with him. Starting with our mutual troll problem I guess?"

Yeah, agreed. In the future we'll want to trade him alcohol that is specially prepared to be mild. And it's totally your call, but starting with getting him to help us kill the trolls might be too soon, since he is still sad that they spurned him.

Wondering if we should start with a construction project. He seems perfect for that... we could get him to gather the trees for his own house and maybe some extras for a town construction effort. We tell him this land is ours, but we are glad he is here, help him pick a place for his house a little away from the settlement (far enough to not hear the snores), and help him learn how to build it. Get him set up to be independent to a certain extent, and then tell him that we all pitch in to help each other, and trade mild alcohol, food, and fellowship for other construction... I bet he can get timbers up really high. Maybe make a three story building or something amazing like that.

"That sounds like a great idea Azen, is everyone happy with that? He speaks common well enough if you'd all like to introduce yourselves. He should be in a cheery mood once he sees we've got his berries."

"Sounds like it's worth a try." Rhiannon says with some skepticism.

"That's why I was thinking... something to smarten him a bit might help. Otherwise it might take a lot of effort to teach him how to do all of this stuff," says Celebeth.

"There's no guarantee that this will work. But y'know... if he can turn out to be a decent fellow and part of the community... well, it seems worth a shot."

We could take him to gather wood near the trading post and see if there is an intelligence boosting item in stock?

"That wouldn't be a bad idea, although perhaps lets not take him through Fort Redemption just yet..."

Yeah, agreed... a wide berth I think, looking for good wood?

"Yeah, I definitely would rather not put the public at risk." Rhiannon says.

While the councilor discussed how to handle the hill giant, Munguk curled into a ball and began to loudly snore alongside the river.

Going to wake him up and give him the berries and propose your plan?

Works for me.

Tove starts off toward the river, looking over her shoulder to see if any of the others are brave enough to follow.

Rhannon is close behind, a hand resting on the hilt of the estoc strapped across her back.

Azen goes as well, in case the giant is too surly for his own good.

Tove, Rhiannon, and Azen slowly approach the sleeping, snoring giant.

How do you intend to wake him up?

Not sure how to wake our new snoring friend, Garethane quips "I could summon some squirrels and tickle his nose..."

"I mean we should do something, unless the plan is to just watch him sleep while considering what might be worth a laugh." Rhiannon says, still somewhat skeptical about trusting the giant.

Or I guess we could just wait till he wakes up again. How often do Giants sleep? This seems a little strange.

Tove leads her fellow councilors to just outside of arm's reach of the sleeping giant. Reaching out with her quarterstaff, the priestess nudges the Munguk out of his slumber.

"Uhg...why wake up Munguk, Munguk's head hurts." he says, looking at all of you through bleary eyes. The giant's eyes widen as he catches the all-too-familiar scent of wolfberries.

"You find wolfberries!" the giant exclaims. "Tiny lady and her friends good friends to Munguk." he says grabbing the bag of berries and beginning to shove handfuls of the berries into his jug.

After a brief, though perhaps not as brief as some of you would like, conversation with the giant, he agrees to remain in place until you come back for him.

After leaving Munguk to his newly acquired wolfberries, the party continues on toward the east, searching for a ford in the river. It's nearly nightfall as you approach the confluence of the Shrike and Little Sellen rivers. At the confluence stands rotten wooden buildings on each side of the conjoined rivers, one on the southwest side, another on the southeast side, and finally one more on the northern bank of the confluence. Run aground on the bank nearest you is a large raft, although it is difficult to tell whether the raft is still river worthy from your current position.

What would you like to do?

"Huh. Interesting. Let's check out these buildings, see if there's anything still lurking in them, then see if that raft is still water-worthy."

I agree kalaman draws his blade and moves toward the nearest building, keeping his senses open toward anything off

perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Her amber eyes seeming to reflect the dying light more intensely, Rhiannon moves forward warily, drawing her sword from across her back as she does.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Switching his focus to that of the falcon, Garethane joins the inspection of what must have been a ferry at some time.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (8) + 19 = 27

Azen draws her bow, following her sister to inspect the buildings and make sure she doesn't get killed.

Guessing that we are following Kalaman?

The party cautiously approaches the ramshackle building closest to them, prepared for a fight if need be.

Opening the door that barely remains on its hinges, you see that the interior of the building is in a similar level of decay as the outside. Further investigation reveals that someone had been using this building as a shelter, based on the remnants of food and four sets tattered bedding in the back room.

Exiting the building you move to investigate the raft, testing the structure, you imagine that it would be river worthy enough to get across the Shrike or Little Sellen, but you are not sure just how many more journeys the vessel has in it - certainly something the size of Munguk would be a non-started for the raft.

What now?

Kalaman inspects the bedding and food,

know local: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

And is easily able to guess that probably bandits, humanoids of some sort,

this has been a camp spot of some humanoids, probably bandits, recently

know nature: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
survival: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4

can kalaman determine how long the campsite has been empty?

"Huh. And here I thought all the bandits were dealt with when the Stag Lord was toppled."