Dain's Kingmaker Campaign: Provinces - Shaezon

Game Master dain120475

The current company has subdivided into many sections – you notice instantly there seems to be both tension and animosity between the Yuan-ti and the others – though the tension comes specifically from the others. Yuan-ti are not considered a “goodly” species – they are distrusted, and their purposes are generally dark and suspicious.

Further – these bold references to higher purposes are eclipsed with more base realities – it seems the cold-bloods don’t do well with warm bloods – in that the Ape men do not trust either the Yuan-ti, nor the kobolds – and the kobolds don’t care much for the Yuan-ti for ancient reasons – the Yuan-ti seem to be driven by some odd desire to place Anuk-su in a place of worship – and apparently would be quite friendly with the kobolds – but neither they nor the Ape men are quite interested in trusting them – though the Ape men seem to trust them less because of a simple doubt of their race – while the kobolds distrust their heritage – and (of course) neither is too excited about traveling with the former captives, suspecting that even if the Yuan-ti may in fact be trusty – not all of them may honest. It could very well be that a spy or “plant” would be left alive in their group to infiltrate the party – that is just the sort of duplicity that their culture is known for.

Nevertheless – the night goes on, and the small groups are subdivided into separate camps. For those of you who decide to wander – allow me the opportunity to show you what you discover at each “camp” as you move about.

The Silver Kobolds

There is a bit of an uncomfortable situation here – and you almost feel sad when you mingle. Clearly your friends are eager to be comrades and companions with their descendants – but what is clear from the start is that there is apparently a huge discrepancy in perceptions.

The ancient kobolds expected to be treated as one of the family – distant cousins back from a journey. But to the survivors – the silver kobolds are quite uncomfortable. They don’t know how to deal with the ancient ones – there’s no common ground – no frame of reference – no shared stories or jokes or tales or music. Though your friends look forward to a potential happy homecoming – what is quite clear is that it is very uncomfortable for the newer generation. Even their accents are strange – you hear mixed in their dialect hints of Terran and hints of Undercommon – though you are not sure.

This tension between the two groups clearly makes sense – in a strange way – imagine if a crowd of folk entered your neighborhood – eager to share your food and stories – and their language was ancient, their customs different – their knowledge antiquated at best… It seems like adults trying too hard to fit into a party with young people – and with no liquor to ease that journey – it’s quite awkward. Further – it does not help that though your companions come from a near martial company of proud warriors akin to some version of knight’s errant – the “young generation” is far different. Forced to live in hiding – in dark caves in the ground – their culture is more modern, more gruff, more… “roguish” – forced to steal and fight in the darkness just to survive and protect themselves from dark threats – a person like Sylvath is almost intimidating, if not downright shocking to them.

And after seeing how he is received – they feel more like outsiders then ever before. Despite Sylvath’s generosity and courtesy to them, they feel tense around him – like he’s trying too hard – and being too good…. This makes things hard for both, and they want to be at ease with each other – but it’s clearly a bumpy ride, and you sense more such rides to come.

The golden kobolds

The golden kobolds have less difficulty then the silver ones. They gather around the fires, speaking in quite whispers in draconic. Their attitude is different then the silver ones in general. More pacific – more gentle – more self-regarding and thoughtful. The golden kobolds seem more aligned to wisdom, lore – knowledge – and from what you overhear – their language is mixed with a smattering of unusual accents – you believe that you can detect Celestial, Ignan and Sphinx in their dialect – but are not sure. They keep to themselves, and will politely answer any questions – but do not engage with the others directly – nor do they seem interested in asking you much.

Ariarh, Brett and Kae think they recognize a slight dialect inherent in their words – you believe the accent these folk speak – when they speak Common – is most closely related to your old companion Gan Mondragone…

Yet they say little – quickly returning to their own conversations when you leave them.

The Apemen

These beasts commingle fairly easily – but again – they are farther from the group. Their presence is closet to the north east – farther from the lake, near the forest – and in the deeper night you hear them.

Moving forward you are free to examine them – it seems that they have created a large bonfire – many of the males – both Chimp and Gorilla have taken logs and fashioned them into crude drums – and have begun to beat on them in a rhythmic throbbing. You see several of the Chimps dancing around the central blaze – while others – Chimp and Gorilla – kneel in the dirt and wave their arms to the overcast heavens – grunting in some sort of strange ecstasy.

You cannot tell if it is a religious ritual – or simply jubilation to be free and alive – but whatever the case may be, their music is wild, passionate, pagan, barbaric and infectious. If you enter it – if you move into it – you feel yourself swept up in its barbarism – a desire to dance, to feast, to kill, to mate, and to let your limbs loose with the grotesque raw sensuality infects you deeply.

The Apes – if they see you – will encourage you to dance with them – to roar out barbaric cries to creatures of strange names – gods perhaps – or the names of the fallen? You don’t know – and you don’t ask, because they seem uninterested in speaking of the details – only contenting themselves with the music and revelry.

As the night continues you see some of the males engage in fighting – you suspect these are sparing matches – signs of dominance perhaps? The losers of the fights are hurt – but not often badly – no more then a barroom brawl – and the victors of the fight it would seem are spurned forward by these actions – afterwards you notice the victor will take from the crowd of onlookers a female to rut with – and the female –though it would seem protests the action quite violently… you think this may be some sort of complex mating ritual… All the females who “fight” the males… they calmly stand around watching the fight, hooting and roaring their pleasure contentedly until the winner of the fight is determined – then the protest ensues.

Yes – you suspect that if your allies in these Apes were forcing themselves truly on the females – at the least they would have fled before the fight was concluded instead of waiting to watch and encourage the fight.

The Yuan-ti

They stay together as well – the Cobra-headed types have largely fallen victim to sleep – it seems that a warm fire or cold night leaves them sluggish and eager to rest. Some of them you have noticed have feasted – and you shudder; for you catch the fact that they have taken whole squirrels that they caught – and took their thrashing bodies to swallow twitching whole down their gullet – even as a serpent would.

The other caste – they are apart, and sit in small groups around fires as well. Among all the prisoners they are the best equipped – clearly knowing where the chief stores were. Yet they took nothing remarkable – no valuable gear that you can see – but some oddments that or slightly strange.

You see several of them are sitting around a low fire and sharing a pipe – the smell is sweet – and you think it is a combination of hashish and hemp – but you are not sure.

You see one in front of a small fire – strange runes have been traced about it – and he has cast dust on the fire. It glows blue now – and smells strange – like myrrh, but somehow more otherworldly.

You see several practicing weapon katas with swords like the one’s that Brett’s friend took – and others still have taken small crude idols – like stone snakes, putting them on the ground and lighting small candles around these same idols. There, they sit in front of the idols with their legs crossed and palms upwards, fingers pressed against thumbs– eyes rolled back into their heads and chanting dully in a language that you cannot recognize but are told is called “Azlanti”.

Meanwhile –

Brett has decided he won’t be wasting his time. He has spent a good portion of the evening moving from group to group – trying to study and learn – spending roughly an hour with each group. Yet always with him is the girl Anaitis – for she claims the Halfling saved her from death and is now her sahib.

This answer is not as well received by some as others – but, for now – it is enough.

You observe that Brett and Anaitis – whatever they do – are seen to do the following.

1. At the silver kobolds Brett speaks a lot to them – specifically to the younger ones – telling some jokes and offering a pipe to a few of the younger lads. This seems doubly well received as it seems to annoy Sylvath for some reason – Brett shares a few jokes, but enlarges on the valiance of Sir Sylvath and the silver kobolds – exaggerating somewhat their importance in the town; stressing clearly that the town not only will be happy to see them, but eager to see them.

Also – catching a few of them have an Undercommon dialect – he quickly dismisses any prejudice on that count, rather enlarging on various recipes regarding mushrooms – knowing that is a favored staple of the Underdark – and genuinely shows interest in their cooking, eager to share recipes with the others.

2. The golden kobolds receive attention as well – Brett recognizing the accent of Gan Mondragone decides to use that to his advantage as well – speaking of teas and other various styles of food that was well received. His questions are the most direct here – but also, the least imaginative – he asks what their purpose is – what their plans are – what they will do – and where they shall say.

Their answers are – at best – esoteric – and he spouts up a few statements that are clearly meant to sound “wise” – but generally have the effect of seeming a bit… put-on. Sensing he is being humored at best – he politely moves on.

3. The Apemen is where Brett seems to shine. Watching the folk at their bonfire for a moment, he leaps out suddenly – startling and seemingly enraging them. A heavy Gorilla-like one charges up to him – granting him a fierce and violent growl as it slams his chest with his heavy paws. Brett seems shocked, and the girl Anaitis would draw her sword – but Brett suddenly yells back as loud as he can, beating the ground over and again with his tiny fists – dancing and capering around the massive paws of the brute – just out of reach, so that others watch.

Any moment, if Brett were grabbed – he could be seriously hurt or even killed – but he is just out of reach – until the Ape roars again in frustration – Brett joining – then astounding them all by laughing long and loud. This seemed to shock the bunch – but he plucks up one of the startled drums from one of them and begins a capering dance around the fire – this seems to encourage them to follow his antics – in confusion at first – until they quickly do so out of habit – then out of the shear joy of the wild abandon.

Brett spends perhaps the longest with this bunch – laughing with them, his humor confusing the apes somewhat – for even when one of them lands a solid punch on his head – marking him badly by bloodying his nose and causing Anaitis to reach for her blade – instead of reacting negatively – Brett merely laughs at the offender – confusing them all, but pleasing them heartily as he barks out sometimes that he didn’t mind the beating because he was “too pretty” anyway.

To any watching Brett it seems that this crew is – at best – eager to live life to the fullest – and be happy doing so. They want to live brutally – and with an open sensuality that is near lacking civilization altogether. You can’t honestly tell if Brett is putting on an act, or genuinely enjoying the barbaric “play”… yet you suspect it is a combination of the two.

Indeed – once Anaitis realizes what he is doing – she “apes” Brett’s actions, too – but is less received at first – but quickly, once she dances the steps, and demonstrates her intensity – seems to be accepted; even so much as a younger Chimp tries to fight another in her presence – but when he advances to her she fights him off – not with brute strength, but a curious unarmed fighting style which manages to cause him to tumble into the bushes – leaving the others hooting and clapping loudly at his failure.

You notice that Anaitis laughs at the chimp later – and shares with him a drink – but after a brief word – the chimp seems less inclined to further “amorous advances” – at least – you see no more that night…

The Yuan-ti

Brett leaves the apes to speak with these folk – having been prompted somewhat by Anaitis – he says little to the cobra heads – seeing they’re mainly in a state of near-slumber. He also avoids the smokers for some reason – a fact you find odd considering his passion for smoking – but you have a hunch this is due largely to the fact that he may have been warned off by Anaitis.

Brett also avoids ones that linger close to the snake idols – a point that doesn’t surprise you – as they seem to be in a religious ritual. He pauses a moment or two by the one by the fire, kneeling patiently – and says a prayer or two in a language that you think is either Celestial or Draconic – but you believe it to be to Apsu. He doesn’t stay there long, as the pureblood “praying” doesn’t seem very open to talk.

Brett advances mainly to the folk with the weapons practicing their maneuvers. He watches a bit, even as one of them sees him – their seems to be some discussion between the chief of these lads – and Anaitis – one of them pointing several times to her sword and armor – while she points to Brett – Brett seems to be doing his best to take it all in coolly, but his eyes are intent and he seems very determined to watch everything.

When the conversation between Anaitis and the others are done – they speak with Brett directly – it’s hard to hear what their words are – but their voices are soft and melodious – and you feel a desire to agree with the speaker – and any who would gainsay the voice is one that darkens your eyes. Indeed – you have an overwhelming desire to follow the speaker of those voices – their words, what you can make out – are undoubtedly goodly and wise – and certainly just. Any who would speak against those voices seemed somehow uncouth and rustic – and those who threatened the voice drew your very ire and perhaps anger…

Yet despite this – Brett seems to be prepared… or at the least, he has steeled himself against such confusion. He answers well – and when the chief of the swordsmen seeks to stand against Brett – perhaps testing his fortitude – the Halfling smirks – jerks out lump of hardtack and tosses it into the air. The others watching this in bored surprise are shocked as Brett then follows it up by jerking his pistol and firing at the bread – the lead bull slamming it into crusty crumbs – and the sound echoing round the camp like thunder.

You are not sure what Brett says then – but the spell seems diminished – if spell it was. Brett now seems be in complete control – his old self – and the others are now cowed by his action – even as Anaitis seems to suggest that she was correct in her assessment. The warriors of the group bow to both her and do a strange salute in which they clench both of their fists and raise them to the heavens, their heads bowed.

Brett acknowledges it coolly, then returns to his friends campfire.

Whatever it was that Brett has decided to do is – naturally – shared between Brett and the GM. Of course – if any of you have similar plans – now that you saw how Brett did it – you have an idea on what I’m looking for. Tell me who you decide to visit – and where you decide to go – and what you decide to do when you get there. Do you want to talk to one group – or another? Each group will require a basic “Diplomacy Check” for “Gather Information”. In this case your DC’s stay the same – but instead of 1d4 hours – you have 1d4x15 minutes for each question. Of course – if you have no desire to interact – that is cool, too.

Well – that wraps up what Brett and Anaitis do this night. For the rest of you – just let me know. Good luck!