"Oh my gosh, you're too kind. And I'm sorry, I didn't know you didn't like troll. My brothers whalloped the trolls up, but I don't really like eating things that can speak to you."
She turns to the other hydra heads. "See, guys, I told you everything would be all right.Trust me.
She turns to Sir Gyrad Tolgrith. "Could you tell me about youself, your men and how you came to be here? I love listening to stories," she says eagerly.
Well, it seems that they've kept to their side of the bargain. Tomorbataar says, looking at Ziphora. But we must be sure to keep them scared, otherwise they might decide to betray us later, and we don't want that. As for their kindness, we'll have to see about that, based on the quality of their gifts and all.
Tomorbataar looks up at Torlgrith, his voice getting louder. We've certainly killed a few trolls for you, in fact, they seemed like awful weaklings. Do you humans really have such a hard time hitting things? Tomorbataar is standing up tall and proud now, making sure to lord his size of Torlgrith so that he knows who's boss. His voice also seems more formal, and more articulate; he's making some effort to really pronounce every word precisely and with good diction.
Perhaps we could make further arrangements? I myself can think of many things that you humans can do for us, and all you have to do is point us to the things we can eat. Assuming, of course, that you don't want to be eaten yourselves. There are, after all, lots of us who don't mind eating things that talk.
"Friends don't betray each other! And its better to be friends then have everyone scared of you!" Ziphora protests. "Don't mind Tomorbataar. He's just slow to trust others. We'll eventually be able to bring him around. Good food would help in that matter."
"Is even better to have friends who are scared of you. Can trust friend who is scared of you.", Morheds comments. Morheds swallows some air and burps it back out, suddenly growing to twice his usual size.
With his increased size he stretches up to get a good look into the humans' nest.
Sir Torlgrith tried very hard to not let his fear show as he responded to Tomorbataar. "I would certainly be happy to make further arrangements. In fact..." he glanced over at Ziphora, "I and my men were actually sent here by His Majesty, King Arabasti the Second, to clear a path through this valley and open a new trade route. I have been authorized by him to offer a portion of the tax proceeds from this endeavor to any who aid in my task. Normally this would be paid in gold, but in your case I'm certain it could be paid in livestock. And scrolls."
He held up the scroll case again. "I'm, ah, rather curious just how you're going to use this..."
Morheds looks into the human nest. It's pretty big, and there are a bunch of other buildings in it. Morheds counts eight of various sizes. He also sees a couple humans who seem rather terrified that he's looking over the wall at them.
"No, no, no! You guys are getting it all wrong!"Ziphora glares at the other heads."Friends don't scare each other. They talk nicely and ask each other for help!"
She turns to Sir Gryad Tolgrith."I've been really trying to teach them manners, but its like one step foward, two steps back..."
"Urmmm...good point.Dru, maybe you can become a monkey? Monkeys have hands that can hold things." Ziphora suggests helpfully.
"I have to give it to you Zip, I was wrong about the humans." Hungry says begrudgingly. "Befriending the humans might be a huge boon, Quietly, half to himself just think about all the undead minions I'll be able to make! At least after I figure out how."
At the mention of food tax Hungry's mouth begins to water. He turns to Sir Tolgrith, "Food is nice. But to answer your question, using a scroll is easy my good sir, we simply unfurl it, draw the magic from within the parchment and let it loose. But, if there is a scroll that I can use I'll copy it into my spellbook for a more permanent way of accessing the spell."
Are we really friends yet? More like...associates. Besides, if they're scared they can't refuse our help.
He looks closely at Torlgrith, thinking for a minute. Anyway, the best kind of scrolls aren't magic, they're the kind that teach you all sorts of things about how to act and eat and fight and other stuff. Do you have any like that?
"King Arabasti the second? Does he live in a marble house surrounded by many people? Wear really awesome looking skin? Ooooh I want to go there!" Ziphora squeals.
"Where's the trade route going to, and sure I'd help for livestock, and more stories!"
"The best scrolls are those that contain stories of far-off places!Who cares about magic and all that..."
"Ah, it's the... unfurling part that I was wondering about. And carrying it," Sir Torlgrith states. "But that's your concern, not mine, of course. What I have here is a scroll of healing magic and one of divine protection, but given time we could get more scrolls for you, of all those types. They'll have to come from Korvosa, however, which means it will take several days. This is a small outpost, you understand, so we have little in the way of scrolls."
He considers Ziphora's questions for a moment. "I... don't think it would be good for you to try to visit His Majesty, Ziphora. The trade route is going to Nirmathas, and from there through Molthune to Cheliax."
"Now, for our agreement... the next thing we need your help with is a group of owlbears. They attacked one of my scouts, but he managed to escape. Tomorrow, after we've all had a good night's rest, he can lead you to where they attacked him. By the time you get back I should have another scroll or two, as well as more food, to give you in return for your service, and the more you do for us, the larger your share of the taxes when the road is complete. Is this acceptable to you?"
"Owlbears? Is that bears carrying owls, or giant owls carrying tiny bears? Must be formidable foe either way." Morheds wonders.
"Ah don't worry too much about it, Sir Gyrad Tolgrith. Trade route is from Molthune to Cheliax. Does that mean there will be a lot of people passing through here? Whoopie!I can speak to them all!" Ziphora looks elated at the news, as her head bobs up and down excitedly.
"Owlbears. What are owlbears? Are they Owls or are they Bears? Can they fly?" Ziphora wonders out loud.
"Sir Gyrad Tolgrith, could I ask if Owlbears speak a language? Maybe we can help you have a treaty with them as well!" She chimes in happily.
"Oh oh...before I forgot, if they don't want to talk terms..."Ziphora looks sad."Do you want us to bring you some for the campfire?"
"Owlbears are... more like a mix between bears and owls. They're mostly known for their tendency to try to eat anything they can catch." Sir Torlgrith pauses a moment, thinking over how to reply to Ziphora. "As far as I know, they're mostly like animals, and so incapable of speech."
"Owl+Bear=Owlbear... IT'S GENIUS I SAY GENIUS!!! Whoever thought to make them is a veritable god! I need one yesterday."
Hungry votes sleep and then OWLBEARS AHOY!
Interesting, do you have more specifics about how many owlbears and how much reward there will be? And where do you plan to have us sleep for the night?
"There are at least two, but likely more. For the reward..." Sir Torlgrith thought for a moment. "About this much food again, and two scrolls, as the immediate reward? The long-term share of the taxes depends entirely on how quickly we can finish the route and how much traffic travels on it. As for where you sleep, I don't think you would fit in the fort, so... I have nowhere for you."
Ziphora gobbles that pile of food after she tries to cook it over the campfire.
That sounds good to me, but there are other things that you can do for us as well. I personally should like a clean room of my own to sleep in, obviously next to a nest for the others. Some good cooking would do well, nice cleaned meat and vegetables, not all drippy and full of various... Tomorbataar shivers slightly juices. One of those metal skins you wear would do nicely as well, as long as it's nice and light and doesn't get in the way of things too much. What would you say all of that would require?
Tomorbataar wants to stay here for now, but once the humans cook some food for him and he's done negotiating he'll want to sleep at a distance from the camp and then head to the owlbears.
I. Hmm. Think I've heard of the Taxis plane. Dru-head continues after the Sir finishes.
Nest sounds good. Oh I can't remember the last time we had a real, honest-to-goodness nest. I think it was before we had to kill those other hydra. But ya know what they say. "Watched pot never boils."
Dru-head votes for bedtime.
For the majority of the last conversation Blockhead has had his head buried in the pile of meat in front of him, lips smacking away noisily. Occasionally he would raise his head up and down again, when asked about it all he replies with is a cryptic Tenderizing.
After eating his full, he jams his head into the ground and drags it to the left, making a furrow, trying to clean off that side of his face. He then does the same for the other side, creating another furrow to the right.
After he finished that ritual, he raises his head once more and shakes it vigorously (and cracking it into the side of a tree with a loud THUNK!).
Ahhh!! Fed and clean. #Feelsgoodman.
After that physical display he stretches his neck out as far as he can towards Sir Torlgrith so he can have a proper "face to face" conversation.
Blockhead looks bad. He's missing one eye and burnt all down the other side of his face. He also has many cuts across his face, as well as patches of dirt and tuff's of grass stuck to him. His breath is worse...
You built dis Fort, right? And you building dat trad rute right? Maybe I could help with construction. I is good at pounding things. If not, guess I can pound owlbears...
I grabs those scrolls.
Blockhead then abruptly moves forward to grab the scrolls (either from his hand, or from the ground where he dropped them)
He then withdraws, mumbling a thanks as he does so, and "heads" over to Zips side. He isn't yet sure what to do with them so he just "hangs his head" for the moment.
It's difficult for Sir Torlgrith to keep up with what all of the different heads are doing. He jumps slightly as Blockhead grabs the scroll case from his hands, having been paying more attention to Tomorbataar's demands and what Ziphora is doing.
"A nest and... hmmm..." He thinks for a moment. It shouldn't be too hard to find a clearing and carry some loads of branches to it... but what does a 'clean room' for a hydra head look like? Aloud, he says, "A nest would be fairly simple to provide. Perhaps we shall work on it while you are hunting those that hunt us. Cooking we can provide as well. A metal skin, though... you mean armor, I suspect? That will be much more difficult. We have no armorer here of... sufficient skill to fit armor to so large a being. Perhaps, should all go well, we might be able to aid you in getting something after the road is complete."
If our arrangement works well for that long, perhaps the King might be convinced to make an arrangement with them... a hydra in our army would be a powerful force...
"We really just need arm orcs... arma... armers...? - for our necks and heads. Don't worry about that one," Morheds tilts vaguely toward the hydra's butt, "it can take care of itself."
That sounds good, Tomorbataar says, [b]though I wonder how long it will take to complete the road? In any case, as Morheds mentions, the metal only needs to be around our necks. And it must be bendable.[b]
You know I can't wear metal Tom. I'll settle for one of those wood board things I've seen some humans using.
Sir Torlgrith shakes his head. "Even that, we don't have the man nor the metal for, here. This is a small outpost meant mostly to supply and defend our road crews, so we only have someone here to mend and repair our armor, not make new armor. In the future, assuming our arrangement goes well, I'm sure His Majesty would be interested in making further agreements with you, which could likely include bringing in skilled armorers and material for them to work with."
He pauses a moment, trying to figure out Dru-Head's comment. "Wood board things? Hmm... well... that we might be able to manage. We certainly have no shortage of wood here, after all. But I think food and a nest is enough payment for the owlbears, not to mention it will take some time to make something. Perhaps some wooden protection could be your payment for the next foes you slay after the owlbears?"
Sir Torlgrith's train of thought is interrupted by a yawn. "Perhaps we could finalize the details in the morning?" he suggests.
That sounds a fine idea, you take the night to figure out as many details as you can and report back to us in the morning. In the meantime, a cooked pheasant and sleep sounds pleasant to me.
"Guys, come try my latest culinary experiment!" as she enthusiastically chomps into her semi cooked meat. "Its delicious!"
Uh, details. Yeah. Sure. Dru-heads attention gets distracted at the offer of dinner, chowing down soon after.
After eating, you lumber off into the woods a bit and find a spot to lay down and sleep.
You're still fairly full the next morning, though you have some room after digesting overnight. Not long after you wake up, a human dressed in some soft skins approaches you.
"I'm Kanin," he says, eyeing you warily. "The scout who'll take you to the owlbears. It's about a day's walk, maybe more."
Tomorbataar sleeps far away from the others, curled over on top of himself so that he's only just touching some soft grass, and careful so that he will not roll into his siblings in his sleep. When Kanin arrives he pokes his head up
So, Kanin, I suppose you've also been given the information that Torlgrith was supposed to report to us with? That is, any more details he can give us about the amount of reward or the number of bear...owlbear...owlbears we've to kill? Tomorbataar looks at the man closely.
Tomorbataar votes to follow the man as fast as possible.
Hey hey. Uh, hang... Dru-head stammers out as he grog's awake. He isn't a morning magical beast.
I still didn't spells.
"As with Dru, I haven't done my spells yet either. So, give us an hour or so."
Ziphora is up early in the morning. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads, we've got a new group of people, the owlbears to meet today!" She chimes.
"Wait! Dru needs to get his spell-thing? Where'd you leave it last night, Dru, can I help you find it?"
Votes to help Dru find his spell-thing
Dru-head finds his spells with Zip's aid.
Come on you magic fellows, I'm sure your teeth will work just fine...even if you don't have the muscle to close them tightly.
"Don't know anything more about the owlbears, and won't 'til we get out there," Kanin replies, "Seeing as I'm the scout t' look at 'em. Captain said they'll size you for some kind of protection when you finish off the owlbears."
"What languages do the owl bears speak? Owl or Bear?"
Oh yeah Tom? You wanna sass the only head who bothered to learn how to heal? Good thing Nature has taught me not to be petty, or I might take that as a... challenge. Dru-head looks ahead, his tone noticably darker than before.
You...duh...th... Tomorbataar sputters, his voice becoming louder and shriller with each attempt. We can all heal! It just takes a bit of time, see, look, the burns that you magic...magic...did to me are now a little bit less red. He eyes a bit of peeling flesh on his neck, clearly making no distinction between different types of magic or different types of magic users.
Anyhow, I'm not in the business of fighting people I've allied myself with, and, in case you missed the last time, I declare you all to be my allies. He looks at each head in turn; this is clearly an event worth noting.
Except you, human. Tomorbataar examines the scout to make sure he doesn't have the wrong idea.
"Come on, guys, can we stop squabbling? We're all unique heads with different abilities. More heads are better then one!"
Blockhead gets ready for sleep the best way he knows how, he knocks over every single thing that's in reach and is not horizontal and then sorts them into broken, twisted, and very arbitrary piles before burying his head under one of them, shakes violently and settles in.
I'm sure all this noise and motion isn't all that desirable and the others deal with it as they can.
In the morning he stretches and seems cheerful enough, at least until a few of you start preparing spells.
Blockhead has trouble waiting a whole hour doing nothing and soon diverts to more childish methods of entertaining himself.
By the end of it, there are lots of craters and I am sure the arythmic Thumping has done wonders for your concentration.
After a bit, he Zips as close to Kanin as his neck will allow.
Sniff! You smells purdy. I wills remembers you. Lead tha way!
"I just need a minute to get our friends.", Morheds begins summoning the eidolon.
Kanin watches the hydra warily while the spellcasting heads prepare for the day, though he makes sure to stay well back from Blockhead's antics. Once everyone's ready, he suggests, "It's a long ways from here. That piece 'f troll you brought's still there if you want breakfast before we go."
"I don't eat troll. Hungry might, though. He eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING." Ziphora gives a disgusted grimace at The Hungry One. "He feasts like a ravening beast, too."
Wait. You did learn how to heal? Alright! Well that changes everything. Dru-head returns to smiling. That takes so much pressure off. I was worried I'd be stuck having to cure everybody. Now I can just uh, focus on this here troll. He turns over in the direction we dropped the troll, apparently having forgotten the short spat from before.
Dru-head votes to eat troll.
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" Hungry stretches he head in preperation of eating.
Hungry votes to eat lots of troll meat