Exortion! Nadiya thinks, and says as much to Mishka in the witch-familiar language they share. But she knows they hope to keep this a diplomatic mission, so stays silent and hopes they can rely on Valeska's negotiation skills.
Leta holds her breath, ready to aid the Countess in any diplomatic endeavors. Leta herself is much better at lies and manipulation.
Diplomacy (unskilled) aid another:
Valeska let's the silence grow. Her father always said, they who speak first in the negotiation always lose.
If the Great Chief sees value in our visit, you and your band take the credit for astutely estimating our mission's worth and safely delivering us.
If we does not, we will pay you 1,250 gold or its equivalent. Either way, you win. You ALL win. Neh?
So that you need not lie if asked by those along the way, whether we purchased passage tokens...
From a pouch, she slowly produces one gold coin for each member of her band.
It takes some additional cajoling to get the orc brave to agree, but from the start Valeska can see that her foot is in the door with her negotiations. Nirdosh is very interested in being rewarded, both with esteem and a share of the spoils, for bringing you to the leaders of Urgir.
However, his pride demands that he snare at least one more concession.
In addition to the promises made, he insists upon an upfront payment of ten coins, rather than one, per member of your band - including Valere, Vreya, Gargan, and his band - coming to a total of 180 gold coins.
Valeska concedes, expediting matters.
Nadiya is not keen on the payment demands, but trusts that Valeska is likely doing what's best to avoid conflict. There's enough dangers in this place as it is. She is not fond of orcs, even though she is too young to remember the slaughter an orcish tribe visited upon her family. Nonetheless, she would prefer not to have more blood shed.
As they travel, she does try to talk to some of the new group of scouts (in Orc), asking them about the area--if they have had conflicts with unusual creatures, and particularly if they've seen undead or draconic creatures.
Leta knows little of Orcish culture, but tries to sing an inspiring tune as the travel along.
Your band is forced to break camp very quickly since Nirdosh will brook no long delay. He insists that you must leave at once and travel by moonlight. Thus, gaining the protection of such a well-connected orc warrior means forgoing rest for the night and enduring another few hours of travel.
Once there was a sign things were going to push forward for awhile, Nadiya would cast bear's endurance on herself for a boost. She's an experienced enough traveler to have a good sense of how much on foot time she can take before needing a boost. Mishka like any intelligent cat would be riding in her basket most of the way so I'm not sure she would need to make the check.
As they travel, she does try to talk to some of the new group of scouts (in Orc), asking them about the area--if they have had conflicts with unusual creatures, and particularly if they've seen undead or draconic creatures.
Leta is weary, having traveled all day, but traveling at night inspires her with a new energy.
As they travel, she does try to talk to some of the new group of scouts (in Orc), asking them about the area--if they have had conflicts with unusual creatures, and particularly if they've seen undead or draconic creatures.
Leta's music softens the attitude of Nirdosh's band towards you, although you'd be hard pressed to get any of them to admit it. Nevertheless, they are more apt to respond to questions like those Nadiya poses.
They have been patrolling primarily around Urgir and the Whisperfall region as more and more orc tribes assemble for the Flood Truce. Thus, the only conflicts they've encountered have been with brash orcs - men and women alike - who are still young and impertinent enough to attempt to cause trouble during the time of the Truce.
The only dragons they know of, speaking of them with trepidation, are a mated pair of red dragons who lair in an old, abandoned fortress called Raschka-Tor, located high in the Tusk Mountains. They grumble about how their people are still forced to pay annual tribute to the two dragons to stave off their wrath.
This is peculiar because the dragons you saw were far too small to be a menace to the orc tribes, and even in the dim light you don't think their scales appeared reddish. These must be dragons apart from the ones the orcs dead, perhaps themselves hiding from their larger kin's power.
Nadiya responds in Orc, "Hmm. I think we saw some of their children, or cousins, as we passed through. Not as fearsome, but still would be a fine conquest for the daring..."
Maybe, she thinks, if they seek out the smaller wyrmlings, it might bolster their courage or help them come up with some solutions to their larger problem. Or just serve as a useful tip.
Vreya, your dwarven liason, chimes in without prompting. Despite Gerduhm being hidden in the Tusk Mountains, their seclusion means they have not kept up with the territories of dragons who might overlap with their secret stronghold. She recalls stories that a silver dragon laired near Gerduhm before the dwarves went into hiding, but that was a very long time ago even by a dragon's reckoning.
"Can't rule out that the silver's descendants are still around, though," the dwarven scout muses.
Kain endures the travel with a hardened determination. He glances around the group, trying to pick out the most likely threats. If things went south here, dragons would be the least of their worries and he wanted to at least have an idea of who to be worried about the most.
Fighting against exhaustion and the dark, you crest a landrise and spot the Flood Road. The dry arroyo you've previously seen from afar has now become a wide, slow-moving river - fed by melting snows far to the north - that is reviving the badlands into prairie.
Your attention is drawn, however, to the hundreds of encampments that line the river. Each tribe's standard sits at the heart of their camp, illuminated by their cook and bonfires. The night and shadows and sheer numbers make it hard to accurately count, but there must be hundreds of thousands of orcs assembled here in the plains surrounding Urgir.
Urgir, once the sky citadel of Koldukar, also demands attention. The massive fortress city sits upon a small hill along the Flood Road. Starlight and firelight casts long, strange shadows upon its ancient, circular walls. For how many orcs have migrated to the plains around the ostensible capital for the Hold of Belkzen, there are thousands more within the city's walls - making it a metropolis to rival even Caliphas, the capital of Ustalav.