Krishka heads in the same direction, but not bothering to hide and therefore straying a bit from her companions so they won’t get noticed when the orcs spot her. She figures it is unlikely, but maybe being an orc herself she can rebuff the raid with a duel or something instead of all out combat. If so, she might get some information or maybe even point them in the direction of the lizard folk.
Chestman doesn't stealth. He is more a scream and leap fellow and follows behind Krishka.
Suddenly having an idea, she smiles in amusement and when she gets close enough, she calls out to the orcs, ”I’m Krishka, born of Whitetusk! I’ve got better prey than you to deal with.”
One of the orcs calls back in common, "Krishka, of the Whitetusks? Never heard of the Whitetusks. We are the Riverborn."
”Well Riverborn. Are you weaklings, or would you rather face a real challenge?” Krishka responds in a challenging tone. Orcs abhor even the appearance of weakness, so she doesn’t sue for peace, nor speak softly, but rather sounds aggressive and tries to aim for steering them into aiming at a better battle to be had.
Tavern Tale seems rather clueless initially about the orc raiders' presence in town, but she quickly refocuses, joining Team Stealth.
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
”Well Riverborn. Are you weaklings, or would you rather face a real challenge?” Krishka responds in a challenging tone. Orcs abhor even the appearance of weakness, so she doesn’t sue for peace, nor speak softly, but rather sounds aggressive and tries to aim for steering them into aiming at a better battle to be had.
"Weaklings?" one of them says. "We are strong, the strongest of the swamp!"
Tavern Tale seems rather clueless initially about the orc raiders' presence in town, but she quickly refocuses, joining Team Stealth.
Vesica Stealth Check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Good stealth check. The orcs are too involved with Krishka Whitetusk to even notice.
Gothia stands behind Krishka to help back her up, if needed. Having battled many orcish tribes back home, Gothia feels that Krishka is approaching this in the right way.
Chestman gets ready to unleash fury.
Sea Ranger watches from afar, beside TT.
Naïlo stays near TT and the unnamed human she is following.
”The strongest of the swamp? What about the lizardfolk? They seem pretty strong too. Care to prove your strength against them?”
Kriska counters, seeing this as a chance to get the lizardfolk weakened and distracted.
TT, fearing that things might soon escalate, draws her sling and a stony bullet for ammunition. She listens in to the give-and-take of the...negotiation?...trying to get a sense of when the orcs are going to attack.
[dice=Counter intimidation (don’t have either skill, so whichever is better)]d20+1
”The strongest of the swamp? What about the lizardfolk? They seem pretty strong too. Care to prove your strength against them?”
Kriska counters, seeing this as a chance to get the lizardfolk weakened and distracted.
"The Lizardmen?" says the orc. "We are stronger than the lizardfolk."
Sea Ranger sees TT draw her sling, but he puts one hand on her arm and whispers in her ear. "Bide a moment, I think I see where she's going with this."
Gothia watches as the two orcs talk. While diplomacy is always a worthwhile endeavour, she is unsure that in this case, it will work...but Krishka seems to know what she is doing, so the paladin waits and watches.
Tavern Tale turns to Sea Ranger and gives a quick nod. She unknowingly holds her breath as the scene plays out.
Naïlo watches how these lesser races deal with things as such behavior would be abhorrent with his people. For what was on display was simply near animalistic behavior and was akin to seeing who could piss the longest and the farthest and was ultimately just as meaningless.
He then simply reminds himself that they are only just one step above being an animal themselves so one should not expect them to have evolved to anything near to what his people have already achieved. Especially since even the other Elven races had not risen to the same level of quality that the High Elves had. The only reason that the High Elves simply did not rule all the other races, as logic would dictate they should, is that these more basal races bred so prolifically, just like rodents and just like rodents that breeding was mindless, environmentally destructive, as well as self-destructive. They even acted really no different than the rats they emulated, breeding beyond a means to sustain themselves and then fighting their own kind over the scraps while destroying their potential future resouces through over consumption so that their situation would only become worse than what it already was.
He had not only read about this cycle but he had even seen it firsthand for himself within his own lifetime, and this behavior had not changed since the time these lessers races had come into being. Further at their current snails pace, they would not be any where close to anything the High Elves have achieved for at least several more Elven generations to come. Which is assuming, they will eventually evolve to a higher state as that was not even guaranteed. Perhaps all they would do is become more sophisticated rats but still retain their current rat mentallity.
Chestman just sips his ale.
"The Lizardmen?" says the orc. "We are stronger than the lizardfolk."[dice=Counter intimidation (don’t have either skill, so whichever is better)]d20+1
”The strongest of the swamp? What about the lizardfolk? They seem pretty strong too. Care to prove your strength against them?”
Kriska counters, seeing this as a chance to get the lizardfolk weakened and distracted.
”Then prove it. Come with us to fight the lizardfolk, and we can show those lizards what real strength is.”
Krishka, make a diplomacy roll instead of intimidate. Inviting them to fight the lizard folk sounds very diplomatic.
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”Then prove it. Come with us to fight the lizardfolk, and we can show those lizards what real strength is.”
"Hmm," says the orc leader, mulling it over. "We can beat up the lizardfolk, but what do they have that we lack?"
Scales?
TT starts to get noticeably antsy again as she tries to pick out a potential orc target to bonk with a stone.
Chestman cracks knuckles
The orcs talk amongst themselves in Orc.
Another orc says, [b]"I say we go back, raise an army, and attack them."
"Hold on," says the third. "What if they attack us? We've got our part of the swamp, and they have theirs."
The orcs talk amongst themselves in Orc.
** spoiler omitted **
Krishka then says in orc, "The lizardmen might be powerful, but you can help us thin their numbers."
Seasons Happiness to all and hope you all have a great time with family and friends.
Tavern Tale returns to the Golden Grain Inn, hops up on a table, and sings a festive carol. Upon finishing, she dropkicks the owner, scrambles out the front door, and races to rejoin her new friends.
Happy Holidays, one and all!
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Chestman gets into a major land war in east Xian Tia.
Merry Christmas!
Happy holidays!
Krishka then says in orc, "The lizardmen might be powerful, but you can help us thin their numbers."The orcs talk amongst themselves in Orc.
** spoiler omitted **
Krishka responds in orc without really thinking about the language, ”Ha, I would be disappointed if you didn’t invite me, though I am sure my odd collection of companions will want to come along too. We are already preparing to make a raid ourselves since the lizardmen have been harassing this town recently. Thus when I saw you arrive, I knew it was divine influence that brought you to join us in battle against the lizardmen.”
Trying to wait patiently while the orcs talk, Gothia gets a little jittery. Not only can she not understand what is being said, but these orcs are not her idea of allies...having battled many of their kind back home.
"Uh-oh--Gothia's losing her patience." TT whispers to Sea Ranger and Nailo. "This could get ugly fast!"
Krishla, could ya translate for the others?
The orc returns in orcish. "We will be glad that you joined us," says the orc. "But you also need to speak to our chief."
Krishka nods in assent to the orcs and waves the dwarf over, ”I will speak to your chief. This is one of my companions, a warrior dwarf named Chestman. Shall he and my other companions join us, or should they meet up with us for the attack?” Krishka asks, uncertain about these orc’s tribal traditions regarding non-orcs.
Yo
They nod at Chestman. "Then follow us into the swamp," he says. He points the way into the swamp. "Of course, if you lack the courage . . ."
Naïlo mutters, "Enough courage, right? We were not the ones that needed to be goaded into going. Orks have always confused false bravado with courage, such an inferior race."
TT elbows Nailo gently in the ribs and whispers, "Be nice! Then she breaks cover and joins Krishka, Chestman, and Gothia over by the orcs. With the slightest of curtsies toward the orcs, the young human introduces herself. "Greetings. You may call me Tavern Tale the Bard. What are your names...assuming you prefer not to be called Orc #1, Orc #2, and so on?"
Naïlo looks to TT and whispers back, "What!? Just stating facts." Then he watches her join the others he had to admire that she,an inferior being, always has a way with folks especially those that do not deserve such.
Chestman gets all red in the face and seems to be frothing.
TT looks down at Chestman and gasps, "Oh dear...!"
Gothia places her hand on the dwarf's shoulder.
"I think we need to move on and NOT insult our supposed allies and companions."
She looks over to the elf and simply stares at him for several seconds before she slowly turns and joins the others.
"Come on...let's go"
Naïlo does not seem to register Gothia's stare, even though he obviously had seen it. It is as if it either meant absolutely nothing to him or they did not register its intent.
Naïlo does watch the Dwarf with interested curiousity.