Alvis says, "Yes, we should make a record of all we have done here. That includes how we got here as well. As I said I do think we should return burdened with all that we can carry. On our return we should be able to take time to more closely examine the lands we pass through, noting any landmarks. It will aid us and others in the future."
Laden down with the bulky loot gathered from the bandit camp, the team starts on their way back toward Oleg's. It is still fairly early in the morning, so they have the whole day in front of them to do as they wish.
The team explores the area around the bandit camp on both sides of the river, making detailed notes and spending as much time as it takes to reconnoiter the area. During the later part of the day, they are resting along a trail, when there is a clear sounds of speech coming from ahead of you. It sounds as if several voices are arguing amongst each other.
Tessa inches closer to hear what is being said behind Graham, hand on his shoulder and staying behind him.
Teela stops Caramel and turns her head towards the source of the noise. Her stopping in place is less an attempt to be obfuscate her presence. Instead, she attempts to not make noise that could prevent her from hearing what is being said.
Alvis doesn't consider sneaking around a possibility. Holding his hand up, he brings Parable to a halt and listens quietly to the persons arguing.
With the rest of the party staying put and trying to listen, Velas does the same. He reins in his horse and focuses on the nearby noises.
While you can make out words, only a few of you understand the language.
As you stay still on the path, through the clearing in front of you steps a handful of small reptilian humanoids of varying chromatic coloration.
They seem to be carrying heavy sacks, but freeze when they spy your group, looking at each of you nervously. One even hisses, sounding a bit like a small teakettle.
As Alvis looks them over he seems to think he might have been taught something about creatures like these.
Alvis looks to Lady Quintessa on how she wishes to proceed, quietly saying, "They like the radishes, but seem to have had a dispute with some group called Sootscale, of course you may understand them yourself, milady."
Alvis knows this small scaled creatures are kobolds - small reptilian humanoids, who often build warrens in dark places, like caves or old ruins. They can be clever and devious, but are generally looking out for themselves and not into wanton violence or destruction.
While one of the kobolds hisses, it seems to be more out of fright than out of spite. None have made threatening moves so far, and one, wearing a leather thong collar with some sort of stone hanging from it says in broken Common"
"Let us pass? No harm. No hurt. Yes?" It points to itself and then to you as it speaks, as if to say - you don't hurt us, we don't intend to hurt you.
Graham has his hand on the pommel of his rapier but does not draw it. His inclination is to let the creatures pass, but if Tessa says otherwise with a compelling case he could be convinced to take the opposite side.
Alvis thoughtfully says, "These are kobolds, often cave dwellers, known, like many small folk, to be cunning and sly. However, while they look out for themselves mostly, they are not given to random violence or destruction for its own sake."
The kobolds drop their heavy sacks with a dull thud, and put their own hands on their weapons, not drawing them. They freeze as the leader, with the necklace on, hisses at them and stills them with a hand motion. She eyee your group warily, ready to fight if that's what this encounter calls for.
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Teela leads Caramel to the edge of the path, making space for the scalies to move past. "That part I understood."
Quintessa raises one hand slowly, palm forward, her expression calm and composed. She doesn't put her hand to her weapon like the others, and moves to step to the front with an obvious display of neutrality. Her eyes drift over the kobolds, not with contempt, but with practiced observation. Her voice is steady, clear, and precise.
"You may pass unharmed, if you speak truth. But this is our land now, by charter and by blood. I would know who travels through it and why."
She gives the leader, clearly the one with the stone necklace, a nod of recognition. "You mentioned Sootscale. Speak plainly, if you can so all can hear."
Switching to Draconic she clarifies in a harsher tongue.
Velas intently listens to the back and forth between Quintessa and the kobolds, translating for the others.
"The kobolds said something about radishes and Sootscale interlopers. Quintessa is interrogating them and ensuring they speak the truth."
I hate radishes, Graham mumbles, keeping a close eye on these "kobolds" but careful not to make a threatening movement until they do.
Alvis lifts an eyebrow at the breath of Lady Quintessa's claim at this time. I hope we can pay the bill for this. The claim is lawful but hard for just us to uphold, for now. He says nothing about this for now.
Alvis moves Parable just enough to allow the kobolds to pass making sure that he is close to Tessa, to defend her.
The leader of the kobolds seems surprised when you speak their language, and she responds in the same tongue.
"You cannot own the land. It doesn't belong to you or anyone. It is not a treasure to hoard like gold or jewels. You might as well own the air..." She blinks and carries on in a more conciliatory tone. "We mean no harm and are just passing from a place to gather food to our warren as we always have done. Conflict is just between our kind and the more aggressive Sootscales. They are trying to push us from our gathering place. We will not submit to them but must abide for now."
Quintessa parses the kobold's words, nodding along.
"You speak wisely., ragon-blood. The land does not bend to the leash like a hound. But civilization must stake a claim if it is to protect what matters. Not for gold. Not for conquest. But for peace."
"If these Sootscales are the aggressors, that is useful to know. Our reason for being here charges us with taming this land, but that does not mean purging it of those who already live here. If your people seek peace, and not the sword, then we have not quarrel with you and may find ourselves allies against the Sootscale."
A pause, then in a slightly softer tone (as song as Draconic can be, that is). "What is your warren called? And who leads it? What is your name? Who leads this Sootscales you speak of and where can we find them. We would know more of these aggressors."
She bows her head and introduces herself, "I am Lady Quintessa Orlovsky."
Then, switching briefly to Common, she turns slightly to the others. "They claim no quarrel with us, only with another tribe of their kind, the Sootscales. Their leader seems honest. I'm asking for some additional details. If there are any questions you may have, please speak them."
The leader of the kobolds gives a slight bow of respect both as greeting but also in agreement with Quintessa's words.
She says in Common. "We Greenbacks." And you can see they all have a rather greenish coloration, especially on the back sides. "I Kalista. Leader." She grasps her necklace with a stone dangling from it, and holds it up as proof. She would like to say more, but her Common is quite limited, so she switches to Draconic again.
"Well, to be fair..." Teela tilts her head to the side "This is not our land. It's not even Aldori land. We're here to dispose of the bandits on their behalf.", she shrugs.
Alvis looks over at Teela's comment, "That's how you see this, Teela? Fine, this is not the time to talk about it."
Alvis says to kobold leader, [/b]"I'm Alvis, Kalista. Not all of us are the same, those unmannerly men are dead now, by our hands. We hope for a peaceful sharing of this lands bounty, with mutual understanding. For the telling of the troubles here, we thank you, the more we know of each other the less likely are mistakes born of ignorance."[/b]
Alvis gives a quick update, "I just told them we killed the bandits at the camp. They had trouble with them."
Alvis will help with any translations needed.
Kalista bows to Alvis. "Just so." she says in Common the sibilant S-sounds stretching out a bit. "Greenbacks go?" she asks pointing the way they were heading before the interaction.
Without any word to stop them, the Greenback kobolds, led by Kallista, move on, carrying their heavy load in sacks back towards their warren.
The rest of the day's exploration reveal other features about the surrounding area, but none stand out particularly. The group camps again, and the night proceeds without event.
Quintessa lets the Greenbacks go peacefully, thanking them for the information and telling them that she hopes they meet again soon, though no one is quite sure if she actually means it.
After they are gone, she lobbies for taking the extra time to map the area. "I think it's important that we spend the time taking notes and mapping as much as possible to learn as much about this area as possible."
Alvis lets the kobolds pass, praying that Abadar guards their journey in the trade they bring to their community. At Lady Qunitessa's words he agrees, "Yes, that is best. We have little to go on as to deal with more bandits right now, so learning this land is much needed. The bandits have an advantage over us being more familiar with all the hazards, and benifits, and pathways here. We need to have that knowledge as well. And we need to make sure others learn it as well. We should send a copy of what we learn to Lady Jamandi so it is not lost if tragedy should befall us."
8 Pharast, Greenbelt, The Stolen Land
The wind blows from the north the next day and the mild temperatures begin to drop. It is not dangerously cold, but the biting wind, and thick scud of clouds makes it quite uncomfortable to exposed skin. The woods offers some protection from the wind however.
Despite the conditions, you dedicate the day to exploring the lands between the Thorn River bandit camp and Oleg's Trading Post. Mostly this is heavy forest, and travel is not easy, but there are deer and cart paths that you can follow. After following one such path on the western edge of this hex, you come across a wide clearing.
Lying around the clearing, in various stages of napping, are several kobolds. These all have dark grey-black skin, and several have bellies that are quite distended. Three large bushel baskets full of white root vegetables lie untended on the edge of an enormous patch of moon radishes.
So far, the lazing kobolds have not noticed your arrival at the edge of the clearing.
Again, Teela stops Caramel as she observes the scene. "Oh wow. Someone had a feast here. I would speak up, but I don't know the language." She doesn't make an attempt to whisper, using her normal voice instead, seemingly not caring whether the kobolds hear her.
"Fat kobolds and moon radishes. I think these are the radishes that Svetlana was looking for."
Velas hops off his horse and walks towards the kobolds, speaking in Draconic. "My name is Velas. My friends and I are new to this area. We met some other kobolds recently, the Greenbacks. Seemed like a friendly bunch. Anyways, a different friend of ours is wanting moon radishes for a special soup. Do you mind sharing some of those radishes with us?"
These kobolds leap to their feet, and reach for weapons, mostly fairly primitive-looking spears at Teela speaks and Velas walks among them. one of them, wearing a scallop seashell necklace shouts at Velas in Draconic. Pointing his spear to emphasize his words, his ill-intent is not hard to discern.
There is a pause while he waits to see how you will react...
When his attempts at civility are met with aggression, Velas puts his hands up and freezes. "I meant no disrespect." He stares at the party with wide eyes, hoping he didn't just step on a hornet's nest. "Uh, Quintessa, Teela, think you could talk us out of this one?"
As Velas makes signs of peace, the Sootscales relax marginally. The leader shouts out, puffing his chest out wide.
And he motions with his hands for you to ove along as threateningly as a 3' lizard can be.
Alvis grimaces as Velas places us as friendly to those the Sootscales are in conflict with. Alvis tries to assess the number and condition of the kobolds as, at first glance, they seem rather at a disadvantage.
He says quietly to Tessa, "Milady, how do you want to proceed, doubtful we can have good relations with the two conflicting groups? I don't think these can hold against us."
"We'll see..." Teela responds to Velas and starts pilfering through her saddlebags. She pulls out some rations wrapped in paper and smells the contents. "Hope they're not vegetarian.", she laughs at her joke and gestures for someone to translate. "Honored dragonkin of the..." she looks at Velas and ends the sentence with what may be a question "Sootscale tribe."
She turns back to the kobolds and presents some of her rations. "We offer a trade. Dried meats for some of your produce. Cook it over a fire and it will make you strong and wise as the dragons of legend" she coughs "eventually."
After the translation occurs, the leader looks at the baskets of produce and then at what Teela is offering. "Trade Ok, if you give horse also." it says in hard to understand Common. It's pretty clear they don't mean to ride it...
Alvis gives the kobolds the once over. It seems clear to him that if they were in a different situation, a half-dozen kobolds or more, might be a danger, but these guys have recently stuffed themselves with moon radishes to the point of being sickened and slowed. The Sootscales might not recognize it, but they are likely no match for you should a fight break out.
Teela lets out a hearty laugh. "No. That's not remotely close to a fair deal. These are well-trained horses that take years of effort to raise, unlike the free-growing radishes here." she gestures towards the vegetables. "Either take the deal or move along and we'll pick them ourselves. I'm only offering the jerky as a gesture of good will."
Graham waits patiently for any signal to take the kobolds' failure to bargain in good faith as aggression...and a chance to settle the score for the Greenbacks.
Tessa moves up and comes to a stop beside Teela. She surveys the kobolds with a neutral expression, speaking first in Draconic, her voice calm but clipped.
Her eyes narrow, just slightly. " Choose your path carefully. We are not bandits, but we will not be bullied."
Switching to common she says to her allies "They are bloated on stolen food and bravado. They may bark, but I doubt they have teeth left to bite. I suggest we take what is fair from this wild patch. Let them tell Chief Sootscale that cooperation was offered, and their pride rejected it."
Velas nods in appreciation to Teela and then Quintessa to thank them for their quick wits and quicker words. He continues to adopt an nonthreatening posture in hopes that the group's current situation is defused without incident, but he readies himself to draw his blade in an instant.
Alvis nods at Quintessa's word commenting, "Yes, I'm sure now, the leader seems somewhat together but his squad mates are sick. Gluttony is a terrible sin and they are paying the price." Alvis waves to indicate they may pass by them if they choose but is alert for any attack.
The leader snarls at Quintessa's proud words, but does not stir his group to a fight. Instead he snatches the rations from Teela's hands, and hisses at his kin to gather up two of the baskets of radishes.
They begin to slink off into the trees surrounding the clearing, but the group leader calls back in Draconic.
And then they are gone. (Unless you wish to pursue them).
Quintessa watches the kobolds slink away into the trees. As the leader calls back his final warning, her voice rises in response inDraconic, not as a threat, but as a proclamation.
She turns to the rest of the party and switches to Common, her tone firm but calm. "They most likely will be a problem. I'm sure the words they will relate will be far from the truth. I will let you all decide if you want to pursue them or not."
"I say, let them bark into the trees. We came to map the land, not waste breath on wounded pride. We’ve more to gain from the radishes than from a brawl with overfed lizards."
Velas relaxes as the kobolds leave and disappear into the foliage. "Well done to talk our way through that one, Teela and Quintessa. I thought I was about to be a pincushion for all those kobolds."
Velas looks at the last kobolds to leave and his eyes size up the potential foe. "Eh, I'm sure we'll run into these kobolds again. But, no need to seek a fight. We've had enough of them without looking."
Once it's clear that the rest of the party doesn't pursue the departing kobolds, Velas starts harvesting radishes, adding the root vegetables to his pack. "How many did Svetlana say she needed for her soup? Certainly looks like this patch has enough for her."