Ikto wonders if they are making a big mistake for the very reasons M'Baba states but Iovia seems adamant and their instructions from Esi and the school were incomplete.
He speaks twice, once in Kholo and once in Mawangi, so all can understand and keep up, "I told you," He says to the Pugwumpus as they wake, "That you were wished elsewhere, that we would transport you safely out. I spoke to you in a language of those you respect. And now you have been transported, and except for bumps and bruises, you are uhharmed even AFTER you tried to KILL us. We would know why you came to the school in the first place if any of you would share this with us out of gratitude for our mercy. We may even give you some food or things for the information. If not, then we must at least insist you stay out of the city. Go seek out a tribe of Kholo in the jungle perhaps to give you advice on how to live." a breath "If you return, we will not, cannot be so gentle the next time."
Ikto does have some rations and he is ready to offer them up to the gremlins to reward them for information.
One thing Ntuni has in abundance was patience, so she watches Ikto do the talking even if just to appease his conscience.
M'baba intervenes and says "Once old man Kat asked me to fix his table, as one of its legs had been wrongly shortened. Now I had a beef with old man Kat at the time, he never gave me any sweets and I love my sweets. So I went ahead and fixed his table, so that it would look ok, but anything heavier than a stack of papers would break it again. You see, technically I did what he asked, but I knew why he asked it, and that's not what I did."
He purses his lips and continues "Then as he had a merchant over to discuss business, the merchant put his expensive glass statue on the table as an example of the wares he could bring, it fell and broke. Old man Kat was well known for facilitating the commerce in that region and my stunt caused my whole village a lot of money and medicine."
After sighing he says "I learned then that doing a task goes far beyond doing what is asked to the letter, but solving the problem in its entirety. If we want to show we are resourceful and capable, we need to solve the pugwampi problem, not just do their request to the letter."
"You bring words with meaning," Za Minyahil comments with an approving tone.
They aid in carrying the cages as the group makes their way out of Nantambu, and when Iova opens the cages, they stand back and fold their arms, doing their best to look scary.
The pugwampis clamber out of the cages and turn to head into the surrounding jungle. As Ikto calls out them in Kholo, a few turn around. One says:
Another hisses at Ikto in Kholo:
With that said, all the gremlins shuffle off, some still a little dazed and one or two still rubbing bumps on their heads from Ntuni's maul.
Iovia gathers up the two cages. She did buy them, and on back-to-back days cages have proved useful, so she will carry them back to her room. They move prove useful again after all.
"Let's head back now and report that we were successful." she suggests.
In Kholo Ikto responds loudly so they can hear before they leave "A jar was thrown at my head first. Yes, after you refused to leave a fight started again but you fought to KILL us, we fought to subdue you. We tried to be kind." He remembers the jar to the head quite clearly and eyes the orange one as he says this. Then he says to the others "They claim we threw the first strike. I am reminding them of a jar to the head."
But the rest catches him off guard, " Kurshkin? I do not know about this Kurshkin but you shouldn't lie to her about who started trouble in whos place. And that when we came in you threw a jar at heads!"
He translates for his peers what was said then adds "Looks like we have their leader's name but they're promising vengeance." His face drops a bit for his failure to settle this peacefully.
He watches the little things go away
"Let's head back now and report that we were successful." she suggests.
Ikto frowns "I am not sure making an enemy counts as a success but yes, let us go back to the school."
M'baba has never heard the name Kurshkin before and has no association or context for it.
The pugwampis saunter off into the jungle, but not before most of them turn and give a series of rude gestures to Ikto and the rest of you.
Returning to the campus, the somewhat bedraggled initiates find Esi sitting and reading in the common room of the Spire Dormitory. When she sees the bloodstains, torn clothing, and general status of her flock, she looks aghast. "What happened to you lot? I thought you were going to settle this gremlin matter peacefully? It seems our ideas of that are different, yes? Tell me how you fared?"
She listens as you recount the process of trying to speak to the gremlins and then a fight breaking out. She is reassured you did not kill any of them (and did not die yourself), but she still seems disappointed. "I suppose you completed your task but maybe not in the spirit intended. Violence may not have been necessary, even if it was restrained to non-lethal force. How else might you have solved this problem? If you don't know now, think on it, and tell me an answer before morning."
"That's right," she says with her special superior smugness. "You have another task tomorrow with the Cascade Bearer's so rest up, heal up, and be ready for another challenge then. I will not be with you tomorrow, but that lazy Chizire and perhaps dear Anchor Root will."
|
M'baba is excited to find Esi. He stays mostly silent as the others recount the story. As they are chastised, he comments "I agree we could have handled this better. For one, we could have researched their species more before coming face to face with them. Looking backwards, Ikto's conversation with them shows that there was something or someone behind this entire thing. "
Taking a moment to find the right words, he says "This means this wasn't a random thing, nor were they acting by pure impulse. It was deliberate. Although it might have been hard, there was a chance we could talk them into stopping by themselves. However, the language barrier was a problem, since not all of us could talk to them." He realizes he is starting to sound apologetic rather than insightful, so he shuts himself up. He starts to think he should have also prepared for this particular meeting better, so he looks at the ground at a pebble.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Iovia frowns a little as Esi lectures them, she then speaks.
"I want to start off by saying that the only restriction that you gave us was that we were not to kill them. In fact, Miss Djana, you actually told us that we could give them "one or two whacks to the head", and you emphasized that we needed to get them out of the storeroom. and release them off the grounds and preferably out of the city, and we did that."
"We were not told that there would be six of them. We were not told that they would be using lethal force. We were not told that they had an escape tunnel in the storeroom, which indicates that this might not have been the first time they raided the school. That, too, would have been relevant information, as we could have asked people who had chased them away before for guidance."
"Even with all of that, Mr. Banashee was within moments of talking four of the six into cages, and that would have made the conflict that followed much more manageable."
"However, since you asked what else we could have done, had we been given more information, we could have split into two groups. One outside the storeroom and one by the exit to the escape tunnel. We could have set up cages or nets at both exits and then smoked them out by using fire, or materials from the Powerderkeg, to force them out of the storeroom and into one, or both, of the pre-positioned capture points. I'm sure that there are many other things that we could have done, that's just the first idea that comes to mind."
She takes a breath, but she is not done!
"If you want to say we left options on the table, that would be a fair critique. If you wanted to say the operation was not smooth, that would also be quite fair. It was not! However, to call us out for using non-lethal force, when you specifically told us that we could, is not reasonable at all."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ikto frowns as they are chastised, and nods to Iovia as she voices her view, in this they agree, "I too, would not agree, Esi, that we did not follow the spirit. While M'Baba is right that we could have done more research, we were pushed to take action THAT morning, Iovia is right that we were told by you that 'between you and me' they could use a 'smack or two'... and now you seem to indicate that meant we violated the spirit when you yourself suggested it. We failed to converse them out of it , but the spirit of it? We tried. We failed. They attacked with killing force. Despite constant provocation we responded with non lethal. I know we are supposed to examine all we did here, but spirit? You do not mean that as insult, but you told us somethings that were misleading, whether you meant it or not. We followed the spirit of non violence as best we could at the time with what we were told from someone we trusted," A shake of his head. "I will say the spells I had were not ready for the mission. In the future I will have to have more..diversity in my options. More than hammers in my tool box as it were."
Esi blinks at Iovia as she goes on a bit of a diatribe. She listens, rustling the pages of her book slightly, but otherwise appears non-plussed. "Very well. You achieved your goal, but as Master Ot would say 'there is achievement and there is achievement'. You stand in a place of learning," she waves her book at you for emphasis. "Information is the key to your future success. A library full of facts is mere steps from you. Consider that you could've done a little homework before you engaged the gremlins, or when you saw the task was more difficult than you expected. It is not meant as a criticism for, as Initiate Iovia states, you met the expectation. But consider, if you wish but are not required to, that every action includes other options, and at Magaambya, we wish for not only intelligent students, but wise ones as well. It is wise to use the resources available to you. It is wise to consider more than the alternative immediately in front of you, but most of all it is wise to reflect and see how things might have been different. That is the lesson, my friends."
Her tone and expression soften as she continues. "Now rest, recover, and consider. Tomorrow is another challenge, and another lesson to learn perhaps." And she goes back to reading once again.
"I think Master Ot would also say 'there are ways to teach a lesson and there are ways to teach a lesson'." Ntuni says, sighing and leaving the common room. "I'm looking forward to how Chizire passes his lessons. Figure it can't be worse."
|
|
M'baba looks a bit frightened at the discussion. He doesn't understand the infighting. He is not a fan of disagreeing with instructors. Given Esi retreated to reading, he decides it's not a good idea to lengthen the conversation. So he says good-bye to all and retreats to the library. "I'm going to do the research anyway. It can't hurt."
Za Minyahil glowers a bit as Esi lectures them and then the others push back.
"And how much more destruction would the gremlins have achieved had we taken that time to study? The way you described it to us implied time was of the essence! We did not want to retreat in failure because we thought the situation would only escalate in our absence. And there were options we could have taken but chose not to out of consideration to others: We know pugwampis venerate the kholo, and had considered beseeching Anchor Root's aid to at least distract them, if not try to influence them. We did not, because in the short time we have been here we have noticed she is a sensitive and shy individual and making such an ask of her would be presumptuous and unreasonable, not to mention not our place as she is the senior initiate. Do we not deserve some credit for our consideration of the needs and feelings of others?"
Iovia heads to her room to put her new cages away after cleaning them in their guests left any messes behind. She then spends the rest of the day in the common room. She will also read, though she'll interact with other students as well.
As Esi does not apologize, worse, does not recognize, her own contribution to the very situations she rebuked them for , Ikto can only give a sad nod to Za Minyhal as they also agree. Still, nothing more is to be gained and he starts to head out sure Esi will not listen to the Ghoran either. Esi has lost our respect today I think. And if she is being considered for a future teacher, I hope some instructor over her hears of this and tries to guide her to not repeat the mistakes she has made but denies. Ikto heads to the Powderpile to purchase a healer's kit.
As Za Minyahil speaks emphatically to Esi, she looks up from her book with the merest hint of annoyance. "You may want to listen to yourself. You feel like something was "implied". You "felt" like the situation would escalate -- you mean inside the closed and barred storage room? You think it would be "unreasonable" to ask a friend to help? These are judgements and decisions you made. No one implied anything, in fact, I suggested you could use the library to find out more about the pests. But you chose impetuosity over reason, perhaps because of some perceived crisis or pressure, but again that is a lesson."
She takes a deep breath and sighs, smiling at you over the book. "Not sure what credit you want. You did your best, you completed the task. You should not feel ashamed of that. All I am saying is that there is possibly another way, a simpler way, a less risky or violent one. I am not sure you understand yet, but reflecting after action has value. Perhaps in time you will see that. For now, goodnight."
She stands and tucks her book under her arm, walking back towards her private quarters.
Ikto has no trouble acquiring a Healer's Toolkit from the Powderpile. Xhokan the kobold supply master looks the initiate up and down, shrugging. "Looks like you could use it..." then goes back about his business.
At the library, M'Baba does some research into pugwampi gremlins but its mostly just frustrating for him. He learns the little creatures are mischievous and like pulling pranks. Additionally, they are somewhat deaf may have a heard time responding to noise or verbal interaction. Finally, he learns that strange bad luck seems to emanate from the gremlins making those around them more clumsy or prone to misadventure. But he does not find anything that might have helped in the situation the team faced.
"Thank you, Xhokan." He says gratefully and pays the five gold. Costly but worth it. He goes to look out for Ntuni and see if she wants him to try it on her. She took a lot of hits.
"If your goal is to foster reflection, and we are not to be ashamed, then do not condescend to us as if we are!" Za Minyahil barks after Esi. Then they spin on their heel and storm off.
They retrieve their sword from their room and buckle it to their belt. and then check to see if there's some sort of sparring ground to drill at. Their performance in that battle had been an embarrassment, and they wished to ensure they were not so clumsy in the future.
After yesterday's extended combat with the pugwampi gremlins, many of you awake today sore from wounds or exertions. But as with all the days of your Perquisite so far, you arise just before sunrise, grab breakfast as you can in the dining hall, and meet up together just outside the Spire Dormitory. The rain at Magaambya seems as permanent as the structures themselves, and it continues to fall rather heavily as you make morning ritual.
Three figures wait in front of the dorm, though one is curled up on a blanket in a miraculously dry spot and seems half asleep. A tall dark-haired woman that you have not met yet raises her hand in greeting. "I am Mariama Keitana. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She gives the now-familiar fist in cupped hand with a low bow. Then waves dismissively at the drowsing catfolk. "From an objective standpoint, its really impressive how he can sleep anywhere."
"Anyway, I am Mariama and we are the Cascade Bearers. Or at least, I am, and Anchor Root is filling in because Chizire is...well Chizire." She indicates the small kholo standing sheepishly half-behind Mariama. "Cascade Bearers advance magical theory. It's also our job to make new magic safe for everyone to use, so we don't have a repeat of the exploding nose incident. We don't talk about the exploding nose incident..."
"Since you've shown us there are gremlins around, we're going to do some sparkly finger wiggles to help deal with that. We need some special oils to do this ritual, though. Anchor Root's here to tell you what to get."
The small gnoll squeaks and flinches as attention turns to her. "U-umm...we need scarlet cap oil, bone oil, and..." Anchor Root whimpers and fidgets her paws together. "C-caterpillar oil. But they need to be the right...u-umm, I'll just show you."
"If you have trouble, come back here and I will wake Chizire up. He's the best at brewing." Mariama adds. "Be done in eight hours or you'll miss dinner. And try to have fun!"
Anchor Root leads you to the gates of the school, explaining that you need to collect bones to render into bone oil, a specific type of red mushroom that grows outside Nantambu, and several fuzzy caterpillars, though she nervously glosses over the fact that the caterpillars must also be rendered into oil.
About the bones, she says "You must bring the lucky bones. Only they can be made into bone oil." However, she cannot describe to you how to know which bones are lucky and which are not. She suggests bringing a large assortment of bones to her, and she can sort the lucky ones for you.
She then pulls from her pouch a cluster of dried, red cup-shaped mushrooms. "This will help you identify the proper fungus. But we can't use these dried ones."She describes to you the proper part of the jungle outside the city to find the scarlet cap mushrooms, but she says, "I need mushrooms that have gotten a lot of sunlight and moonlight, so you may have to climb high into treetops for them. Redridge mother calls them tree blood". She says before flinching and apologizing. When she recovers, she tells you the proper location for the mushrooms is likely at least an hour from the city.
From her pocket, the small kholo carefully withdraws a pet caterpillar in a small glass jar: a colorful larva with fuzzy tufts. She tells you that the fuzzy-looking caterpillars are very painful to touch, so they must be collected very carefully. They are not as far away as the scarlet-caps, but they be harder to find.
With that, she timidly says, "Good luck." and waves in small gestures as you leave the school grounds.
|
|
M'baba has trouble waking up properly with a sore body. He stretches multiple times in bed, but can't get to the proper awake feeling. He decides he has to make do as is. He gets up and does some exercises. Outside his room, he figures it must be because of the rain.
He meets the new task with a bit of confusion. These instructions are blurry at best. Given yesterday's discussions, maybe that's for the best. He suggests to the others "I think we should go for the mushrooms first. Then on the way back we can get the caterpillars and we collect whatever bones we find on the way."
He, then starts to think of a way to safely capture and store the caterpillars. He suggests "We should get ourselves a few of these glass jars."
Iovia wakes up easily and after typical morning activities and prayer, she heads to breakfast. She makes a point of seeking out Esi with a cheerful. "Good morning, Miss Djana. I hope you slept well." to show that she has no hard feelings or lingering issues over the discussion the previous day.
Upon getting the task, and hearing M'baba's plan, she nods. "I concur with Mister M'baba. As we know where the mushrooms grow, going there and looking for caterpillars both on the way there and back is very practical. The jars are an excellent idea as well."
"As for the bones, we could buy bones of various types from butchers, and possibly tanners and craftspeople as well. And if we happen across some while searching for the other items, well, we can grab them too. Someone should bring a pack or bag to carry them in, as I think bones would just fall out of my cages."
Ikto meditated for new spells that night, after his modest attempts at healing. He had learned his lesson, too many offensive spells would be counter productive.Less Thunder, More Cloud perhaps.
He eats his breakfast quickly, trying to shake off the gloom of yesterday. The drumbeats of the raindrops help with that. And seeing Anchor Root definitely cheers him up. He gives her a small head bob.
He also meets a new student and is glad to.
"I am Mariama Keitana."
"Ikto Banashee, it is nice to meet you." He hopes to learn much of the Cascade Bearers then as an aside, "Hello again, Anchor Root. Hope your beetles are thriving." A grin at Chizire , more amused by his ability to sleep anywhere than offended.
He follows Anchor Root to hear the information she shares about their mission.
Ikto listens to the ideas of Iovia and M'Baba ,and nods. That seems sensible to him.
"May I suggest thick gloves?"
With her gardening supplies, Lumusi Yao, the kitchen mistress, has some thick work gloves that perhaps would fit the bill. You imagine that the Powderpile has glass jars, since potions are readily brewed at the school, or at least something that will work. And without question, they will have a sack or some kind of bag to put "lucky bones" in. Stopping by there, even though you are the gate, is perfectly acceptable.
M'baba nods at Ikto and says "That should do it, I think. But perhaps we should come up with an alternative in case the glove fails. Does anyone have an appropriate spell? To, you know, pick up the caterpillar and place it into the jar?"
"I do." Iovia briefly makes a ghostly hand manifest and then it vanishes. "But I have not practiced with it much yet."
|
|
M'baba lightens up at Iovia's display and says "That ought to be our main plan, I'd say." He feels ready and says "It's raining quite a lot. I think we should get some protection from getting wet. Being sick is not fun.". He tries to find something that would cover them.
He also says "The rain might make it more difficult for us to find some stuff, but I'm not sure what we can do about it."
"Thank you, Good lady Lumusi Yao" He says respectfully at the offering.
He is also impressed by the magic of a certain cleric.
"The rain never bothered me much." He admits "I suppose it might make some ill."
M'baba nods at Ikto and says "That should do it, I think. But perhaps we should come up with an alternative in case the glove fails. Does anyone have an appropriate spell? To, you know, pick up the caterpillar and place it into the jar?""I do." Iovia briefly makes a ghostly hand manifest and then it vanishes. "But I have not practiced with it much yet."
"As do I," Za Minyahil says. "I can show you some tricks if you'd like."
Then they turn back to the others.
"But just in case, maybe we check to see if the Powder Pile has a pair of tongs we can rent as well."
Xhoran the kobold keeper of the Powderpile welcomes you into the storeroom. "Tongs?" he says quizzically. "Like for holding chemical reagents or dinner?" He also shows you the glass jars on display. "Two silver sails apiece for these potion jars, lids included." he offers.
"Absolutely," Za Minyahil replies with a nod. "Unless they're the kinds of caterpillars you sometimes see in Nexian labs that get as big as your arm. Then we have to worry about them finding us a tasty snack...though that may just be my biases talking." they add, punctuating the statement with a rustle of their petals.
They provide the coppers for the tongs with practiced efficiency.
The group acquires the tongs as Za Minyahil drops a few pennies in the palm of the kobold master. "do you want the jars or no?" he asks tapping his foot impatiently.
"We only have so many hours. What order do you think will be the quickest to achieve?" He asks the others
"Why have an order at all?" Iovia asks. "As Mr. M'baba already suggested, we make our way to where the mushrooms are. On the way, we look for caterpillars and bones and secure specimens as we find them. At the mushrooms, we gather them, and on the way back, repeat the process. We can also secure extra bones once we are in the city again if we need to. His plan is elegant and simple."
Iovia will get the jars, just to make sure that someone does.
"I agree." Ntuni says to Iovia. "Simple enough and this seems a simple, if time consuming, task." She also doesn't bother with the rain and seems eager to get into the task.
The group acquires the tongs as Za Minyahil drops a few pennies in the palm of the kobold master. "do you want the jars or no?" he asks tapping his foot impatiently.
"Yes, we will take them. Many thanks," Za Minyahil says, paying Xhoran and taking up the jars as well.
They follow M'baba and rejoin the others.
"Why have an order at all?" Iovia asks. "As Mr. M'baba already suggested, we make our way to where the mushrooms are. On the way, we look for caterpillars and bones and secure specimens as we find them. At the mushrooms, we gather them, and on the way back, repeat the process. We can also secure extra bones once we are in the city again if we need to. His plan is elegant and simple."
"I agree." Ntuni says to Iovia. "Simple enough and this seems a simple, if time consuming, task." She also doesn't bother with the rain and seems eager to get into the task.
"Unless we come back and get told our methodology was obviously flawed, that there was a faster or more efficient way and we should have known better," Za Minyahil comments with a scowl, clearly still bitter about yesterday.
"Some people sadly are so certain of their opinions that they mistake then for facts. They mistake the stars reflected on the surface of a lake for the heavens." She tells Za Minyahil the common Taralu saying.
"I admit, my trust in Esi's judgement has taken a blow. Yes, there were things we could have done we did not consider before, and perhaps should have, but she did give... bad instructions than chastise us for following them." A shrug "Water moves on, as they say."
The group sets off for the area outside the city described by Anchor Root where the red-cap mushrooms are known to grow. The weather is very wet and rainy, as seems to be the norm in Nantambu, but you are able to follow the kholo's directions easily enough. It takes roughly 1 hour to make your way to the area, and soon enough you find a tree of large size that is literally crawling with mushrooms. The fungus seems to start about 20' up the trunk of the towering tree.
Za Minyahil breathes as Ikto and Ntuni assuage their anger.
"Thank you..."
Arriving at the tree, Za Minyahil rustles happily.
"We will have plenty from this!"
They take the intiative, beginning to attempt climbing the tree.
Without hesitating the dutiful ghoran happily starts up the tree. There is a scary moment when it looks like he will fall, but he manages to get up the tree about 20' to where the mushroom crop begins.
Just as Za Minyahil looks like he will fairly easily reach the mushrooms, there is a heavy shift in the tree canopy and a large-mushroom like creature, vaguely humanoid, croaks out, and descends to the ground by sliding down a long leafy stem.
The creature is almost human sized, but with the cap and stem appearance of a tough-skinned mushroom. It's wide eyes seem to glare malevolently at the group of initiates on the ground as it stares at them hungrily, ready to fight.
Mushroom Madness - Round 1
26 Nyandra
24 Iovia
19 Umbo
18 M'Baba
16 Ntuni
12 Ikto
11 Za Minyahil (20' up a tree)
Mushroom Madness - Round 1
26 Nyandra
24 Iovia
19 Umbo
18 M'Baba
16 Ntuni
12 Ikto
11 Za Minyahil (20' up a tree)
Iovia speaks to the creature rather than doing anything that may appear violent.
"Wait. There is no need for violence. We are simply gathering mushrooms. If these are yours, or if they are your family, we can look elsewhere."
Given the way the creature reacted and the fact there are plant people, as Za Minyahil shows, she is making a guess as to its motivations. If her guess is wrong, or if the creature is not open to negotiation, well, Iovia has faith in all of her companions.