Mum finds no traps.
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Tikroch flies east, and after a few feet, passes a pair of corridors that extend north and south, each of which seem to end about 25 feet away. The passage slopes down to the east, ending at a door also about 25 away. Tickroch notices webbing on the staircase. In addition, he’s fairly certain there was some magical effect when he passed the intersection.
Tikroch manages to get the wheel turned enough times to get the locked door, using air walk, though it takes him about a minute of work to do it. The party avoids the iron plate, and scoots over to the door to the east, now unlocked. Visible is additional evidence of the guards and wards spell, which seemingly causes every corridor to be filled with fog.
Tikroch might be able to turn the wheel while hovering, though it would be difficult.
Mum figures out that there’s a trap, triggered when anyone steps onto the metal sheet. It’s not immediately clear how the next door to the east will open, but an educated guess would be turning the wheel on the metal sheet.
After a few minutes of work, the large bat manages to push all the stones into place, basically by himself, though he does get guidance about how to do it, and Mum disables the trap to keep them safe. When the last stone falls into place, there is a thud, and a satisfying click, followed by stone grinding against stone, and the southern door seems to unlock. Heading to it, the party pushes the doors open - well balanced such that a light touch can open them despite their weight. Columns of fused iron weapons emerge from a sheet of iron on the chamber floor. A single iron wheel protrudes from the floor in the middle of the room.
The barbarian nods, seemingly relieved, and heads out the hallway to the north after retrieving his sword. Chrysa opens the door, and within, surprisingly, is not a hall, but a long room. Four boulders of varying size lie within this long chamber. At the far end, progressively larger steps rise toward another set of iron doors. Each step bears a round depression corresponding in size to one of the boulders below.
After a little effort, the party finds that the doors hidden behind the illusions themselves seem to be locked, and annoyingly, with arcane locks. Chrysa can crack the locks, but it isn't easy.
The pair of 'witches', who seemingly are really priestesses of Gyronna, manage to stay alive to hurt the party significantly, Refusing to give up in any sense, the women eventually resort to a mad frenzy with their daggers, until after what seems like a few minutes, even after their summons were dispatched, they drop dead at the party's collective hand. Tikroch and Donovan slice through the stone and let light back into the room, and the party takes a breather to try and figure out what's next.
Vincent finds the fire damage is absorbed somehow. Each of his bolts hits the woman in the body and head, but some sort of shield seems to activate and resist it.
Luca tries to approach the witches, but there is an odd thrumming sound coming from them. It’s extremely upsetting to Luca, who looks at Tikroch and hisses, confused.
Donovan successfully manages to damage one of them, who seems badly hurt. Sootscale readies an action to bomb one if they cast. Each witch tries to concentrate on a powerful spell.
But the threat of Mum is too great, and they fail. Their eyes burn with hatred as they mutter profane curses in Abyssal to Mum. The Babau swing aimlessly, unable to figure out what’s going on. 20s on Mum, 14s on Donovan:
The only enemies that can do anything are the two Sisters, who concentrate on channeling again. Channel:
The Babaus, blind and confused, can do nothing of consequence.
None get out of the blindness, and the damage from the channel seemed to keep them confused and hurting them. Only 20s:
/The Black Sisters/Donovan
Mum manages to hurt one of the sisters. Vincent hurts one of them, but the damage reduction proves to be quite significant. Vincent doesn't quite have line-of-sight, so instead he uses glitterdust on most of the enemies in the other 'room'.
The summoned babaus are all blind. With about half of his bombs used, Sootscale is starting to get worried.
The blind babaus attack Mum, but can't do much when blind. I'm only checking for 20s:
The one near the hole sidles up to it and swings wildly at tikroch.
The black sisters stay in the corner, and just try to channel evil energy towards their attacker, hoping the madness of Gyronna will rub off on their attacker.
Channel:
The channeling is somewhat ineffective, as the babaus get confused about who to attack.
With a crash, Tikroch pummels a large hole into the wall, and the women give a start, but seem undeterred. One flees to the northern end of the room, and with a simple gesture, more of the damnable babaus appear, swarming the room. Mum misses as the divine magic deflects any harm from this now apparent cleric.
The other seems to activate some sort of horrible power, and whispers of madness apparently fill the room - something of an anathema in some way. This is a holy place, for Gorum's faithful, and these witches seem to be corrupting it with hateful madness.
The babau near Tikroch that wasn't knocked down shrieks in abyssal and attacks Tikroch, now flanked through the hole.
The other in the room with the party stands up. but it is killed before it can attack anyone The ones in the main room attack Mum and Tikroch. Sorry, 4 more Babaus, but at least they don't have blessing of fervor!:
Somehow, the tide seems to be turning against the party as the new enemies, summoned by the herald callers of Gyronna, seem to be outnumbering the party. The black sisters shriek at Mum, "we'll pick the teeth with your bones!" The barbarian in the corner frowns, stepping towards the Babau near Donovan and attacking the demon.
Vincent grabs the others and shunts them into the room, seeing various demons attacking Tikroch. Donovan casts a useful spell, which seems to bolster everyone in his area, Tikroch completely obliterates one of them, who poofs away with a cackle, and Luca has some more breathing room to get out of the flank. Luca does a backflip and moves next to Donovan, only drawing one non-flanked attack.
Sootscale tries to knock out one of them of them prone. Sootscale:
Sootscale's force bomb badly damages the one flanking Tikroch on his northern side. The one next to the barbarian sneers at the barbarian in a guttural language, Abyssal: but attacks Tikroch.
"you coward, kill them!"
The one against the wall of stone maneuvers around to get flanking with the nearly dead one.
The one that Sootscale nearly kills focuses a moment and casts a spell-like ability on Tikroch, stepping away to avoid being attacked by anyone. . Tikroch feels some of his protective magic slip away. ******************************************
Mum kills one of the black sisters, barely, who slumps to the ground. The other, screams, "NO!" and casts a spell, rushing over. With an intake of breath, the one on the ground returns to life. No longer blind, she glares at Mum, and stands up.
Bleeding, wounded, and at death's door - the witch seems to return to nearly full health, The barbarian ends up doing nothing - he moves to the corner and calms himself down, winded, and gestures towards the demons.
With the gust of wind, the room becomes visible. Three alabaster statues stand along the western wall of this large square chamber. The statues depict well-proportioned Kellid men, each set in a different war-like pose. Four demons surround Tikroch and Luca, and two robed women are in the southwest corner, behind the pillar. They look like spellcasters, and peer at the party with hatred. Sootscale steps up and starts throwing bombs at the casters. Sootscale's Turn:
Both of them are blind, but they seem to take no fire damage. Sootscale notices this, and switches to force bombs.
Neither is knocked prone.
They seem to take no fire damage, but are both blinded. Both are damaged somewhat by the force bombs.
It's their turn, so they realize they need to get the fight back on their own footing. One accepts the attack from Mum, hissing, "Armag will be reborn - the will of Gyronna will not be denied!" and moves north past Mum, avoiding Tikroch.
Once free, she casts a spell targeting herself. Spellcraft DC 18:
Prayer.
The one in the corner concentrates, and a wall of stone springs up in the passageway, blocking access to the room, and splitting it in half. Spellcraft DC 21:
Wall of Stone Tikroch and Luca are now alone. Tikroch:
Cut off from everyone by the Wall of Stone, Tikroch is attacked by flanking enemies.
So is Luca.
The barbarian scowls at Tikroch, and says something in Hallit, but steps away from the demon and does not attack, instead readying his greatsword for something.
Luca hits five times, but does very little damage,
Hitting the demons, however, seems to burn Luca and Tikroch, who take acid damage.
Sootscale reactivates his wings, ready to fly. Everyone hears chanting coming from the corner, but can't see what's going on.
Tikroch:
Four demonic creatures come from the mist and attack Luca and Tikroch. Their claws are vicious. They seem to see perfectly fine in the fog. Two seem to try to attack Luca and two attack Tikroch. .
The barbarian in front of Tikroch steps over out of the mist and tries to hit Tikroch, not really knowing what's going on. They seem to be angry but confused and afraid at the demons they see nearby.
Luca disappears into the room.
Luca seems to have connected with something, somehow, but what it is is not clear. The fog remains.
The party moves through a natural hallway, with Tikroch leading the way and squeezing. The room up ahead seems to open up somehow, transitioning to constructed walls. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the room is not visible as there is a damp fog obscuring basically everything. There are obviously creatures in here that can’t be seen, scattered around. They have no skill or care about hiding beyond what is afforded them by the fog. Initiative:
Having nothing else to say, the party walks to the southwest to the cave entrance and prepares to enter.
Tamary looks ashamed, "they mostly spoke in Hallit - I'm sorry I don't know the language. I think they were priestesses or witches. They both wore holy symbols - I think that's what they were, around their necks." She reaches down to grab a stick, and draws a circle with another circle in the center, like an eye, and shows lines coming from the center. It looks like a bloodshot eye. DC 30 Religion: PM Me on Discord!
The prisoners step away from the locked gate while Mum opens them, and then a few rush over to the surviving barbarians, trying to stop them from bleeding out. The one with a strong resemblance to Kisanda turns to Mum, ”thank you. My father and sister must have sent you - and I would guess that Drelev is dead. They weren’t - the Tiger Lords, they weren’t evil and sadistic - “ she shakes her head, and the woman next to her says ”they treated us well - and so did Armag. The problem is that those witches, they filled Armag’s head with strange ideas over and over.” Tamary looks sad about the entire affair, and looks away from the meat that used to be the dead and the gore on Tikroch’s horn barbarians, but stands up straight,”I’ll collect what we can and move our things to one of the gers on the edge of camp. If you don’t come back in a few hours - we’ll head to the Fort.” She pauses for a moment to allow a response and then she notes, ”we were just prisoners, we never entered the tomb, but if you see the ‘Sisters’ dressed in black, be careful - they’re piteously evil. You may be able to get Armag to stand down - but the Sisters will not give quarter.”
Chrysa takes down the one in front of her easily, and Tikroch again completely obliterates one of the Tiger Lords, killing them instantly. Luca slices into one but doesn't kill them. Sootscale, for his part, kills three more with well-placed bombs. There is only one left, coming from the west. They seem not to care about the hopelessness of fighting. Another is nauseated, and can't do anything, so they just throw up.
The remaining barbarians are killed or knocked unconscious, and the prisoners wave at the party, "help!"
The ones that aren't nauseated or blind try to attack Tikroch. The ones that are nauseated and blind, and can, move out of the stink, retching.
The one next to Donovan that he attacked swings back at him in return.
Chrysa eviscerates one of them, and then steps up to attack another.
Tikroch kills, in one hit, one of the barbarians throwing up from the stink cloud. Luca manages to drop one more barbarian, but can't reach the last one to finish his attacks.
Turn:
Turn:
Turn:
Turn:
****************************
Chrysa strikes at the one moving away from her to attack Tikroch. The furious barbarians, all enraged, focus as much of their ire as possible on the enormous monster that quickly kills each of them. Ignoring Mum, two charge Tikroch, and two move to just attack him. They prove pretty resilient, shrugging off the sneak attacks that would normally kill them, and preventing any flanking - as their supernatural defenses keep them alive - barely. One falls to the combined onslaught of Luca, Donovan, and Sootscale and Chrysa manages to carve one up. Their attacks, while wide, are punishing and dangerous - each screams, as they attack, and this somehow makes their strikes more dangerous.
The two that managed to hit Tikroch seem to burn with some sort of anger, a hatred of spellcasters somehow. This helps them to some degree, Hallit: somehow referring to the spell which sticks one of their swords to Tikroch's large form.
"witch! it's a witch!"
The other barbarians move up, and the one near the entrance disappears inside. They scream, Hallit:
"FOR ARMAG! FOR GORUM! SLAY THEM ALL, OR DIE AND GO TO ELYSIUM!
Donovan successfully jumps over the river in his surprise round. His round of attacks are successful but the barbarian, who has only been attacked so far, is still standing. The two barbarians are still standing at the end of the assault, and call out, Hallit:
”attack! Attack! Defend the tomb! Warn Armag and the sisters!” In an act of desperate loyalty to their leader, the badly wounded and engaged barbarians strike towards the enemies that hit them.
The remainder of the barbarians in the tents seem to pour out. The closest tents seem to have the most active enemies who rush out, but only one is able to push the flap out of the way to engage. They all have greatswords, and have some skill with them.
The other tiger lords stream over from the west as well, but can't get close enough to engage in time. It looks like one is rushing into the tomb.
Turn:
Surprised, neither of the barbarian guards drops, but they and the others that can see the attack immediately go into a rage, their muscles bulging and anger pouring off of them. Initiative:
It's been three more than two days since Hannis Drelev is killed, and with their brief conversation with Sophiel, it becomes clear that even if they didn't have hostages, the Tiger Clan are not to be trifled with - and that there is a narrowingly small window in which the party will be able to deal with this so-called "Armag". Sophiel confirms that she knows much of what Tikroch found as an eagle, as well as the fact that hidden in some canyons and ancient cairns - he has a sizable army of barbarians. How she knows this - it isn't clear. She reviews the documents that were found in Drelev's home, and notes that the minute that 'Armag' emerges from what must be 'Armag's Tomb', they will muster and head south to Pitax - and strike immediately at Drelev. She doesn't know how long it will take for 'Armag' to leave, so asks that the party makes haste. Giving the others the time to relax as they see fit, at some point, a small crow signals Chrysa that they should go, and she transports those in Shadowfall back to Drelev, and then disappears back into the woods. Specifically, the crow does this - no others - as it seems Sophiel has some power to use this tree-transporation ability even while in a different form. Chrysa:
Unsettingly, this crow was able to get directly to Chrysa's window without any alarms - magical or otherwise - being raised. The crow flaps off away after 'cawing' politely, leaving the party in Fort Drelev. Sootscale announces that the election was won to join Gliocas - 72% to 23%, with 5% of the people not voting. A few people were upset, and claimed that they were going to leave, but Sootscale let them go. In short order, the entire party assembles and moves to the outskirts of the area where Tikroch scouted. The camp in front of 'Armag's Tomb' is just across a small river. The camp itself is located at the edge of a
The party can see the large cage at the center of the campsite contains the five hostages that Armag took from Baron Drelev— Anjana, Galine, Marinda, Sophelia, and Tamary Numesti, Kisandra’s sister. The few barbarians watching the woods are chatting with each other, weapons in hand. They seem relatively relaxed from a far distance, but are on the other side of the small river.
Sootscale seems to be fielding questions from a few people when Tikroch comes back, and is sitting on their small makeshift stage, swinging his legs. The black-scaled kobold is saying, ”no - the taxes are pretty low. We tax land, not property, some land more valuable than others. Anyone with existing claim - we can figure out if you own, history etc.” He rubs his hands together, ”all lawyers are divination experts. Try to be fair too, but it means protecting everyone - even boggards and whatnot. They have right to live in swamp with marsh strider.” The woman who asks the question watches thoughtfully, then walks away. Someone else comes up, ”how much voting is there? I don’t want to do this all the time.” Sootscale’s shakes his head - ”every few years - big schedule set up, tries to balance different governmental branches - Sophiel is only boss for now.” Someone else, looks like a former guard, asks, ”could I be mayor? Or um… a representative or governor?” Sootscale laughs before controlling himself, ”yes - but you must take government classes while serving, and pass them, if you don’t have enough academics. If you don’t pass you can’t serve more than half a term. But anyone can vote.” He looks the guard over skeptically, ”I am Governor of Silvermine - elected by underground people. Classes easy for me, may be hard for you.” Nobody else seems to have any questions, and Sootscale goes back to his paperwork. Tikroch heads out and finds that in addition to the earlier surveys that he did with everyone while traveling, there are many interesting flora and fauna both in the swamp and in the small forest to the west, though the swamp is particularly diverse. Cattails, wide lillypads, and weeping trees with long, gnarled roots spread to the east beyond sight. There is a hum - from the amphibians, insects and birds - the wetland is teeming with life. He spies lights sparkling here and there and recalls that will o wisps are common within the river kingdoms, and swamp gas is quite likely as well. A few fisher people from Fort Drelev are on the water, carefully trying to catch something, and they don’t give him very much attention beyond a nod of thanks. Tikroch recalls that this is the first time he’s seen will o wisps since coming to the River Kingdoms. He had remembered that they were supposed to be common on Tuskwater and Silverstep, but in his brief time to the east, he saw no sign of them.
Donovan hadn’t much of a chance to be here before, but the Capitol of Gliocas is a study in contrasts compared with Drelev. Built on a high hill overlooking lake Tidewater, Tri Firinnean is alive. Wood and glass and stone and metal, all seemingly sculpted as if they have emerged directly from the ground, the buildings seem to have repeating characteristics - with a semi-unified architectural style that is consistent, and patterned. Notably, in every case the wood is obviously alive - seemingly a variant of greenwood was used in the construction of the buildings. The orderly influence of the city can be seen extended for miles around, in fields and small villages that seem to dot the landscape off of the roads which extend, like spokes on a wheel, from the semi-walled city. Each block is a hex-shaped, with each block having a large courtyard in the center. The layout is extraordinarily precise, as if there was a plan for scaling each stage of development. The only thing out of place are the presence of parks and apparently vacant lots that seem to be wild and overgrown which periodically seem to be visible. Some are much darker the surroundings, some are full of light and laughter, one has a wizened, crumbling tower in the center. While they seem to be open to the public, it’s clear that some of the human population gives them wide berths, and a moment of careful observation makes it clear that these spaces are set aside for beings who remain … connected to the natural world, but still wish to live in the city. Most of the actual residences, and there are many, are three or six story apartment buildings, and most seem to have small shops or restaurants or cafes in the lower level. The streets seem to have intricate cobblestone pavers - seemingly smoothed via magic, and carefully laid sewer and drainage systems - though the sewer is clearly incomplete. At some point in his walk, despite how late in the day it is, he sees Sophiel herself - sweating, her uniform folded nearby and wearing work clothes - standing near one of the open streets with a smattering of different workers, including a hill giant that is sitting quietly nearby, next to a black-scaled kobold that is looking over some paperwork. Sophie concentrates and strains as she seems to lift vast quantities of earth and stone from ground and into wagons. She smiles at Donovan, but does not interrupt her own work. The street lamps are lit as if by magic, and he sees a few young people walking along, sweeping the streets and sidewalks of the small amount of debris, and occasionally making notes in small books whenever they see something obviously out of place. A thorough canvas of the city finds the following buildings in Tri Firinnean, split up into three general districts: Education and Religion - featuring Trinity University, with the Treble Clef Bardic College, the Museum of Lore and Curiosities, the Third Option Military Academy, Sia Draoidhean - a magical academy, and the Temple to Many Gods; the Government district with a castle, a separate town hall, an orphanage, stockyard, foundry, granary, barracks, and printing press; and the commerce and entertainment district which has a smithy, mill, dance hall, tavern, brewery, inn, theater, a substantial market, and a pier. There seem to be layers of walled protection, though no walls protect the outermost layer - they seem to be under construction - and Donovan knows from his experience in the Crusade that the city was designed to break the momentum of any attack - as well as to funnel any attacker into very precise attack patterns. The food options are broad, and diverse, as would befit a diverse population, and this population is likely the most diverse he’s ever seen. The sheer number of fae creatures belies belief compared to the numbers he’s seen elsewhere, and there are a plethora of kobolds, animals, animate plants, balls of light, angelic and demonic-looking creatures, that Donovan occasionally has to double-take. For that matter, while humans are somewhat prevalent, there are a larger number of half-orcs and half-elves than he’s used to seeing, and a higher number of gnomes than are typical for any city he’s been to. There are even a few giants, including an obvious troll in a police uniform that’s whistling a jaunty tune and tips his cap to Donovan as he walks past, grinning at the cleric jovially. Near the center, there’s a lower building labeled - “To the Underground” which seemingly provides transport to the subterranean parts of Gliocas - seemingly there is more to this land than is apparent on the surface.
Maray nods, and they move to Vincent Mariados’ room. After gathering up all the valuables, Maray, Vincent, Donovan, and Mum teleport back to the capitol. Since Chrysa and Vincent last visited, a non insignificant amount of change has occurred. For one thing, the town is now a small city with the noise accompanying it. Vincent attempts to teleport into the castle - built on the old ruins of the Stag Lord’s fort, but something bounced him away - he lands at an intersection nearby - slightly startled. If the citizenry is startled, they don’t say anything, and messengers and citizens travel to and fro - busy. Some people are taking a more leisurely approach, and along the roadway there are buildings with the first floor seemingly set aside for shops and restaurants, with tables set aside where citizens are sitting - having animated conversations in some places, and in others, reading a sheaf of printed paper while they take in dinner. The sun is setting, and as it dips below the horizon, lamps along the way alight seemingly of their own accord - though after careful observation, it seems a number of diminutive, spritely creatures are at least tending to them in some way. Flitting from place to place on the street, they themselves are luminescent, their words imperceptibly small - though they all wear the recognizable triangular badge that is the symbol of a government worker. Carts laden with supplies and commerce still travel on the now well-paved roads, Though there is some amount of tension - there is an easy fluid nature of the city that promises a measure of safety and comfort - except when the party passes a few massive trenches cut into the center of the street. Here, about six dwarves are seemingly arguing with a pair of hobgoblins while a beautiful woman with a shimmering cloak - seemingly made of water, looks on. She raises an eyebrow as the group passes, but says nothing. It is but a three minute walk to the castle - and it seems much more well fortified than before. At the edge of the university district - it has the same architectural style as Trinity now, as plants have grown around the stones - and in many cases are directly supporting the higher floors of the palace, but a few low walls in a row ring the once pervious fort. Whatever the design, there is something afoot. Guards at the entrance wave everyone in when they see Vincent with they see Vincent and Donovan. Maray looks, through all of this, very confused. And she holds closely her bag to her chest. When they approach, they see Marcanth, Sophiel’s advisor, speaking quietly to one of the sheriffs in a courtyard. His wooden wings flap lazily to keep him unsteadily aloft, and he peers over his spectacles when he sees everyone. ”Ah. Yes. Interesting.” He lays a hand on the young man’s shoulder and says something in a low voice. With a nod, the man glances at everyone, and runs off. Marcanth clasps his hands together. ”News, then? Drelev is dispatched? Come along. Sophiel will want to know what happened.” He tilts his head at Maray. ”Who is this?” Before the party can respond, Maray blurts ”Quintessa Maray. I am an exile from Galt. I come to plead for the aid of the Queen.” Marcanth frowns slightly, ”mhmm. You may have better luck with your request not calling her that.” He looks at Mum, and sighs, ”no matter what the others have told you - she is not a Queen. Not a noble. Even if she was once - she lost everything as well- when Brevoy turned on us. She is just … the Prime Minister.” He looks her over for a moment. ”I’ll retrieve her.” He flies up towards a window in a higher tower - what was, vaguely, the Stag Lord’s room in ages past, and knocks on the window.
She nods, "oh, okay. I'll go wherever someone can help."
She wipes her eyes, ”just what I said. I had a large home, a farm of sorts with a fair amount of mineral deposits on the nearby land, it was on the border - we thought it was far enough out of the way that nobody would bother us - but about two months ago, a group of peasants attacked and killed my house guard. They took everything, and set themselves up as the new ‘Lords’ - we weren’t even nobility, nobody in Galt is!” She shakes her head, ”I had some other family, my parents and my brother. As far as I know they’re still there, working for the peasants. I escaped to the only place I thought they wouldn’t follow. At some point, I was able to give them the slip, so I traveled in the wilds until I got here, I heard Brevoy had closed their borders, and I didn’t know where to go in that Gliocas country. This was the closest town within miles that I found, based on these old maps.” She moves and retrieves some maps, and they seem to be a few years old, and shows Fort Drelev labeled as ‘Harndet’, seemingly a village at the time, barely a smudge. ”I didn’t see anywhere else close to go on the map, so I came here.” She looks confused, ”n… no … we have nothing else. You can’t ask the Galt government for help. Even if we had another estate, what would be the point of going there? That doesn’t help!” She looks worried, and moves back into her room, ”oh - this was a mistake - I should have gone to Pitax…” She starts moving to pack her things.
Tikroch: As an eagle, the land moves like a blur below Tikroch, and the wind rushes past his feathers as he soars far in the air. He spots a few other eagles and other birds of prey - more vultures in this swampy area than anything else, though the swamp seems to transition into a hillier terrain, pocked with holes and spotted with intermittent copses of trees. He spies a number of particularly interesting holes that look like they’re on the way to the purported location of The Tomb of Armag. Reinforced, or with signs of slightly more abnormal activity - such as the signs of a fight, it’s possible that these old ruins may hold treasure, or some other valuable resource Gliocas could exploit. The camp itself is located at the edge of a small forest, against the side of a 50-foot cliff in the hills. The encampment consists of only some of the horde of barbarians. The rest of his tribe seems to camp to the east and north in small groups, waiting until Armag gives the call to join and rise as one. In all, there’s probably 250-300 well-armed barbarian warriors. The campsite consists of 11 circular tents, a fenced-in area for horses, and a wooden cage with a roof made of leather. In all, there are a dozen barbarians waiting at the campsite. At any one time, four of them are sleeping, four are relaxing in various tents, and four are on guard duty, hidden in nearby trees or standing sentry at the campsite’s edge. A few minutes of observation and Tikroch notices that the prisoners are in the camp as well. Manacled and shackled, they seem to have free rein, during the day. Tikroch notices there looks to be a very old masonry-reinforced opening in the side of the cliff near the camp. Of Armag, there is no sign.
”We leaving tomorrow to rescue prisoners - so get vote to me by then! I am staying in castle.” Satinder sighs, ”I’m skeptical. But I owe you all. You kept everyone safe and Drelev is dead. I may not look like it - but I am a priestess. Of Calistra.” She smiles slightly, ”fine.” She retrieves one of the ballots, and in plain view marks the box that says ‘join’. Her voice elevated she adds, ”what do we have to lose?” Stuffing the ballot into the box, she steps back, and folding her arms, watches everyone else. Embryn steps forward and retrieves a ballot, and marks yes as well. Most of the citizens line up and take the ballots from Sootscale, who smiles toothily at them as he checks off their name from a list. Some shake their heads and walk away. Some of the guards who were guarding Drelev move to vote as well, nervously asking if they were allowed. Sootscale shrugs, ”eh, no matter.” In short order most of the ballots are taken, some are returned immediately, and a good number are taken back to the people’s homes to think about the question of the day.
Kollis grumbles, "fine - fine, alright. We'll check it out. Are we going to be attacked if we go there, or what? Is there a passphrase or something?" *********************** Numesti gathers the townsfolk - only a few guards are remaining, those who weren't driven off. This includes Satinder Morne. Everyone gathers in the courtyard. The people look bedraggled, and tired, but seem extremely relieved. Sootscale hops onto a stage, and a few boxes are piled up in front of a dais. He clears his throut, and then drinks a little concoction, and clears it again, muttering somethign to himself. He starts, his voice much louder than his frame would indicate. "Good Afternoon, people of the Slough. My name is Sootscale. I am Governor of a province in the country just to east. Its name is Gliocas. They have leader, Sophiel. She is nice and wants to help you all. She send me, important leader, to act in her stead, because she is busy." He clears his throat, "so, what that mean? Well, normally - she save you, she gets all your town. Or at least, that is the Kobold way. But she created this thing, where people have the right to um... self-determination. Or she stole it from other country. I don't remember." He shakes his head, "anyway, she offers the people here citizenship in Gliocas if you want. You just all ... 'vote' on whether you want it or not. If majority says yes, town and environment comes under her protection." He waves his arms, "very helpful! She has armies, big ones. Enough to resist attack. And she can build all the other town infrastructure up, like wall and road, and will build university in town. All cities in Gliocas get a university eventually. Lots of other benefits - healthcare, free education. Just have to follow the rules - simple things, like don't be jerk." He waves dismissively, "that means to people who are different. I am little dragon, so you treat me and my kin okay, no problems. Got it? Everyone different." He nods, then his improvised speech continues, "anyway, if majority votes to join, you don't have to leave, you can own land, etc, but you don't get to vote on laws. And you still have to follow them. That's the rules. If you don't like that then you leave, nobody stop you. Got it?" He goes into his bag and retrieves a small box and a number of papers with some writing on it, then returns to the podium. "She not queen. She elected using this vote thing. She not god or king. She person. If she does bad job, you vote for someone new. So how does vote work? Well - secret. You each take paper - I count all of you already - small people - check yes or no, then fold and put in box. Then I count vote publically." He opens the box to show it off, "no trick - just box." Beckoning, he waves for everyone to come over, "okay, when you get ballot - you tell me name. I have list." The crowd largely seems confused until Numesti steps up, retrieves a ballot, and publically marks "Yes" on the ballot, showing it to everyone assembled, and then turns back to the party, "this is best for the town, but... I'll hold you to helping my daughter." Some of the other townfolk, follow Numesti, to get the ballot, and with each person, Sootscale gives a toothy grin and hands them a weathered piece of paper and a bit of charcoal. They don't seem to have any questions, and they retire to wherever they want to go. Satinder approaches, raising an eyebrow as she looks at everyone, and folds her arms "hmmm? Does she really think the River Kingdoms are ready for this?" She looks at the others, as much as Sootscale.
An investigation of the documents in Delev’s desk indicates a missive noting that Pitax, the relatively rich and large country to the west, is financing the Tiger Clan. They have a relatively large number of troops - and together with the Tiger clan would actually be a reasonable threat to Gliocas and Shadowfall. While Drelev’s tactical ability and magical support was able to fend off unorganized barbarians, it was impossible for him to defend himself. It seems likely that were they given a will and time, they would also be a threat to Shadowfall and Gliocas. In addition, missives in Drelev’s desk indicate the chief, Armag, is searching for some weapon of great power - Ovinrbaane - due to a prophecy, and he seems to believe that if he finds it, he’ll become unstoppable. It isn’t clear what the truth is, but Drelev provided whatever resources they asked for, obviously supplicating to their requests.
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