I was saying the obvious answer to our problems given what had been said before. If someone had explained that Mr. Primal Necrothingy just liked to kill everything and wasn't just mad at the pinkskins I wouldn't have said it.
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I was saying the obvious answer to our problems given what had been said before. If someone had explained that Mr. Primal Necrothingy just liked to kill everything and wasn't just mad at the pinkskins I wouldn't have said it.
While you are talking amongst yourselves, Grazik makes out a shape moving along the treetops in some distance. Coming to a stop right above where you would pass. You hear a telltale birdcry emanating from it, a cry you heard once already today. It seems the scouts have relocated their camp slightly deeper into the forest.
Nurval waves at you and points towards the ground somewhere to the right below where he is standing before taking off in the same direction, spronging from branch to branch towards a tree a bit larger than the rest.
Kusque - Binder
"I was in the middle of a conversation. Next time, save the shouting until after the explanations are finished."
At that point he heard Nurval's call, and watched him point. "Does he see something...?" He quickly returned his attention to Mal. "Keep yourself under control next time." I can. "It might not work out twice." That seemed to be all. Either he let it go now, or he could stew until they were all back home and then invite Mal to the hill. "...Come on. Let's go deliver the bad news." He turned his mount towards the large tree Nurval had swung off to.
Once Rada sees kusque finished with Mal, she pulls her mounth alongside his.
"sorry about that punch earlier. We're good?" She asks. a little clumsy apology, but some would say it's the best you can except from bad-tempered berserker like her.
Mal- mounted archer
Mal doesn't know what to say exactly. Mal had hurt his feelings and jepordized the mission but now she was apologizing to him. Realizing that he was taking to long thinking of a respose he managed. It's fine I guess.
"I won't punch you again if you start doing the same in front of all the old guys. Say what you think, you have right to. Just wait until they ask you." Rada respected other's privacy enough to not listen when Kusqe and Mal were talking, so she still tought Mal is going to support pro-war side in debate that was about to come. She just wanted him to know that she won't hold any grudge against him because of it. In matter as important as this one everybody will be doing what they see as the best for their tribe and she will follow Chief's orders, even if he will decide against her option.
You arrive at the scouts' new camp, just as Nurval is climbing down the large tree's trunk. Eventually he just jumps the last twenty feet to the ground, landing in a half-circle area of twenty feet diameter directly adjacent the tree.
Nurval looks towards the tree for a moment, apparently waiting for something, then sighs crawls into a well hidden hole between the roots. You hear a muted smack and yell, the new voice obviously belonging to Terek.
As both crawl out from under the tree, you can see that Nurval seems excited while Terek just appears tired.
It is no wonder then that the former elects to speak first.
"So you really went to them right? What are they like from up close? The lack of blood on you must mean that they are either weak or at least not overyl agressive. Did you get any information on why they are doing this?"
While the words seem to just spill from Nurval's mouth, Terek sits down on a root and rubs his eyes.
"Nurval, they can't possibly answer you if you don't give them any time to. Just be glad they got back in one piece in the first place."
Grazik - Shaman
"They claim to be fleeing from a The Grey. It sounds like it is primal necromany, a spell given will, to destroy. They came through a portal from where it dwells and are using the wood to make a tower that, somehow will stop or slow The Grey. They show no intent of stopping, even for negotiations, because they won't get paid." Even though it is like being paid to tear up farmland and salt the earth so they can build a wall from the earth and won't stop for negotiations, Grazik adds the last part only in his head. "They seem to answer to a 'High Command' that can do whatever so long as it keeps stopping The Grey, they answer in turn to 'The Warlord' that is there ruler. They are responsible for the monster that tore up our land, they tried to breed them or something, it this one is just a child. Because this is clearly far bigger than we realized, we will go warn the tribe."
Kusque - Binder
"They claim that the mess they're leaving here is nothing compared to what the grey does -- or maybe the other way round, since it's said to turn whatever it touches into grey nothing," Kusque said, expanding on Grazik's words. "They arrived here by magic and don't know where the grey is from here, so they're our only link. We may be able to push through to the gate by force... and then we'd be in a strange land with every pinkskin in their nation desperate to get what they think is their only defence back. So we're opening formal negotiations even though the workers won't stop what they're doing. Unfortunately for us, it's way above them. If they want to eat, they have to kill trees. It's nice for them that this doesn't seem to be a bother," he finished bitterly.
"Sorry, but I couldn't even slow them down. As for what they're like? Pleasant enough in conversation at least, despite their sickening acts. They didn't attack us when we revealed ourselves, because the metal ones they have told them not to. Those ones are very strange. They look to have living minds in unliving bodies, but they didn't say a word the whole time. More magic, I guess. Pinkskins seem pretty into the stuff." He watched Nurval's response. Nurval looked pretty excited about what the pinkskins were like as a people, and he'd just told him there wouldn't be war yet. Terek just wanted to go back to bed. "I'd still stay away from them even if it's safe to be seen. We never told them that the only way we can talk to each other is through magic. Oh, and they seemed pretty impressed at our animal taming skills, if you want to take the compliment."
He didn't mention Mal's point of view during the talks. The fewer people who wanted to jump straight to a war, the better, and explaining up front why they didn't launch an attack on the tower to shut down the gate and anything that tried to make another one was the only way of doing that.
Mal- mounted archer
Mal thinks that the long explanations his companoins are giving are to long and he doesn't understand it much and he doesn't think the scouts understand it either. The say some big grey thingy is gonna eat them all up and has all ready killed there stuff, so they came here to kill our stuff because somehow it will stop the grey thingy from killin' them and there surviving stuff. That's it basicly. Oh, yeah and they gave us a shield to show they ment us no harm by killing our stuff.
Rada-Berserker
"You guys really know how to make things not sound complicated." Says Rada, sacastrically, looking at Grazik, Kusque and Mal "They're running away from soemthing even worse. We may need to get rid of that if we want to get rid of them." She says to the scouts. "Was it really so hard?" She asks her commrades.
Kusque - Binder
"That doesn't answer most of their questions..." He was still feeling chatty after all that talking, and while he wasn't compelled to keep talking it felt pretty good anyway. "...And it is a complicated situation."
Grazik - Shaman
Grazik tries to hide a smile at Rada's comment. <Diplomacy is a complicated matter, I think you should know that, after all, one day you will be Chief.> Grazik's though has a reproachful tone.
Speaking to Kusque, he says "Could I have a look at that shield? I'm rather curious about it and believe that it could be some sort of spying device."
Rada
<"Yeah yeah, spare me the serious old guy talk for later, can you?"> Says Rada, in response to Grazik's scolding her. "I can just tell them everything in great detail, if you want to, after you guys they're probably more confused than ever." She said, quite annoyned that they're waisting time and energy explainign things to scout and huntsman while they should prepare for telling this to the elders. On the other hand, their reaction may be good indicator what to expect.
Kusque - Binder
"Sure." He handed the box over to Grazik, headscarf and all. To Rada, he said: "You can tell them more if you want? I think we covered the basics between us." He was aware that he'd spent a lot of time talking, and if he recognised that then everyone else probably did too. He didn't really get why Rada wanted to make more explanations when she was complaining about confusing the scouts.
Grazik - Shaman
Grazik and Zalgrin inspect the box and its contents with great care and tries to find anything magic, or learn anything about it.
SpoilerTaking 20 on spot listen and search to find anything of interest about the box, Zalgrin uses aid another.
Spot: 41 (43 if aid another works for this skill)
Listen for ticking or something: 44 (46 if aid another works for this skill)
Search: 28
Spellcraft to figure out if there is any magical property about it: [roll0] +2 more if Zalgrin can use aid another for this. Zalgrin autopasses his aid another check for this.
Knowledge (Arcana) to figure out if it has any magical properties: [roll1] +2 more if Zalgrin can use, and passes his aid another for this. Zalgrin's aid another check for this: [roll2]
Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty [untrained]) to figure out if it is the crest of a house or something: [roll3]
Rada-Berserker
"You did. And old gezzer did. And Mal did. And between all three of you anybody could get confused."
Mal- Mounted archer
Well, I'm not confused.
Rada-Berserker
"Really? What a suprise. Sadly, you aren't best at explaining things, so left it to the others, okay?"
Kusque - Binder
"..."
Now I'm confused.
"See what you did?" Rada says to Mal, pointing at Kusque.
SpoilerOkay guys, now I shut up, I swear.
Gell-Hunter
"Well...I doubt I could find something useful, but let me look at that shield."
SpoilerTake 20 on Search for result of 26. As a Scout, he can find traps of DC 20 or above.
Kusque - Binder
"What M--" Oh never mind that. He looked over at Grazik and Gell, trying to get out of this mad conversation. "I suppose we should have checked that out before talking to anyone else about the meeting."
Spoiler
Yes, never mind that, we have srs bsns to attend to. Totally serious business. Hee.
Mal-mounted archer
Mal thinks for a moment about what he could do to help. Could I check the box for secret thingies inside? It might break the box a bit though.
Grazik - Shaman
"Not now Mal, maybe later." Grazik says focusing on the box.
SpoilerI want to see if we learned anything before anyone else does something about it, unless they want to use aid another for search.
You can see Nurval's eyes glaze over as Grazik and Kusque explain the intricacies of the situation. It appears he was hoping for a more straightforwards situation and all this talk about magic and percieved necessary destruction is far more than he can understand. Terek meanwhile just sits there and nods sometimes as if crossing off points on a mental list. It seems he had expected something along these lines but had not been sure.
Mal's summations seems to rip Nurval out of his stupor as he squints for a moment before asking: "So are they feeding the trees to this grey thing to keep it sated or something?"
which causes Terek to look at him with a raised eyebrow as if he does not understand wether that was a very dumb or smart comment for Nurval.
Rada's oversimplification in turn causes Terek to grin and Nurval to nod, the latter with thirst for action clearly visible in his eyes.
@Grazik - The box/shield
SpoilerSeriously? ticking? :smallbiggrin: No you do not hear any ticking. You do hear some thumping, oh wait thats your heartbeat. On a more serious note however:
The Box whsipers of magic to you. Faint it is you can notice its presence, too faint to be the originator of it. It speaks of protection, warmth, the goodwill of a greater power, though that last part seems artificial and forced. You feel no intrinsic magic on it, or the shield, it is more as if both have been within the confines of powerful magic for a long time, long enough for it to permeate the material and remain as an echo even now.
The box is simple in design, four walls, a bottom and slightly domed top that can be removed completely and fits well in the groves cut into the inside of the walls.
The shield appears to be made of wood mostly, though only part of its colors are truly such. Most of what appears to be color is metal, let into the wood in the shapes. The sun symbol itself seems to be made of a thing crust of gold, the sword made of silver and the edge of the shield imprinted with copper. The silvery ring between the sword and the sun has been scrubbed off in some places, revealing it to have only been done in a very thin layer, the small amount of material makes it hard to distinguish the metal used.
The most peculiar thing however is a note, folded twice and affixed to the underside of the shield by a smear of what appears to be tree sap. It is written in a language you do not know, though can guess to be that of the pinkskins.
You do not know enough about the pinkskin culture (I don't think anyone asked them what they called themselves, right? So I'll keep calling them pinkskins) to ascertain wether the shield is a symbol of that one pinkskin's family, though the use of the sun as a Central focus would make that very pretentious unless he is of the ruling caste somehow. It is more likely this is the symbol of the Taldaria place he talked about.
Gell - The Shield
SpoilerThe shield appears to be made of wood mostly, though only part of its colors are truly such. Most of what appears to be color is metal, let into the wood in the shapes. The sun symbol itself seems to be made of a thing crust of gold, the sword made of silver and the edge of the shield imprinted with copper. The silvery ring between the sword and the sun has been scrubbed off in some places, revealing it to have only been done in a very thin layer, the small amount of material makes it hard to distinguish the metal used.
Gell-Hunter
"Okay, so this shield...It's made mostly of wood,with these crests being made of or with metals. Looks like copper, gold, silver, and this little ring that might be silver as well, but could just look similar. I don't see anything all that noteworthy about how it was made, so it probably is just a symbol."
Kusque - Binder
"Could be..." Kusque said to Nurval. "They're taking the wood and using magic to turn it into something else, and they're using wood because it starts as living material." He tried to keep things as short as possible. "If they're feeding life into this death magic to keep it from devouring the land and its creatures, then all they're doing is taking our land so the grey doesn't eat theirs instead."
He hadn't really considered that -- after all, it was far away and the axes were here -- but the thought that the pinkskins were only moving the patches of destruction made him wish he could summon up Nurval's enthusiasm to go and do something. Go back right now. They won't be expecting you. That won't solve anything in the long run. The grey would break free and kill them all in the end, or the pinkskins would declare war for denying them their precious trees. Kusque rubbed his forehead with the base of his palm. He really needed a distraction right now, but he'd done enough talking and Paimon didn't have anything to offer that wouldn't look insane in front of the others. All he could do for the moment was sit still and ignore the building pressure behind his eyes. He'd be passing the armoured lump off to somebody else as soon as they broke off here. At least that way he'd be able to move.
Gell's assessment brought him back to paying attention to the world. "Just a token of good will and a way of getting further into their camp while still having that good will?" He winced inwardly. Too much blurting. There was no point in looking elsewhere for aid if he was going to be so sloppy about it.
Grazik - Shaman
Grazik turns over the shield and sees the writing, "Kusque, can you read this for us?" He says offering the box, "I believe it is a genuine token of good will, they have an echo of maigc as if they where soaked in it and it is part of them. I believe that it may be a holy symbol of there god, though I'm not certain. If anyone knows more about this, I'd like them to inspect it, I don't think it is dangerous."
SpoilerThey have metal things, they might have put a clockwork spider in or something, I don't know, it was just a thought.
Kusque - Binder
Kusque took the box and examined the back of the shield, waiting for the symbols to form into readable writing.
Spoiler
If the Tongues spell can do that.