Lix Lorn and Strawberries IC

[Strawberries]

She smiles at his offer to put in a good word He is sweet, I'll grant him that, then she is suddenly hit with the mental image of him trying to negotiate her release from the hells with a very annoyed god, and she doubles over laughing
"Th-that won't be necessary" she says when she can catch her breath "I was rather looking forward to my bad end". She giggles again, wiping her eyes, then she notices he has drawn his bow "Now, if we have to go talk to them, I think it'd be considered bad form to have our weapons out, don't you agree?"

[Lix Lorn]

"A good point." he conceded, putting the bow back upon his back, and silently swearing that if she died, he'd do everything he could whether she wanted it or not.

[Strawberries]

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Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.......

Kitra nods to him, then resolutely steps out of the tree cover. She is keeping her hands in plain view, very away from her weapons. "Hey, up there!" she shouts to the guard, do draw its attention "We just want to talk!"

[Lix Lorn]

Paladin.

Laen gave a nod, following her out, hands in front of him.

[The Dark Fiddler]

When Kitra shouts, the guard turns his head towards you. He calls back into the village and another orc comes to join him. They come to meet you. One is in leather armor and has a greatsword strapped to his back, while the other is wearing heavier metal armor and has a shield on his back, along with a longsword strapped to his side. Both approach with peaceful gestures. The one in the metal armor speaks, but in orcish, which neither Laen or Kitra speak.

[Strawberries]

"Damn." Kitra mutters, quietly. How come they can't speak common? Everybody speaks common, dammit.. She is tense, and very aware of where her hands are at all times - she doesn't want to make sudden gestures that may be misinterpreted. She looks at Laen, and seeing he is confused as she is, she tries another approach

"So,you don't speak common. This might be a problem." ((in goblin)) "[Can you understand me now? We don't mean you any harm.]" ((in draconic)) "I don't suppose you know kobold, don't you? We just came to talk to you."

[The Dark Fiddler]

When Kitra speaks in goblin, the armored orc responds. ["Ah, you speak goblin? Good."] Both of the orcs bow, one knee to the ground. ["It is an honor to meet you. What brings you here?"]

[Strawberries]

Kitra throws Laen a shocked look over the orcs' head when they bow, mouthing "What the hell?" to him.

["My name is Kitra. My friend here is Laen. We haven't come here as enemies"] she says in goblin. She is very glad now she picked out the language from the more exotic visitors of the docks.["We have come to talk to you about the young human lady who is currently in your custody."]

[Lix Lorn]

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(Uncontrollable giggles) Exotic languages?

Laen bowed to them.
["Greetings." he said, also in goblin. "It is an honour to to meet with you. It is our dear hope that this day shall end well for us all."]

[The Dark Fiddler]

The orcs confusedly look at each other and have a brief exchange in orcish before turning back to Laen and Kitra. ["Neither of us know what you are talking about. Do you mind elaborating?"]

[Strawberries]

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Hey, she didn't have a formal education. She had to pick up things where she could .

Yeah, sing me the other one, honey Kitra thinks to herself, but she carefully composes a confused expression, before replying

["Perhaps there has been some misunderstanding. We were told that there was a human girl, currently, in your village. From the small farm half an hour walk from here. We came here to negotiate her release "]

sense motive - (1d20+5)[13]

[The Dark Fiddler]

((You don't feel comfortable making a decision either way about the orcs' trustworthiness.))

The orcs again look at each other and the leather-clad one shakes his head. ["We know the farm you speak of, but we don't have any idea what you're talking about with the girl. It's possible our elder would know more, however. Do you have any objections with going to see him?"]

[Lix Lorn]

Laen gave Kitra a look, deferring to her judgement.

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That said, Sense Motive.
(1d20+9)[11]

[Strawberries]

Seeing Laen look at her, she makes a short affermative gesture with her head before speaking.

["No objections. Bring us to him"] Kitra says. As the orcs turn, she looks at Laen and shrugs "Strange" she mouths to him.

[Lix Lorn]

He nodded in agreement.

[The Dark Fiddler]

["Alright then, follow me."] The two orcs turn and head back into the village. As you go through, you notice that it's slightly bigger than the family said it would be (you estimate roughly 100 inhabitants). You pass by a few small groups of children as you walk, and every time they stop what they're doing to stare at you. The orc turns to you the second time it happens to explain. ["We don't really get visitors out here. Most of them probably have never seen a human or elf."] The orcs lead you to a small but ornate building near the center of the village. They tell you to wait there and go into the building. Looking closer at the building, it seems to be made from the hide of some sort of animal. Looking around, you're getting strange looks from the inhabitants, not just children.

[Lix Lorn]

Laen kept looking around, interested.

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I'm gonna keep looking around. And listening.
Spot: (1d20+3)[8]
Listen: (1d20+3)[7]

[Strawberries]

When they pass the groups of children Kitra smiles friendly to them. She likes children, no matter the species, expecially street children. At the same time, she is keeping her eyes and ears open for any sign of danger, or anything out of the ordinary.

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Same for me
spot - (1d20+7)[16]
listen - (1d20+7)[9]

[The Dark Fiddler]

((These low rolls are not a good sign ))

After a few minutes, the orcs return. They hold open the door and motion for you to enter the building. It's a bit small that your original impressions would have implied, but it's not so small that it is uncomfortable inside. In the center of the only room is a brazier, with a blazing fire, even though it's a fairly warm day. On the other side is a fairly old looking orc in ceremonial dress and face paints, and on either side is another orc in much more practical, but still somewhat ornate dress. The central orc makes a few intricate hand motions, and the fire flares up suddenly. As the fire dies back down, he speaks. In common.

"Greetings, travelers. My son tells me you come here looking for a missing woman?"

[Lix Lorn]

Laen gave a slight nod, but decided it was best to allow Kitra to do the talking.

[Strawberries]

((Didn't we mention? The forum roller has this thing with us...))

Kitra bows to the orc, but even as she does so, she doesn't lose eye contact with him.

"We did." she replies "The daughter of the farmers near your village, actually. We were sent here by her parents.".

[The Dark Fiddler]

The moment Kitra mentions the family, the orc's expression drops the cautious cheeriness it had before. "Oh... that family..." He thinks for a few seconds before speaking again. "I'm not sure what they've told you, but here is all I know on the matter. I swear the the Great Ancestor that I speak only what I know of the truth. The family you speak of moved in years ago, right on the edge of the forest they live at now. You may or may not know this, but a dangerous being lives in the forest... a being so dangerous that we dare not speak of it. When they arrived, we were worried for them. We, as a tribe, prefer to keep to ourselves, but we felt we had to warn them.

Unfortunately, nobody in our village at the time could speak Common. Even today, only one person does. Additionally, I had not developed the magics I am using to speak to you currently. I'm not sure, but nobody in the family seemed to speak any language other than Common. With this language barrier, warning them was quite... challenging to say the least. I'm not quite sure how it happened, since we didn't understand each other, but when a small group of us went over to warn them, it turned into a shouting match. It almost got violent, but thankfully the group we sent had the sense not to start a fight.

The group returned, and we thought. The being was not known to attack so far out of the forest, and the family seemed to mostly stick to the plains, so we decided that they should be safe enough. After the initial mishap of an introduction, we tried several times to repair our relationship. Unfortunately, none of those turned out well. Looking back, it might have been the people I sent to speak with them." At this the elder glares at one of the orcs to his side. "Eventually, we gave up, as they had become far too hostile from the failed attempts. I can't necessarily blame them though, do not take this as such.

Recently I learned a small group of our young adults had continued visiting the family occasionally, angering them. I also learned that the same group had come to worship the being that lives in the forest. I suppose that happens when you get any being with great power, but this being..." The elder drifts off for roughly a minute before continuing, ignoring the subject of the creature. "Anyway, the way I learned of this was... one of the youngsters came and outright told me. She told me they were leaving the village and going to live in the forest, and explained their relationship with....

...they said they had a sacrifice to gain its favor. I learned of this mere hours ago. I was so outraged that I struck the youngster. Unfortunately, I'm not quite as strong as I once was, and she escaped into the forest with her friends. It's quite possible this sacrifice is the girl you speak of. If so, I fear for her. I fear what the group may have done to her. The family already thinks lowly of us... this can only worsen things..."

[Strawberries]

Kitra whistles under her breath, looking to Laen to see if he has any insight on the orc they're talking to. If that's true, that's more of a mess than I thought. If he isn't trying to fool us.

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sense motive - (1d20+5)[9]

"In that case, I'm afraid we'd have to go after them" she looks him in the eye, tilting her head to one side "If you want to show your goodwill to those people, perhaps you could help us"

[The Dark Fiddler]

((I've decided to roll Spot, Listen, and Sense Motive checks myself. This is because you guys are rolling pretty low, but has the added bonus of not letting you know if you've succeeded or not, so the conclusion obtained can still be false. You still need to tell me you want to roll one, though.))

Kitra gets a strong vibe that the elder is telling the truth. He nods, and leaves the room. As he leaves, he turns back and says, "I will be back momentarily." True to his word, he returns in mere minutes with the orc in heavy armor you met before. The orc turns and bows to you.

["The elder wishes I follow you and assist you in retrieving the kidnapped human."]

"Grith is a great warrior. Should it come to it, he will surely be a great ally in a fight. And now on the topic... do not be afraid to fight those who did this. They chose their fate when the kidnapped the woman." The elder waits before continuing. "If there is anything else you need, simply ask. Otherwise, time is of the essence. It is getting late, and if you can't find them by nighttime..... then it'll be harder to find them." You get the feeling that the elder was going to say something else before changing his mind.

[Lix Lorn]

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Good plan. I want a sense motive, please. XD 1d20 + 9, to save you the effort.

"Whatever happens, we will endeavor to inform the family of your innocence." said Laen quietly.

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Oh! I'm an idiot. I use detect evil. Without saying anything. On the leader, and Grith.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Laen also feels as though the elder is telling the truth, in addition to feeling as though Grith is telling the truth. Additionally, his spell does not detect either the elder or Grith as evil.

((I'll wait to see if Strawberries has anything she wants from them before I send you on your way.))

[Strawberries]

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Nope, we can go.

Kitra nods to the elder, bowing slightly before turning to go. She realizes he isn't telling her everything, but also that he, as the authority figure, would probabl be more reluctant to break traditions I'll grill Grith on our way there she thinks to herself.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Grith bows to the elder and leads Kitra and Laen out of the building. Outside, you see the sky has started to darken. ["We must be swift. Nightfall will come in a few hours. We need to find them before then."] He thinks for a few moments. ["I think I know where they are going. There is a place in the forest where first-time sightings of the... creature... are most common. If they plan to sacrifice the girl, that's likely where they are taking her. Unless you have any better ideas?"] He turns to the elf and the human who he had been tasked with helping, although he's fairly certain they won't be able to come up with anything, since they're not familiar with the forest.

[Strawberries]

Kitra shakes her head. He has no other suggestions. But that's a perfect time to do what she intended to.

"[Lead us there]" she says, and then while they're walking "[It's Grith, isn't it? Grith, what's the big secret? What exactly are we going to face if we stay after dark?]"

[The Dark Fiddler]

Grith shakes his head as he leads Kitra and Laen through the forest. ["You don't want to know. Knowing only... knowing only puts you in danger. Just trust me that... you don't want to know.] Grith is visibly uneasy talking about the being living in the forest.