Explorers of Acacia - Main thread

[Shazek]

I am called Jorah Derias, and I, too, am new here. As a matter of fact, I am staying at the inn across from here. I do not know how long I will stay, but feel free to inquire there if you wish to contact me.

[Psymple]

Yes he hopefully will feed himself up well.

She stands up and begins to undo the buckles around the sides of her full plate.

I imagine that boy isn't destined for much more than serving here in this church... A worthy duty of course but... Only for the devout. Maybe if he polishes himself up and works on his manners he would make a good squire to a noble one day... Its tough, but the food is good and if you serve the right family you can have a comfy retirement.

She gestures towards Kel,
Couldn't give me a hand with this armour could you?

[INoKnowNames]

Tarmikos smiles. "Well, isn't that fate? I was planning on taking a room at that inn if I could. But I wanted to ask around a bit first. I can rest when I'm dead, am I right? Stil, I'll definitely keep that place in mind, Jorah. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[Silva Stormrage]

Yes he hopefully will feel himself up well.

She stands up and begins to undo the buckles around the sides of her full plate.

I imagine that boy isnt destined for much more than serving here in this church... A worthy duty ofcourse but... Only for the devout. Maybe if he polishes himself up and works on his manners he would make a good squre to a noble one day... Its tough, but the food is good and if you serve the right family you can have a comfy retirement.

She gestures towards Kel,
Couldnt give me a hand with this armour could you?

Kel gets up to help her. Ah of course, I am sure that full plate is not the most comfortable armor to wear. Though actually, talking about food is starting to get me hungry as well. Kel reaches into his pack and pulls out a single berry and plops it into his mouth. Do you want one? Its fortified with druidic magic and has the same nutritional value as a full meal

[Psymple]

Halaza slides the full-plate over her head with the help of Kel and then removes her armoured shoulder pauldrons, elbow plates, grieves and boots.

Underneath the armour she wears a very expensive noble tunic, again emblazoned with her Orders duelling dragons motif. She reaches down and picks up her tabard and pulls it over her head over the tunic and sits back down in the reclining arm chair.

Thank you for the offer sir but I still have my food here from the boy, and now I am out of my combat gear I can settle down and eat it.

She takes a spoon full of the bland looking food and places it into her mouth.
A large smile glowing on her face, raising her eye brows in a subtle but noticable manner she chews and swallows the food.

Yummy...

The food is bland and yet she seems to be enjoying the meal so much. Even through he sarcasm it is obvious that the meal is appreciated.

So tell me druid... Kel... How did you end up here eigh?
Tell me one of you tales and I promise to finally share my stores of cultist and slavers...

Halaza sits contently, comfortably as she eats her meal listening to what the druid has to say.

[Hazuki]

Zrekha nods at the hunter, following him across the rooftops with leaps, clinging to the walls of the buildings she couldn't quite leap onto and swinging herself up in swift motions, towards the church.

[qwertyu63]

Tarmikos turns back to the bartender. "I should be able to pay for someone else's drink with one of these, right? How much are the drinks here, if you don't mind my asking?"

He takes another sip of his drink, then looks sheepishly at the bartender. Pardon me, but do you mind some more sugar, please?

"It depends what you're drinking. Most stuff is 3 copper a glass, but the really nice stuff is 1 silver. And sir, you are drinking some of the nice stuff."

He just sits the container of sugar on the table and says "Why don't you put the right amount in then?"

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Sorry it's late, I was busy yesterday chatting with my sister.

[razorback]

I am unsure about its contents but it would seem that it has to do with the royal lineage of the Tama-Ichai family who ruled an area of mixed jungle and farmlands thousands of years ago. While they were small and isolated, they managed to fight back the Yuan-Ti who pervaded that land. Then, one day, if the story is to be believed, traders came on their monthly caravan and the cities were completely deserted. No bodies or signs of violence and everything was intact. It was like everyone in the small empire just stopped one day and left but no one has a record of running into them afterwards. Very peculiar. But, the Codex was purported to be found on a pedestal in the temple of one of their gods open to a page that described the coming of said god. Who knows, maybe they found their god. The Codex has moved over the years in the hands of private collectors.
Chomping noisily at a bit of bison with a smile on his face, he continued
Some say that possessing the Codex raises one standing, financially, at least for a time. While past history may show some similarities, the two are probably only superficially related. Owners, on the upswing to wealth in power, by their nature, want to possess something that shows they can afford luxuries they can prominently display before their peers. Buying something like the Codex would just be a showing of being on the same standing as their peers, financially, I would imagine.
With that he finished all but a last bit of fatty and nerve filled bison, which he shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly threw over his shoulder, which evoked an exclamation from a passerby.

[INoKnowNames]

"Wow... I had forgotten how far money can go... I could probably pay for drinks for the entire bar with just this..." he examined the platinum coin.

"Hm... You know what? I think I'll do just that. Let everyone who comes in get a free drink on me. And hopefully there will be enough at the day's end for you to pocket some." Tarmikos says with a smile as he returns the coin to the counter.

He then looks at the container of sugar, his eyes widening in youthful eagerness. "You don't mind?" he asks, almost salivating at the sugar.

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's cool, dawg.

[RCgothic]

Lia

I thank the innkeeper again and cross the road to the bar. As the sun has now gone inn, I feel comfortable removing my veil, and I shake my hair out of the pony tail I'd done it up in earlier for this more casual environment. I then enter the bar, looking around for the Adventurer mentioned by the innkeeper and also generally taking in the room.

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Spot: (1d20)[16]
Listen: (1d20)[12]

[Silva Stormrage]

Halaza slides the full-plate over her head with the help of Kel and then removes her armoured shoulder pauldrons, elbow plates, grieves and boots.

Underneath the armour she wears a very expensive noble tunic, again emblazoned with her Orders duelling dragons motif. She reaches down and picks up her tabard and pulls it over her head over the tunic and sits back down in the reclining arm chair.

Thank you for the offer sir but I still have my food here from the boy, and now I am out of my combat gear I can settle down and eat it.

She takes a spoon full of the bland looking food and places it into her mouth.
A large smile glowing on her face, raising her eye brows in a subtle but noticable manner she chews and swallows the food.

Yummy...

The food is bland and yet she seems to be enjoying the meal so much. Even through he sarcasm it is obvious that the meal is appreciated.

So tell me druid... Kel... How did you end up here eigh?
Tell me one of you tales and I promise to finally share my stores of cultist and slavers...

Halaza sits contently, comfortably as she eats her meal listening to what the druid has to say.

Kel laughs to himself I guess thats a fair trade, a tale for a tale. Lets see, well you told how you met Jesskya so I think its fits if I tell you how I met Silvan. Now, as I said earlier I am wanderer, I go from town to town, from forest to forest and search for places that need aid. One such town by the name of Hearthglen was quite interesting for me. I could feel the forest call out in pain, and I could see swathes of forest burned and destroyed, not by natural forest fires but by intentional burning of the forest. But when I asked around in the town no one even acknowledged it. In fact after asking around for quite a while, I simply assumed it was some local monster the inhabitants were terrified of, the mayor himself simply asked me to leave the town! Needless to say I left the town and started searching through the forest. I took the form of an eagle and soared over the forest and eventually after about two days of searching I found something.
Kel catches his breath and then continues with the story
As I was flying over the forest suddenly I saw a single tree catch fire, then the one next to it, then another. I quickly flew down to see the area and much to my surprise I saw hearthglen guards wielding torches! I landed and shifted back to my normal form and asked what on earth they were doing. They clearly weren't in the mood to talk though and simply drew their swords and attacked me. There were too many for me to handle though and I probably would have died if not for the intervention of an orc war party. They came out of nowhere and quickly defeated the remaining humans. Thankfully, one of them was also a druid, druids have a language that they practice to always communicate with one another so I could explain my situation to the orc druid. I also managed to convince them to spare one of the humans as well.
Kel once again catches his breath.
After talking with the druid and the captured guard, Furion, I finally understood the situation. Apparently, the people of hearthglen thought that the nomadic orc tribe had come nearby to raid and destroy Hearthglen. Since Hearthglen really didn't have a strong military presence they were worried about being overrun. They then decided to try and smoke out the orc tribe that was living in the forest. Now to shorten the ending of this tediously long tale, I went through about a month of negotiations between the orc tribe and Hearthglen which eventually ended in the orc tribe living in the forest in exchange for protection if someone or something else threatened Hearthglen. Afterwords the orc tribe was so grateful to me that they gave me an honorary orc name, Goron Ugdur, which means The Vineweaver, and one of their riding wolves, which was Silvan. We have been together ever since.

Kel gets up and stretches his arms, Wow, that was a lot longer of a tale then I expected. Hope I didn't put you to sleep with it.

[Shazek]

Jorah watches in bemusement as Tarmikos receives the container of sugar from the barkeeper. Never before has he seen anyone have a drink quite so sweet.

Having seen the man drool over sugar, he inquires, "I feel I must ask, though I fear the answer: What in Hades are you doing, Tarmikos? Your drink cannot possibly be *that* bitter."

[Psymple]

Having sat eating all the while Kel was telling his story Halaza finished her food and places the plate on the half in front of the fireplace.

Strange, I have met few Orcs before... I always perceived them as savage and beastly... I bet Jesskya would snort at me for that...

Was it merely this link you shared, both being druids, that stopped them killing you then? Or were they friendly by nature?

[INoKnowNames]

"Oh, it's not that the drink is bitter." Tarmikos responds, not even looking as he begins autonomously dumping sugar into his drink. "It's quite good. Really good. The drinks here are very nice. I just have a bit of an insatiable sweet tooth." he says to Jorah with his sheepish smile, all the while adding more sugar.

"So, sir?" his attention returned to his original subject. "What do you think you can tell me?" he asks. Though his expression has changed again, he continues to make his drink even sweeter.

As much as I like this place already, I can't stay too long... if I can find him again, I have to get going... I have to stop him somehow...

Spoiler

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Need I roll an actual roll, or is taking 10 on Diplo and Gather Info still good?

[Silva Stormrage]

Having sat eating all the while Kel was telling his story Halaza finished her food and places the plate on the half in front of the fireplace.

Strange, I have met few Orcs before... I always perceived them as savage and beastly... I bet Jesskya would snort at me for that...

Was it merely this link you shared, both being druids, that stopped them killing you then? Or were they friendly by nature?

I have found that while yes, orcs are more primitive and savage then humans and other "civilized" races, its mostly their culture. They find strength and war to be the highest virtues while most look down on education and intelligence. This leads them to conflict with humans, elves and other civilized races due to conflicting culture. In this particular case the only reason the orcs wanted to negotiate at all was because the druid, whom was their chiefs advisor, want to make sure the land wouldn't be scarred by conflict. Though regardless I don't think my life was in danger from the orcs, they didn't seem to want to attack me since I was clearly fighting their enemies.

[Psymple]

Hmmm interesting...
Making war for no reason other than it being their nature...
Seems inherently evil to me, killing for sport is hardly a good thing.
Although I suppose an orcs life span is much shorter than that of other races, if an orc dies in battle at age 20 it only loses 20 or 30 years of its life...

But what if an orc kills an elf... Or a celestial for that matter...
For a bit of sport that is a lot of damage...

Halaza seems to be more thinking out loud than discussing the issue, she reaches down and picks up her kurki and turns it over in her hand as she speaks. Somehow the weapon in her hands makes her feel a little safer.

[Silva Stormrage]

Kel's tenses up when he hears the phrase "Inherently evil". He looks back at Halaza Sorry, but I just hate things being called naturally or inherently evil. Please indulge me in this demonstration. Kel morphs his form and very quickly Halaza is looking at an orc male where Kel just sat. I am now 100% identical to an orc, every single biological feature is identical to an orc. Yet I still do not suddenly crave blood or war or wish to engage in battle. I am still the exact same person as I was 10 seconds ago. The only difference is physical. The soul is the same. Kel morphs back. Then realizes he was a tad harsh he relaxes Sorry for that, I got ahead of myself.

[Psymple]

But you were not an orc, you merely took the body of an orc temporarily.
Your life expectancy did not lower and your cultural upbringing did not change.

She looks deep into the druids eyes.

If you do not fear death yourself, you do not fear imposing death on others... Whether they themselves fear death or not.
I merely am saying those who live shorter lives probably fear death less than those who lead longer lives. Thus they care less about those they kill and probably think less about the consequences of killing...

[Silva Stormrage]

Actually if I was able to maintain this form permanently my life span would change, thats purely a biological feature of the orchish body. And your right, my upbringing didn't change. I am not trying to say that the majority of orcish culture doesn't produce orcs that are what most of society would call evil. I am trying to say that orcs themselves aren't evil, they can be raised differently. If an orc would be raised by a human family for example, if wouldn't gain most of those traits commonly associated with orcs. I just dislike the phrase "inherently evil" because it implies that all orcs, no matter their station, are automatically evil due to their race.

[qwertyu63]

Lyral and Zrekha reach just outside the church.

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I couldn't find your last post to quote it, sorry.

Lia

I thank the innkeeper again and cross the road to the bar. As the sun has now gone inn, I feel comfortable removing my veil, and I shake my hair out of the pony tail I'd done it up in earlier for this more casual environment. I then enter the bar, looking around for the Adventurer mentioned by the innkeeper and also generally taking in the room.

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Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

The bar is packed. It seems someone is celebrating something, but the what is unclear. Luckily, the celebration is on one side of the bar, leaving the other side clear for you to get to the bartender. Also on this other side, one of the tables has a dwarf, staring into his half-empty glass, and a elf, staring at the celebration with disdain. At the bar sits two people who look to be fellow adventurers (Tarmikos and Jorah).

"Oh, it's not that the drink is bitter." Tarmikos responds, not even looking as he begins autonomously dumping sugar into his drink. "It's quite good. Really good. The drinks here are very nice. I just have a bit of an insatiable sweet tooth." he says to Jorah with his sheepish smile, all the while adding more sugar.

"So, sir?" his attention returned to his original subject. "What do you think you can tell me?" he asks. Though his expression has changed again, he continues to make his drink even sweeter.

As much as I like this place already, I can't stay too long... if I can find him again, I have to get going... I have to stop him somehow...

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Need I roll an actual roll, or is taking 10 on Diplo and Gather Info still good?

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That will do.

"Well, in terms of local crime, all we have around here are thieves. Except for this one case, about a month ago. There was, like, 3 murders in one day, and then poof, this murderer was gone as fast as he arrived. No one knows who did it, and not for a lack of trying. All we know is that none of the 3 victims never saw their killer. Might that be what you're looking for?"

[Psymple]

I apologise... I suppose you are right druid...

She turns the blade in her hands and begins to prick the end of her finger with it, not drawing blood but just

But, for a creator... A god if you will...
To make a race that's own racial traits make it more likely to cause war... That is my quandary Kel... Why make a race inherently stupid, inherently short living and inherently unsociable... Sure there are clever orc, that are charismatic and live for a longer life... But that is a very small percentage...

[3SecondCultist]

Striding in through the front doors, Lyral slows down to a brisk walk. He makes no noise, as he walks across the stone floors. Seeing no people, he makes a round, examining the windows and avenues of escape. Sitting down on a bench, he begins to wait. Surely someone will arrive soon.

[Silva Stormrage]

Kel ponders the question, Hm, I always thought of it as the gods or god that created the humanoid races didn't make their culture, just their characteristics. Orc society may be drawn towards the violence that they are known for due to their great natural strength and low intelligence. Just as elves value grace and dexterity and dwarves value drinking races tend to automatically favor what they are naturally best at. Orcs are naturally best at combat and less naturally gifted at craftsmanship and other professions. It seems natural that they would prefer warfare.

Kel ponders again
Or they could have simply been created by an evil god for the purpose of evil. But I still disagree that that alone is a reason to label their entire race evil. Many people confuse that label with a reason to kill every orc they meet for no reason.

[Psymple]

Halaza nods rigorously as Kel speaks attempting to show her agreement with what he is saying. Especially as he speaks about orc society being drawn to acting a certain way to their natural attributes and whether it could be that the race is not evil but the god that created them was and attempted to make them to be evil.

That is my point exactly Kel, I do not see orcs as evil... but I see them as being created for the purpose of evil by an evil god...

[3SecondCultist]

Hearing the echo of voices, Lyral turns his head. Perhaps caution might be overrated in this scenario. Raising his voice, he calls out to the musty air.
"Hello! Who's there?"

[Silva Stormrage]

Kel nods in agreement Indeed that is a possibility. But understanding that orcs and other races are only evil due to their environment and not due to their very race is very important. It may be possible to start changing the orcish culture to coexist with society easier. Maybe to channel their warfare and combat attuned society into something less destructive. Maybe non lethal arena combat or similar sport.

[Psymple]

Halaza looks a Kel for reasureance of the voice, she knows he must have heard it too but she still feels more reasured by the expression on his face.

Must be someone comming to the church...
I am sure the church attendants will deal with them...

Although, If they keep shouting they are gonna wake Silvan...

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Roll Sense motive on your shout:
Whether I can tell if you sound like a routine visitor/somone in need of help/ a robber... ec cetra from your tone of voice.
Not with that roll I cant...
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showp...unt=13SPOILER]

[Silva Stormrage]

Kel listens to the voice, then his eyes open wide with realization and sighs, There probably aren't any church members in the main room and he is afraid of the giant wolf in the corner. Let me go calm his nerves. You are free to join me, I will probably be right back. With that Kel lifts himself up and heads towards the main room.

Seeing the visitor he waves and speaks Hello! Not sure where the other church members are right now. The wolf in the corner is mine so you don't need to worry about him. I am Kel Serath, a wandering druid.

[3SecondCultist]

At the druid's arrival, Lyral smiles, showing his teeth.
"I'm not too worried about your beast. I can relate to its troubles." He turns to face the wolf slowly, making sure that Kel can see his longbow in the process. He takes a knee, searching the wolf's furred visage. A moment of silence ensues. Eventually, the hunter stands, looking back at Kel.
"Have you heard the story of the scorpion and the frog?"

[Hazuki]

Zrekha follows Lyral into the church, not bothering with bravado nor subtelty as she does so. As she stands not far from where he sits, she raises an eyebrow at his curious hunting strategy.