Orcs of the endless and unconquered Forest (IC)

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"We'll say them he is old and fragile and we didn't wanted to endanger him unti we're sure of their intentions. Or we just won't let them take us anywhere, we'll ask their leaders to come to us. Don't forget that hey're the intruders. We cannot let them feel like they are on their territory, because they aren't. We must make them feel it is our home they are threatening, not the opposite.">

<"Gell, you don't want me to send the frenzy to you, even trained mind can go out of control in that state. But I have some good old rage to spare.">

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

<I agree, sending me into a rage would not be useful. Staying calm is better for bow-work.>

<I'll pose as a bodyguard if you think that's better than being hidden. As long as we aren't in their stone buildings, I can get in and out of their reach at will.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"This gives me an idea. We may bring the big guy along with us for the negotiations."> She was, of course, reffering to the beast they were currently riding on.<" They will think twice before trying anything with him around and in worst-case scenario Smith will send my rage or maybe even frenzy, into him.">

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<"I can't really pass myself as a fighter. We could say that I don't speak there language, they'd have no reason to believe otherwise. I could offer advice via the link, and grunt, wave, and speak gibberish to make them think I am voicing my opinion, or speak, though they might be able to make that out via magic and figure hear something they don't want.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<A meeting on neutral ground, perhaps? Outside the mother-forest, away from their stone walls. We should arrange for a tent as well. It'll give the proceedings the proper ceremony and keep the sun out of our eyes if the weather turns bad.> He pulled his flail out of his belt and flipped it over his knee and arm as he walked, watching the head twirl rhythmically as he considered how they'd get to start talking. "But we still need to make a good first impression..."

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

"Even more reason to bring the big guy along, they'll see us as strong and yet peaceful, but dangerous, if you mess with us. Just like him" She patted the beast few times, to put an emphasis on her words.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"I think you overestimate them. If we had seen them before they brought out their axes, would we have predicted their devastation? Anyone with a lick of sense would see you on that beast and show some respect, but did they show respect to the mother-forest?" The chain snapped and the head of the flail went wild as he twirled the handle a little too hard, and he spun the chain in into his hand and shoved the whole thing back into his belt. "This would be so much easier if we didn't have to talk to them."

[Man on Fire]

Rada-berserker

"Then we should hope they'll understand strenght and fear and we'll earn their respect through it."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque nodded. "Strength is the one universal language, yes. If they can't see that then words are a waste." Scuffing his fingers through his hair, he looked over at Grazik and chuckled. "Speak freely. Any of us could say something they don't want, and if they can't discern your words then they might start wondering how we can."

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard

<True, let us speak our minds. I do not think we should go out of the forest, or on neutral ground. They already have destroyed miles of forest, we shouldn'r have to walk miles more to reach a place where they very well would have came from. Out of the forest very well is there ground, not neutral.>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal orc scout
Not bothering with telepithy Mal speaks his disagreement with the plan. I don't see why we bother with diplomancy, they have deeply wounded mother forest, if they are that strong they won't care about a few people some tigers and that Mal points at the beast telling them to stop! Please, great sage explain your logic.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

"Because we don't know what power they have and what their intentions are. They may be dumb murderers of mother forest but they also have families they are going to defend with their blood and bones. I hate them for what they did, but if there is a chance to avoid unnecessary deaths on our side, we must at least try it. Will you be able to look into old women's eyes and tell them their sons died in a war you could have avoid but choosen not to?" Rada said, visibly annoyed at Mal. She understood him very well. She hated pinkskins only as a person so devot to the tribe may hate someone who hurts their homeland. She wanted nothing more but to go at them, murder every single last one of them and feed the rest to the beast. But it wasn't rigt thing to do. She needed to pursue the path that was the best for the tribe, no matter how much her heart agreed with Mal. She knew that. And that hurted the most.

"By the way, is our friend male or female? We should find it a partner and make more of those." She said, pointign at the beast, to ease the mood. Situation was very tense, maybe some good laugh could make them feel more prepared for inventable confrontation with pinksins.

[Kantolin]

Smith remained silent in general - he agreed with the plan, and it thus didn't seem necessary to comment.

Still, he did have to comment to Mal, but he stuck to telepathy as Rada had suggested. <It's likely, with some talk, that they'll stop doing this. Attacking them does not in any way aid the tribe, while being able to solve them with words means we may have a new source of trade.>

He exhaled. He did hope it'd work.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"What Rada says is true, they may not know the great wrong they're doing. If they care, then they will stop, if they are heartless murderers, then we may need war, though that may also cost Mother-Forest dear." Grazik Replies.

Turning to Rada he says "That beast tore up much of the soil. It took us months to train it, it is an asset, though I don't think that we should risk getting others."

[Re'ozul]

You move swiftly through the forest, only stopping at the outer camp closely to take in supplies. Your path through the trees is lonely. Birds are in abundance but you can find little else. Where once small herds of prey animals could be found, only the plants now grow. With them, the hunters have disappeared as well. Nothing eyes you from afar, ready to fight or flee, nothing follows you hoping for a mistake. Mother-forest is empty, abandoned.

Finally you come within a quarter mile of the edge. You can see the light between the trees increasing even at this distance. And now you can also hear something else than just the birds. Axes cutting into wood. It is near incomprehensible in its multitude. Dozens of sounds in an uneven rhythm.

As you attempt to filter the sounds to ascertain the number of axes being swung, a sharp cry cuts through them. To anyone not of the tribe it would simply appear to be a vultan crying for its mate. But you know that there are none here anymore. It is a message cry used by the hunters to grab the attention of others.

Looking up you can see a pair of orcs on the lowest branches of a tree about 150 feet from you. Of course, lowest in this case still easily meaning a hundred feet off the ground. As they notice that they have caught your attention they signal you to meet with them in their camp.

The camp itself consists merely of two tents hidden in dense foliage. You can bird-feathers dotting the ground, most likely remains of their last meal.

As they arrive they adress you:

"Greetings, I am huntsman Terek and this is scout Nurval. I had not expected to see any of our kind this soon again and in this number. Considering the beast you are riding you must be here on order of at least one of the leaders. I had asked to try my hand with it, but even being one of the group that subdued them didn't impress the trainers enough to let me. May I ask what your mission is?"

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"Greetings to you both. We're here by order of the Chief, to try and end this destruction. We intend to discuss the matter peacefully, and if that fails we fight for the mother-forest. Have you any information on how likely a peaceful solution is?"
He tried to shut out the sound of chopping. Allowing himself to take that in would only make him eager for battle, and without knowledge of the enemy they'd be no more effective than a tiger stumbling upon a warcamp.

"Congratulations on holding down the beast, by the way. It's a fine specimen." His eyes drifted towards the light-touched section of the trees despite the attempt at self-distraction. No leaping in. We have to know exactly what we're dealing with beyond those axes.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Grazik approaches, frowning in concentration, This noise, it makes it so hard to think, or hear anything else. He thought. Seeing the scouts he asks "How hard is it to move from tree to tree here?" after pausing for a moment he continues. "Do the Pinkskins ever venture into the forest, and if they do, how accustomed to it are they?"

Spoiler

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The rules for movement on trees are in Races of the Wild under the skill balance.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal asks the scouts Do you think that diplomancy will work? You know them better than any of us so you probably have a better idea than anyone else hear.

[Re'ozul]

At Kusque's question Terek motions for Nurval to give a report.

"We have watched them these last few days. We did not dare to go nearer as we had been instructed to stay hidden at all cost. From what we have witnessed they do not seem inherently malevolent. They work hard, seemingly immune to the fatigue that should go with this kind of prolonged physical exertion. They appear jovial enough towards each other.
On behest of a missive of Leader Sorunnar, we attempted to gauge their reaction to wildlife. A patrol-mount sent towards the edge put them on guard, but did not elicit any attack. Our next attempt would have been to compel a young hunter-mount to walk over the edge.
Ultimately, they appear physically weaker than us, though still stronger than an elf. We have seen beings either made of metal or in full metallic armor walk along the edge in roughly equal intervalls four times a day. They appear to have no other true weapon-bearers than that.
Their work speed is tremendous. While only advancing perhaps ten feet into mother forest each day, the sheer size of their work would be awe inspiring, were it not so terrifying."

While Nurval speaks, Terek adresses Grazik.
"I have not seen them venture deeper than maybe a hundred feet further than the edge. Most often to mark the order in which they will kill the trees. When they do they appear careful, often times getting stuck easily in the undergrowth, yelling loudly in their own tongue. We believe those to be curses as they are often answered by laughter coming from the others outside the edge. The metal ones never venture into the forest. We have seen some of the tree-killers attempt to persuade them to move into it, but apparently they do so in jest as often more laughter follows when the metal ones don't follow the suggestion.
As to your other question, the trees give a good ground for movement still. As the invaders often kill the undergrowth and smaller trees first though, the large ones that stand longest are harder to scale. Within their main branch area they can be nearly walked on as easily as the ground. Should you actually wish to see the ground below though you will have to be more careful. They might allow you a further view into the empty area beyond the edge. We have not attempted this yet due to our orders."

As they both finish their explanation, Mal and Kusque bring the question back to their main worry. Can the invaders be reasoned with?
The duo think for a while until Nurval speaks up once more.
"I do not know. From what we have seen they appear simply strange. Their deeds mark them as beings of great destruction, yet Gnolls are far more agressive and ogres far mor destructive to their own. Their madness has method, but it must be strange and twisted. I would not be surprised if their mindset was just like ours in places but completely alien in others. We simply do not know anything of them we could not infer from observation. They appear to have reason, but at the same time they kill mother forest. Even attempting to rationalize this pains my mind."

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal doesn't entirly understand what thescout means but he thinks that if people who have been spending days watching the forest being killed think diplomancy might not be a lost cause then he is willing to try it.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"These are good tidings. On the morrow we will make ourselves known to them. Do they appaer to have any magicians? How do they respond to animals nearby, say an eagle?" Grazik asks head bent in concentration, trying to form a plan.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Nurval's comment about alien minds reminded Kusque of the spirits he spoke with every day. Those were of the forest, for the most part, but as incomprehensible to an orc as these pinkskins appeared to be. On the rare occasions he was able to get some conversation out of one it was almost as though the two of them were speaking different languages, and even Paimon drifted off into his own strange thoughts whenever he answered questions.

"Rationalisation isn't necessary. It would be good if we could understand their motives, but changing their actions is good enough for me." Nevertheless, he found himself curious about the pinkskins and the reasoning that led them to focus their considerable abilities on this foolishness. Right now they might be enemies of unknown strength, but if their energies could be diverted they'd be as useful as the armour-clad beast tamed by the tribe. "Do you think it would be possible for an orc to walk among them safely if disguised? How variable is their appearance, and do any look more orcish than any elf?"

Spoiler

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Disguise Self + some black ink to lessen the difference in orc/human skin tones + Disguise check = profit!
Kinda spotlight-hogging though, if nobody else gets to come along.

[Re'ozul]

"We have not seen any obvious use of magic, though I suspect their ability to work continuously without ill effect might be due to magic. Birds generally shy away from them, though sometimes one of the curious small ones gets close. Strangely enough they either try to feed those brave ones, or catch and eat them. Any birds that fly overhead or land somewhere further away from they usually ignore," Terek explains to Grazik.

Nurval meanwhile ponders Kusque's question.
"It might be possible. However, it would require a good amount of preparation. Their entire way of moving is far less forceful than ours. It is more careful as they lack the strenght to easily brush aside minor obstacles such as vines. We have seen several different skin tones, from near white to a light brown. Their skin also seems to change sometimes going from white to a slight red or a slight brown. There are only two that we have seen so far that have a truly dark brown skin tone."

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"Usually? Does anything bad happen the other times or is it they comment on them?"

<I could assume the form of a bird and watch them for the rest of the day if nobody objects. I could relay information to you with the link if you come closer.>

[Re'ozul]

"Sometimes they simply follow them with their heads, and very rarely they attempt to catch them if they land. Though their attempts at doing so are so pitiful that so far we have not seen them catch any bird. They don't even attempt to shoot down those that don't land, though that could simply be due to having no bows as I have not seen any on them so far."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"I'll think of something else then," Kusque replied.

<Yes Grazik, and while you're in range we can draw up a map from what you see. I have materials.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada- Berserker

Rada was grinnin her teeth, trying to remain calm, which was hard, with the sound of pinkskins cuting down trees driving her insane. Every time she heard an axe she imagined another wound dealt to Mother-Forest. The protecter of her tribe, their home was bleeding. All because of those monsters.

No. She must remain calm. There is time for rage and there was time for duty. She was a berserker and her heart was longing for battle. She wanted to taste blood of those pink-skinned bastards. But her blood and her head were of the Chief's daughter. She reminded herself of her own words.

<"Od Gezzer, be careful. I don't want you to risk your life to obtain more informations. I would rather go to them blind than without you, got it?">

She just hoped nobody could feel her anger through this "toughtspeak".

"Can you tell me more about those metal creatures and armored ones? Can you describe their weapons?" She asked scouts, trying to focus her mind on the mission, to ignore that silent voice that was whispering to her she should go there and kill or at least maim every treecutter she can get into her hands.

[Re'ozul]

"We have no idea wether ther metal beings that walk along the edge in intervalls are simply armored pink-skins or some form of metal being. The distance and general reflection of sunlight make it impossible to ascertain it at this distance. They move slowly and often carry either large swords or axes. At first we thought they were there to protect the workers, but when we sent the patrol-mount to investigate their agressiveness the metal ones only came long after it had already left again. I believe they are simply a form of scout, walking along the dge to see wether the others are working at the right speed and to see wether anything happened to them. That at least would explain why they only appear periodically."

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


"Either way, they're slow. We can work with that. With so much of their focus on cutting and watching the cutters, it'll be easy to sneak by if them...or ambush them."

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<Worry not Rada, they haven't shown hostility to birds before. I may be old though I think I can survive a camp. Tomorrow we won't go in blind, or without me.>

"Friends, I will depart with to the clearing soon. I will assume the form of a bird and spy on them. The others will go with me, though not venture as near. I will relay them the information I can gain so we will be better prepared for tomorrows encounter."

With that Grazik focuses on the eagle, shrinking and growing feathers. In seconds, his transformation is complete. With that, he takes wing towards the camp, still staying close to the others.

Spoiler

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Wildshaping into an eagle and flying towards the camp, staying within 100 ft. to Smith