Orcs of the endless and unconquered Forest (IC)

[Re'ozul]

The tribe. It had not always been known as that. When the clan war started we had been many, fighting over land, influence, power. We had no true reason to fight. The Forest provided for all of us and provided plenty. We fought because we always had.
All but one of the clans had come to forest after long ways through treacherous and hostile lands. Much of the land outside the forest was sparse and did not hold much ressource, neither above ground nor below. We have no records why we all found our way here, no knowledge of what called us. Some believe it is in our blood, some believe the forest called its own. Some believe the gods wished to help us and some that the devils wished to pit us against each other. None of these ideas is relevant any longer.
We came to the forest, went ever deeper and finally found the other clans. Each clan believed they should be the dominant force, the truly destined ones. So we fought for dominance. Only years later we found that the constant struggle, abductions, prisoners and hostages had resulted in everyone being everywhere. It was a wake-up call.
The originals, the first ones that had been here finally came to the forefront. They had evaded much of the war. Their knowledge of the forest allowed them to stay hidden. We believed the wished to strike at us once our strenght was depleted, but when they came forward they simply wanted peace. Our fighting had destroyed parts of the forest. Century old trees had been cut down to make room for temporary camps, ground had been trampled into muddy earth wherever we sent our troops. They wished this useless destruction to stop. They said they spoke for the forest, seeing what we had done, we no longer could challenge them for that honor.
After talks had finished, the eight invader-clans came to an agreement. The originals were to be the leading clan. Theirs was the way to be followed. But to preserve their own traditions, each clan would gain their own camp, all eight forming a circle at a distance of ten miles from the main camp.
Now, few live in these eight camps, they have stopped to be truly independent structures, but they still exist, most behaving as trade stations and warning posts, as hunting and magic schools. The main camp has grown, now spanning a diameter of nearly a mile. It is a prosperous and peaceful place, but now the pink-skins have come.


{The center of the main camp}

To call the tree great would be undestatement, while not much higher than its bretheren it is truly massive easily sporting a circumference of threehundred feet. The grand-chief's hut is build directly at the trunk. With its five floors it is the tallest building in the camp. Unlike normally however, you see easily double the normal amount of guards both outside and in the foyer. Furthermore they appear quite alert when they would usually sit somewhere and either absently sharpen their weapons or even sleep.
You had heard that scouts had been dispatched to find the reason for the mass exodus of prey from the eastern forest. There also had been rumors of strange creatures, described as elf-like but different that those scouts had found, but what could prompt such a reaction?
You can hear heated talking deeper in the hut. Hunt-Leader Grokh'kus is easy to distinguish by his voice, the others not so much. You had been called via messenger to come here today. You know the others here with you, if not personally at the very least by their reputation. Each either a master already or on in all but name. This must be big.

And we begin, this current scene is for IC introductions or just normal interaction.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman

Grazik hobbles up to the tree, glancing at the others he sees some that he knows well, some he hardly knows, though he knows of all of them. "Friends, well met. How have you been fairing?" He asks the group at large. "Do any of you know why we've been summoned?" Turning to a guard he asks, "Do you know when the chief will be ready for us?"

[Winds]

Gell-Orc Hunter

Gell seems deep in thought as he answers Grazik.

"I am well, shaman. As to why we are here...only rumors. I think the masters will be discussing the matter for a while yet."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque nods at the old sage. "Well, thank you, and I hope you're good yourself. I don't know why we're here, but..." His gaze flickers over to the chief's daughter as he continues. "Something important."

This last comment is punctuated by a sudden rising of voices from within the hut, although he doesn't catch any of the words.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"I would guess it is about what the scouts saw, must be worrying to not know what they are, or what they plan."

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-Scout
What is it that the scouts saw? I've heard it was something strange but, I don't know what discription of the.. strangness is right. I've heard a lot.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"Elf-like, but not is the only description I've heard. I think we'll learn more when we meet with Hunt-Leader Grokh'kus."

[Man on Fire]

Rada - Berserker

"Alive and kicking, old geezer." Said Rada, using a little free time to do some basic stretching."And seriously, for such roten touchwood you're terribly impatient. Aren't it you and other longbeards who always preach to us youngsters about patience and all that crap? Chief will call us when we're needed." Rada called her father Chief more by force of habit than anything else - she didn't really had to, but always felt better reminding herself that he is much more than just her old man. "Yo, Mal, how's the dumb beast? Hope you're feeding him some good stuff, would be a shame if he had eat you. He could get sick." She said, reffering to Mal's tiger - it was common knowledge she had weak spot for the beast.
She was to eger to change the topic - she saw no point wondering about the rumors, other than having her even more impatient - she wouldn't have admit it, but she was as curious and worried about strange news and the reason they were all called here as everybody else, if not more. What could it be about the mysterious elf-like creatures? Some new enemy, or ally? Probably former - the only ones an Orc can trust is another Orc. She tried to catch some words from the voices, hoping she may overhear something important. She knew she shouldn't, but the tempation was too great.


Listen check [roll0]

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"Elf-like and...? A new breed of pointy-ears wouldn't cause this much fuss." He shifted his weight into a more comfortable position, tuning out the sounds of voices and gazing around him. It was a nice day to be stood outside, at least. The sky was evenly grey where it could be seen through the canopy, and the wind was enough to shift his hair and clothes around but not enough to cause a chill."I expect they have some fresh news for us..."

Idly he wound his fingers around the headscarf wrapped around his waist as he rehearsed the meeting to come. Without knowing what would be said he didn't have any concern about performing and wouldn't be compelled to do that anyway, but allowing himself the mental drill meant not distracting himself trying to stop it.

Instead he pondered what could be so important that right now it was bringing all of them here together. A thunking brigade he could understand, but a group with half of its members having supernatural powers? 'Something strange' indeed.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-Scout
Normally Mal wouldn't be very annoyed by Rada's teasing but he is afraid of that wich he doesn't understand and he has no idea what is going on right now so he is very on edge.He's not a dumb beast he's my loyal mount! and he's doing fine.

[Winds]

Gell-Orc Hunter

"There's no need to get so riled. We were called here, it will be explained soon enough..."

He glances at Rada, slightly amused.

"Though if everyone is quiet, we can hear easily enough."

Listen Check: [roll0]

[Kantolin]

Smith

Smith was the last to arrive - there was always work to be done. He wasn't wearing his armour at the moment - instead wearing the shorts-with-basically-overalls that he wore when he was at the forge. His green skin was tinted slightly black from soot.

But no apologies came from him, as it was no secret that he was quite busy - that morning, in fact, he'd finished a set of spears he was a touch behind on.

"Good strength. Hope I haven't kept you waiting."

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal - Scout
Mal quiets down and tries to hear what is said inside.


Listen: [roll0]

[Man on Fire]

Rada - Berserker

"he is a dumb beast for being loyal mount to a humorless jackass like you." Rada responds, but without any hoslitlity, but a friendly smile. She liked and respected Mal as a friend and hunter, but provoking him was a form of entertainment in more tense moments.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"Rada, you seem terribly impatient for one that tells others they are. Part of patience is knowing how to spend you time until the event, to know how to spend your time, you must know how much time there is to be spent." Grazik turns to Kusque, "Surely you no of the war that was fought before we were united. If another group comes, they may have ideas like our ancestors, and seek to destroy and control us. Other races of this forest aren't peaceful with us. Wouldn't you rather know if you found a new foe, than wait for them to act against you. I hope however, that we will find in these new people to be friends."

Grazik has a 25 on listen taking 0, he isn't trying to listen though he hears up many noises none the less.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"No, we're still waiting ourselves," he says lightly as he nods a greeting at Smith. I wonder if it's his healing or his crafting that the Chief is interested in? The Chief's never taken a positive interest in the way he does his healing before this.


-6 Listen modifier. Not even going to roll.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-Scout
Mal thinks for sometime, dicides that it is best not to respond but he responds anyway trying to think of something that would string. Because you're the chiefs daughter life is a joke?

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"Yes Grazik, I do know something of the war. But that was orc business, and scrapping that grew into war. Other races coming in and stirring things up at the top before we even know what they look like is trouble, and even if they turn out to be friendly they still have that talent for troublemaking. Bringing our varied talents in right away is--" He cut himself off, realising he was starting to make a speech, and was surprised at how easy it was to suppress the urge. "Perhaps there is some sort of misunderstanding here that can be smoothed over. But I'm prepared for a fight."

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"Aren't we all Kusque," Grazik says sighing "you can feel it in the air, everyone is worried. I hope this will all be smoothed over and everything will work out."

[Re'ozul]

@ Everyone who listened (since you somehow all rolled close the same)
You hear a back and forth on possible points of encounter between orc forces and the group that is alternately called "pink-skins", "tree-cutters" and simply "invaders". It seems that they can't make up their mind wether to engage those beings or try to send scouts first.
Grokh'kus is favouring the fighting approach, while another voice reminds him what unthinking fights just for battle's sake resulted in during the clan-war.

As you talk with each other, you notice that the noise has stopped.

After maybe half a minute Tal'var, the chief's main advisor, comes into the foyer. He looks at all of you, seemingly counting you.

"Ah good, it seems all have arrived. You are most likely intrigued why we sent for you to come here. Some of you may already have heard the the rumors of the scouts encountering a new race. We have tried to keep any more specific knowledge from most of tribe for now," at the last sentence he raises his hands in an apologizing gesture "We know this is not how it is supposed to be. Secrets are the poison for unity, but as you will see, the situation is far more dire than you most likely imagine right now. Please follow me."

He walks back inside and up the flight of stairs that brings one to the chiefs council room. Entering it, you see not only Murpek the Chief and Grokh'kus, but also the Shaman Sorunnar as well as Merotek, Leader of the scouts and Turval who functions as the tribes main subpply coordinator.
All of them stand around a table that is filled with small stones, lines of dirt as well as small pieces of wood. You recognize some of the stones as small mountains which implies that you are looking at a representation of the forest surrounding the tribe's camps. Most of the table is green, but towards the east, maybe ten miles beyond the outer camps in those sections, you can see the table having been rubbed with chalk. You know that the forest's expansion should at this point be maybe 30 miles beyond the eastern outer camps. As such, the chalk confuses you.

As you come in, the chief adresses you.
"So you are here, good good. By now, you may have heard the rumors and I am anguished to say they are true. We have found a new race. Usually that should be grounds for happiness as it could mean trade, new knowldege or perhaps new magic. However, the way we found them does not fill me with hope but rather with anger and sadness.
Look at this map, as you may have already noticed it represents the forest," at this he starts to point at different markers,"The lone rock (a stone), the changing waters (a small blue strand of cloth), the treacherous swamp (a piece of bark), these should give you a scale of this map and we have of course the green of mother-forest. But here," he knocks on the chalked part,"here we found the new ones. And the white is not their area of hunts, it is not where they have camps it is simply ... nothing. There is no green there, because they have done the unthinkable, they have killed mother-forest. There is nothing there. Oh, they left some trees standing, for what we don't know, but those are lonely ones. What we did during the clan-war, they do tenfold each day. Each day they go deeper into the forest, within a year they will find the first proofs that we exist. So we no longer have much time.
Some of us think that their crimes are harsh enough to justify open warfare at once. Others consider it prudent to first find out more about them. Both sides justify this by another factor. We have found that the new ones have started created huts, though more angular and made of stone, and are starting camps of their own. The more they do so, the harder they would be to defeat if it came to battle, but they also give us more chance to learn about them.
As you are the best of those that are not already present here, you present us with the opportunity to send our best to the new ones without compromising our leadership, be it in battle to test their might or in secret to see their way of life. We are also interested in your own thoughts, for you will be needed to form your own judgement. So tell me, what is your mind for this situation?"

[Man on Fire]

Rada - Berserker

"Wanna start something?" Rada looked at Mal, suddenly becoming very serious and very threatening. "Once we're done here, we may take it to the Hill if you want to." Hill was a name of very small hill few miles behind the main camp where two orcs went when they decided they need to talk with their fists. Law forcing going there was rather new and still not everybody got used to it - the elders made it aften two fighting orcs accidentially wrecked somebody's hut one time too many.

****, DM posted when I was posting, gimme a moment I'll make another post in response to DM's

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"Calm yourself Rada, you too Mal, this is important." Grazik says sharply as Tal'var comes. Grazik moves to stand by the map. After hearing what the chief has to say, he stands there, shocked. Shacking himeself out of it, he speaks.

"This destruction is unacceptable! How dare they do this?" Calming himeself, Grazik speaks again. "They cause destruction, though a war would cause more. Trees can grow back, Mother-Forest can be healed, but at this rate, soon she will perish. We should pursue a peaceful course of action if possible, though if they don't stop, I fear we will have to fight. I propose we make ourselves know, though not tell them much of us. We request for them to stop, if they refuse, we demand, if they still kill, then it is war. The people however, should be told, if secrecy is the poison of unity, we must purge it with truth and openness. If we can find a peaceful solution to this problem, we must pursue it so we do not repeat our previous mistakes if at all possible."

[Man on Fire]

(Hope this time I won't miss another important post. My previous was obviously ment to be before we've been called to the hut, sorry guys)

Rada - Berserker

Shocked. Completely and utterly shocked. That was the only way to describe Rada's reaction. In her heart she was prepared for some bad news, but that?! That was beyond her wildest imagination. The enemy that would just go and kill the trees for no reason? That was....sick. Disgusting. Mother-Forest is everything they had, the life of the Tribe, for somebody to just come out of nowhere and....Unacceptable.
She was ready to scream, no, roar in anger, she was ready to swear upon her blood that she will hunt and kill every last one of these "pink-skins" or die trying. But then Grazik spoken. His words had calmed Rada down. Just blidly attacking these invaders was not the way to do it. She remembered what one of her Berserker teachers has told her - "know when it's time to rage and save it all for that moment". So she did. She put all her rage, all that she could at this moment at least, into a tiny chest in her mind. To be ready to open it later.
"Shaman is right." She said, once she calmed herself, through only barerly. Her voice was cold. Deadly cold." But if they won't listen to us, if they will continue hurting Mother-Forest....We should hurt them back, more and more until whatever they gain from doing this will be outnumbered by the losses they'll suffer."

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

Gell frowns at the map.

"I agree. This is what they do without threats-their war footing must be terrifying. I feel that multiple approaches are best-both a diplomat and a sneak, to learn as much as we can. Of course, if they can't be convinced, then we hunt them."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque stared at the bright patch of nothingness as the others talked, feeling numbness and a small spike of rage at Rada's tone. He pushed it away, trying to keep his thoughts clear and focused. The right thing to do would be to go out and slaughter the lot of them, as the tribe would punish even their own for willful murder. But openly attacking an enemy behind stone defences was foolishness, and if they struck now then stealth later would be impossible. Even if the delay meant the lives of a few more trees, the wisest course of action right now was the peaceful one. If that failed, there would be no need for second-guessing.

"Yes," he said to no-one in particular. "Yes Gell, we shouldn't rush into war with an unknown force. I can handle both talking and sneaking, although both in one day won't leave me much of a fighter. Mal, you're a good sneak when you haven't got that blasted bow out, right?" Moving to the end of the table he tapped the eastern edge of the chalked area, noting the slight shake in his finger as he rested it on the table. He allowed the finger to curl back into his fist as he addressed the scout leader. "Merotek, do we have information on the areas further out, or any clues about how many pink-skins there are beyond their camp here?"

[Kantolin]

Smith

Smith glanced at Rada and Mal as the two of them turned more hostile, but exhaled as they cooled off. Good, the two could cool off.

The first moment of surprise for Smith was that he did not, in fact, immediately recognize that the map was of the forest - or more accurately, not of where it was.

How long had it been since he went wandering? Was he out of touch with the forest? With his own blood?

Now was not, however, the time for self contemplation - he could put that aside for later. Now there was work to be done. Strange new creatures who sought to destroy the forest, who made huts of stone. Curious. It was unbelievable... but he didn't find himself angry. Shouldn't he be? He was astonished, and this could not be allowed to continue, but the rage was missing. Also worrisome - and also for later.

"They sound like children." He shook his head, speaking in the sort-of-a-loud-mutter that he tended to. "Blind to the effects of what they are doing. Some basic guidance on how to live may change their behaviors."

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-Scout
The anger and confusion that had blazed inside him earlier died down and he became calm cold and calculating. He could do this, there were people to explain what he should do and an odvious enemy. He didn't know why they did it but he knew it was wrong and he knew that his people knew what to do.
Children do not murder there mother. These are monsters and they diserve death.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

"We don't know that yet. It could be they are monsters to be destroyed, or they could be fools. It is better to reach out first, then to assume and cause an immediate war."

Gell taps his quiver.

"It isn't as though our skills diminish if we make a plan first."

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Grazik turns to the orcs that where gathered before he arrived. "Do you have a problem with this plan?" he inquires. "and do you have any more information about the invaders, anything would be useful in these matters."

[Kantolin]

"Das true - children do not murder their parents. But a better comparison, maybe, is that they don't think. After all, these newcomers cannot want to build camps here without a forest to sustain them - children do need to be taught how to keep themselves from being killed, lest they go punch a hungry tiger at mealtime."

He exhaled. "Wonder why they came here, too. Maybe they're running from something?"

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"If they were running, they've stopped long enough to settle down. These are no children. If anything, they're more like animals who've found themselves in a place with none of their usual predators. They'll take and take until there's nothing left, and if we can't find something else for them to devour then a cull is the only option."

[Re'ozul]

The chief grins at your discussion.

"I see I was right in having you join us. Yes, depending on their disposition, war may be inevitable, but first we should try to reason with them.
We have not seen much of them so far, the scouts were unsure on how far the pink-skins could detect them so we only have minimal information. We know they are very ordered. They cut down mother-forest in a near perfect half-circle. That alone tells us of their defensiveness for why else would you try to keep equal distance to unknown terrain at all times.
The workers in one area are always the same. In fact, they create small camps of easily movable huts for those that work" he nearly growls the word "at the edge of mother-forest. As the edge widens with the growth of the half-circle, new workers arrive. However, if one was to create a radius from the probable origin of their destruction, each worker only works along this radius.
We have only seen the bare minimum of their stone-worked camps as we did not dare to use much magic for now. The closest ones are no nearer than two thousand feet from the unnatural edge of mother-forest. These do not have walls of stone yet. However, when we determined the probable starting point, we were able to create a shaky far-vision for it. It lasted only a short while, but we saw that they already have created a sizeable camp complete with a stone wall and keep building outwards from it. We also sensed magic through the vision, hence our decision to not attempt it again just yet.
Strangely enough, the scouts never detected much presence of warriors at the edge of mother-forest, merely some forces that rpelled what little wildlife still dwelled there. This possibly means that they are wholly unaware of not just our presence but that of every race in the forest.
This should aid you in your attempts. Since we dare not use much magic lest we inform the invaders of our presence, all communication between you and us will have to be done via messengers. As such, said communication will be slow and not conductive to the situation. I therefore give you the right to act as intermediaries of the tribe. I know you will rise to this resposibility. Your mission will be to not only gather information on the invaders, but also initiate contact should you decide it could be beneficial. Any other measures to attain these goals will be left to you."

With these words he lets himself fall into his chair. His head propped up by his right arm on the armrest, he looks aged far beyond what he should be. A growl leaves his mouth as he keeps looking at the map.
He waves his left hand at you and the advisors and adresses the elders.

"This meeting is over. If they have any more questions tell them what you can. They need to be prepared for the actual thing once they get out there."

Looking at you he adds: "You will leave as soon as you believe to be ready. But you must remember, that while the invaders are still a year out at their current speed, time is still of the essence. You are dismissed."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"No chance of Grazik's tiger providing an inconspicuous pair of eyes beyond the severed end of the mother-forest... That won't be a problem come morning, and we won't be involved with the pinkskins before then."

He glances at each of the other five in turn. "Shall I scout the bare areas? The Turnfeather can grant a small bird whose eyes can be used in place of my own."


Making a Knowledge: (Arcana) check to see what Kusque knows about its detectability compared to the seeing used so far: [roll0]

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"Zalgrin could scout, but they are thirty miles away, we will not be able to reach the Pinkskins much before sunrise on the morrow unless we want to march all night. I think we should set out today, rest before the sun sets, and have four hours of darkness to finish our march. We will be able to scout and see there habits as they rise. Later in the day we approach them and open negotiations. I think that some of us can sneak in under the cover of nightfall, I have a spell to render you unseen, but it doesn't make you unheard."

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

"I agree with both of those. Zalgrin, Mal and I should be able to scout the forest well enough to keep a camp of five from running into surprises. And when we get to the edge, Kusque's turnfeather bird means he could help scout and still be able to get away if things go wrong. As far as the diplomacy, I think that you and Rada are best suited to speak for us. Agreed?"

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

"I may know what to say, though I don't know how to say it. The tribe respects me for my wisdom, though the Pinkskins don't. I can plan what to say, though I'm sure others can speak with greater effect. Kusque volunteered. Lets get going." Turning to the hunt-leader he asks "Could you provide us with mounts for this journey? I know not all of us have them and we could make much better time with them."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"Rada and I can discuss negotiation tactics just as well on the move, and I'm ready to leave as soon as I get my pack filled." He shrugged. "But if I'm to spy on the pinkskin's waking habits it'll be a race between them and the dawn."

[Re'ozul]

@ Sutremaine
Kusque comes to the conclusion that the depth of the connection between him and the bird he chooses as well as the small amount of magic it entails should make him indistinguishable from the normal magic currents that move through the forest. At most it should make the bird detect as as a weak magic beast.

At Grazik's question, Krokh'tar looks thoughtful for a moment, then speaks.
"We have little available at the moment. Since the pink-skins have driven a lot of prey deeper into the forest, we have had to increase the number of active hunter groups and reinforce them to combat Gnoll raids. As such I can only offer you two of our patrol mounts, I know this is not..." At this point his eyes widen with sudden recognition of an idea and he starts sporting agrin that doesn't particularly fill you with confidence, "Wait, I do have an alternative for you." He looks straight at Gell. "Remember the beast that came barreling into the outer camps about two moons ago? The one that nearly ate everything there? The trainers think they have made it at least somewhat tame. It is still rather excitable and eats a lot, but they managed to get it to follow basic commands. That thing is strong enough that it should be able to carry two or maybe even three of you. And it could be useful should the pink-skins not be favourable to the nice approach."

Patrol mounts are Dire Wolfs.
The weird beast he refers to looks like this (though only large, not huge)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QJ5HcIRl49A/RwEKZOJYvTI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/pDgZUXnbW_c/s320/MM35_PG30.jpg

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Thank you, those mounts would suffice. Grazik bows and exits. Calling Zalgrin, he mounts his tiger, and waits for the others to do the same. Then they head out into the forest, Grazik and Zalgrin keep there eyes and ears peeled, searching for danger.

Grazik's Listen Check: [roll0]
Zalgrin's Listen Check: [roll1]

Grazik's Spot Check: [roll2]
Zalgrin's Listen Check: [roll3]

[Re'ozul]

@ Grazik
You detect no threat, just a few small critters and a few bigger prey animals.

@everyone
It'll take a while for you to actually get to the outer camps.
Remember, they comprise a 10 mile radius ring around the main camp.
The forest inside this ring is basically pacified. You'll usually only find prey and commodity animals and useful plants there. All predators were slowly hunted outwards until they got the idea that being inside the ring was bad.
The ring presents the basic/emergency grounds to continuously feed the tribe on a minimum level.
Until you reach the outer camp in the direction of the edge there is little that could prove dangerous to you.

[Man on Fire]

Rada- Berserker

Rada managed to calm herself down. She was telling herself to keep the rage for pinkskins.
Do you have any spells to communicate with them? If they don't know the laws of Mother-Forest, they may not know how to speak with it's children." She asked Grazzik. The idea of race who don't know Arboreal sounded impossible to her, but so was the idea of race waging such destruction for...what? Why are they doing this? What they get from that?

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal rides through the forest not speaking to anybody. He is glad that he can help the tribe with this mission but what exactly they are trying to do is confusing to him, some people are wanting diplomancy but he is sure that that won't work. The tribe sage thinks it will though and Mal doesn't want to argue with the great wisdom of the sages.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


Gell is focused on keeping control of the beast.


Ride Check to guide beast: [roll0]

[Kantolin]

Being sent away from camp. Hrm - he wasn't certain why the chief thought that the remainder needed a mobile smith to go along - did he presume that the pink-skins would damage armour, or... oooh, or it was his skills as a healer.

Right.

Subconsciously he expended and regained his focus. It'd be time for that soon.

"I can... possibly speak to the pink-skins as well." Came Smith's response, a touch late - but it was still worth marking him as a secondary option. "And can give this amulet to any who would like to be able to speak to them, for a short time. Should definitely be not-me first, however."

Now he was glad that he'd worked on it. It had been stated that it was helpful for practice, but it hadn't directly seemed so to Smith, so maybe that was purely for magic.

"I need to get my armour." He muttered as the group stepped out, taking a quick trip to the forge to get his stuff.

He returned wearing quite a bit of metal - from his tower shield to his plate. As he was aided onto the beast, he focused for a moment - he hated doing this. This part was always very rough - he had to synchronize the mental heartbeats of an array of individuals all at once - then keep then synchronized until it became as easy as ignoring his own heartbeat. Then, every so often, he'd remember it and have to go back to focusing until it became reflex.

Still, out of his mouth was much more simple. "Let me link us together. Everyone, focus on your blood."

It didn't feel much different - there was a very brief mental stirring, then nothing - then Smith responded, "There. We live, fight as one." As was the old adage.

He fell silent once more, viewing the forest about them. His silence was more due to contemplation than intent, however - partially keeping up the link, but partially reviewing the forest around him. It really had been awhile.



Smith is placing the party into his collective! That way he can heal and monitor people, as is his job.

He's also using this precursor time to regain his psionic focus.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque thought he felt something twang between his ears as he focused on his heartbeat, but perhaps that was natural sensitivity to presences inside his head. There was always room for one more. "Thanks, Smith." He drew up alongside the other man's mount. "How long will that amulet last in another's hands? What if two of us were using it?"


Not on a mount, move speed is high enough to keep up on foot. Also Kusque went and threw some things together after the meeting, so I guess it's 'copy the equipment list onto my character sheet' time.

[Kantolin]

"It - " Smith removed the amulet in question - "Can be used by any orc - as long as yer wearing it. So if one would rather do the speaking over me..."

He paused. That sentence already wasn't making sense.

"So if someone wants to try talking instead of me, you are free to." He replaced it around his neck temporarily. "Just ask."

If anyone did, in fact, ask, Smith has no hesitation in handing it over.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

"Smith, what exactly did you do? I don't feel any difference, you know?" Rada said, adjusting her equipment, checking out her weapons and trying to sit better on the beast. Suprisingly for her, she actually enjoyed riding this crature.

[Kantolin]

Smith paused for a moment, at Rada's question. Hadn't he explained it already?

But, as he thought about it.. maybe he hadn't. He'd thought he had - and that was beginning to be annoying, thinking he'd done something but not actually having done it. That was next on his focus list.

Now, how to explain it? "I linked us together." That was insufficient. "Hrm. well, here."

<With this link,> He stated, and this time rather than speaking aloud, he spoke directly into people's heads. <I can check everyone's health and patch us up.>

He'd almost said 'patch me up' there, but caught himself. That was the problem with being the creator of a collective - everyone just becamse the 'self'. And there was actually still a tell - when he, and only he spoke mentally, his eyes pulsed just slightly blue.

<We can also talk this way if you focus on it.> When he swapped back to speaking aloud. "Which I don't think we need in the outer camp. The link keeps up 'bout a hundred or so feet out?"

Then, to Kusque, "And wait - that was not clear of me. The amulet makes the bearer more confident in their ability to talk, but the ability to speak to gnoll - hrm. To anything with a language - for about an hour. Only does that once a night."

Always so much to think about.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Does everyone hear this?> He tried to force the words outwards, talking as he did to his passenger spirits but instead addressing the people around him in the real world. Out loud he said: "You keep hold of it until then. With the link active, we should only need one person able to speak directly to the pinkskins, right? Chief said they had magic in their camp. Perhaps they'd be willing to use it to understand us."

[Man on Fire]

<"Assuming they will want to." Rada attempted to try this "link" thing. <"We should train ourselves in using this link when we still have time, it may come in handy."> She send another message. For some time she decidedd to communicate with everybody using that link, to make sure she won't fail at using it when she'll need to.<"Me and Kusque should go to them - he is good at talking, but with me at hand they should think twice before trying anything. We coudl also take smith, in this armor he'll make a good impression. Rest could stay behind and be prepared, in case they would attack us.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<We need Smith for the link and for his healing. If his presence is enough to put them off attacking us, that's good. But if it's not?>

[Man on Fire]

<"Then we have me to protect you both.">

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<How long does this 'link' last?> Grazik asks mentally, <and can you direct your message to only one person?>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque's mouth twisted at Rada's reply. He wasn't as good in a fight without the more combat-able spirits riding alongside him, but he still had his sword arm and his skill. Stay focused on the task. If it comes to a fight between us and them, let that do the talking.

<And both of us to protect him.>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal is confused and kinda creepped out by the telepathy but he decides to try it.<This thought speak, how does it work?>

[Kantolin]

<"We should train ourselves in using this link when we still have time, it may come in handy.">

Damnit.


Either way, Smith focused a little on the link, while also glancing at the questions. Kusque's response to Rada showed a typical orcish fire that made him smile - a little jealous, in fact, as there was an orc who still practiced thunking heads even though he was saddled with other things.

Last time he tried, he couldn't swing his hammer combattatively for beans. It did bug him a little that he had no retort of his own - he really was one who needed someone with him, rather than one who thunked heads. At least he still could use his old shield.

<The link lasts indefinitely. Or, well, until you get too far away. Remember, little over a hundred feet.> He responded to Grazik, nodding out of habit. <Talking to a single connected orc also works, just focus.>

As to how it worked.... <Dat's a longer one. Okay, lemme see... from what I know of psionics - it's called psionics - we've got similar blood in us. The Tribe. Because of this, I can link our minds together as one powerful entity... then talking in your heads at other people is about as natural as talking at yourself.>

Boy, he hoped that made sense. He'd spent years going over this stuff, but while he had a pretty decent grasp of it he wasn't terribly sure how to explain it very well. <I suppose it makes us a solid unit of the Tribe. A lot more of 'One powerful orc'.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada - Berserker

<"United as one. I like that. By the way, I hope this doesn't have any negative feedback. I wouldn't want to go into frenzy and get you guys recive some sort of backlash.">


By the way, I may no be able to post during Ester, sorry.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


"It's certainly a useful power."

To Rada:
<But I wouldn't think your frenzy would be contagious. We're linked, but not so powerfully as that. But...maybe you could send it. That could be a potent tool.>

To everyone:
<So our plan is for Smith, Kusque and Rada to do the talking, while Mal, Grazik and me remain hidden. Is that right?>

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<I think so, relay the what they say back to us so we can give advice. What would we do if the negotiation party moves out of range of the others?>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<We find a reason to travel as a group that the pinkskins will accept without suspicion. Depending on how aggressive their negotiations normally are, we may be able to present Mal and Gell as bodyguards. Grazik, is there any way you could pass as a fighter? They may think it strange that the wise man of the group isn't at the table.>


@Man On Fire

No prob, I'm not in a rush to start the negotiation segment. I could get the scouting bird and the language abilities on the same day, but I'd have to drop Naberius and his delicious Diplomacy boosts to do so.

[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?"

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?"


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.

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

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"Come on Smith, let's give Grazik as much range as we can." He set off after Grazik, aiming to get as close to the edge as possible and try and spy on the pinkskins himself.

Going to mix up some mud and water for making a map on the canvas.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal scout

Mal goes with Smith if he goes with Kusque. I sure hope that this will work.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


"I'm with you."

Gell approaches the forest's edge as well.

[Kantolin]

Smith had been spending the time trying to keep his focus despite the innumerable thudding.

It was maddening. He'd kept his focus through orcs fighting nearby entirely for an occasion like this, but he couldn't have imagined the sheer extent to which his focus would be tested. He kept himself quiet, barely able to think straight.

And gradually, as it always did, things got more reasonable. Gradually, the noise became more background, less focal. And with that, he turned his attention to the conversation at hand - a little behind on the question.

"Right." Was all he said, as he followed Grazik's lead. Knowing his limitations when it came to stealth, he kept a bit behind the other orc as they walked.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

When his companions get about fifty feet away from the forest's edge, he flies up and lands on a tree branch overlooking the pinkskins camp, relaying want he sees to his friends with the link. Trying to remain hidden.

Spot Check: [roll0]
Listen Check: [roll1]
Hide Check: [roll2]

[Man on Fire]

Rada - Berserker

Rada goes with everybody, remaining cautious and observing her suroundings, ready to defend them in case of any attack.

[Re'ozul]

@Grazik
As you sit on the branch, the entirety of the destruction wrought on mother-forest becomes visible. As far as you can see, there is nothing but broken and fallen trees. From your elevated position you can see the curve, the unnatural new edge of the forest takes. In the very distance to your right and left you can see trees still standing, miles away. As the fallen trees blend into the ground as the distance you inspect grows, it seems as if the area had simply been erased. Only in the very far reaches of your vision can you make out a black speck. A speck that you know to be the pinkskin's main camp. With great pain, you move your eyes away from the seeming impossibility the pinkskins have created and unto the very ones that did it, the ones here at the edge.
You can see the pinkskins working away, driving their axes into the great trees with tireless effort. The thwacking drowns out most everything, only the loudest of birds can be heard aside from it.
There is about one pinkskin for every 100 feet of edge. This continues as far as you can see. They are all clothed differently, some wearing clothes on their upper body, some not, some wearing long trousers some short ones. The colors vary too, though only in brown tones. There is however, one distinct piece of clothing they all have in common. All of them are wearing a leather bracer on their left arm. On this bracers are strings of symbols, though you can only make out the largest ones. Their color differs from one pinkskin to the next, some being completely black others having a golden sheen and some actually glowing bright golden. You can see that those pinkskin with the brightest runes on their bracers, also seem to be the most muscular, though there are some exceptions.
The actual camp seems to be situated about 2300 feet beyond the edge. You can barely make out tents and a fireplace. There seem to be specks that are moving among them, but its too far to truly see what is going on.

everyone else:
As you close in on the edge, the thwacks of the axes get louder, drowning out near all other sound. The view is unnatural, even still a good bit within the forest. The light between the trees brightens as you get closer, something you have rarely seen happening. And then you can see the edge.
There is simply nothing beyond it. If you strain your eyes, you can make out fallen trees, but from your position still in the forest they nerly blend into the ground, giving the impression that the forest just stops. No gradually lower foliage, no undergrowth petering out, there is simply nothing there. You can see pinkskins walking along the edge, marking trees and starting to cut, and cut, and cut, a never ending rhythm of thwacking and breaking wood only interrupted by the occasional sound of a falling tree. They are clothed perhaps a bit much for your taste and their clothes seem to have a rather strange cut, but otherwise they seem like you, well weaker, less defined and a good bit uglier, but otherwise...

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Grazik relays the information he gets.

The information, directly as given to me:
As you sit on the branch, the entirety of the destruction wrought on mother-forest becomes visible. As far as you can see, there is nothing but broken and fallen trees. From your elevated position you can see the curve, the unnatural new edge of the forest takes. In the very distance to your right and left you can see trees still standing, miles away. As the fallen trees blend into the ground as the distance you inspect grows, it seems as if the area had simply been erased. Only in the very far reaches of your vision can you make out a black speck. A speck that you know to be the pinkskin's main camp. With great pain, you move your eyes away from the seeming impossibility the pinkskins have created and unto the very ones that did it, the ones here at the edge.
You can see the pinkskins working away, driving their axes into the great trees with tireless effort. The thwacking drowns out most everything, only the loudest of birds can be heard aside from it.
There is about one pinkskin for every 100 feet of edge. This continues as far as you can see. They are all clothed differently, some wearing clothes on their upper body, some not, some wearing long trousers some short ones. The colors vary too, though only in brown tones. There is however, one distinct piece of clothing they all have in common. All of them are wearing a leather bracer on their left arm. On this bracers are strings of symbols, though you can only make out the largest ones. Their color differs from one pinkskin to the next, some being completely black others having a golden sheen and some actually glowing bright golden. You can see that those pinkskin with the brightest runes on their bracers, also seem to be the most muscular, though there are some exceptions.
The actual camp seems to be situated about 2300 feet beyond the edge. You can barely make out tents and a fireplace. There seem to be specks that are moving among them, but its too far to truly see what is going on.

Grazik tries to figure out what the bracers do.

Spellcraft Check: [roll0]
Knowledge Arcana Check: [roll1]

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

Rada was getting angrier and angrier. It was a suprise she could still control herself. To see those ugly, disgusting creatures. She looked like she could jump at any moment and start killing those murderers. But she managed to focus on her misssion once again. And on information given by Grazik.

<"These things on their arms looks suspicious. Maybe we should kidnap one of them and try to identify what kind of sorcery is involved here. And ask him few questions.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<What are these creatures?> For now there was only shock. For them to look so orcish and yet act like this towards the world... Yes, they'd have to find out more before attempting to negotiate on equal terms with these monsters. He frowned at the empty ground. Those huts were made of wood, and the whole area was an unnatural firebreak. A fire would cause a nice distraction, perhaps enough to ensure that one of them wouldn't be missed until they could withdraw into the safe depths of the forest. He communicated the idea to the others.

As he was doing this, he rolled out the canvas and set the flask of watery mud nearby, ready to start painting. On a whim, he rifled through his backpack until he reached the carved wooden box tucked right into the middle of the pack. Opening it up, he pulled out the heavy round crystals and rolled them around in his palm, focusing on the soft grinding whenever it could be heard through the sounds of carnage. It made him feel a little better. He stared at the crystals as they rolled in circles, watching the way the bright light brought out the patterns in their depths. Perhaps these beings that were neither elf nor orc had been encountered some time in the tribe's history, and no-one had realised their significance. He noticed for the first time that one of the crystals had a fault line that looked like the old snake Danh. Perhaps these being were even less than history and existed only in local myth. He let the world fade out as he thought.


Making a trained Knowledge: (History) check.
[roll0]
Also a trained Knowledge: (Religion) check.
[roll1]
Not sure if these skills are going to be relevant, but they're trained today so I might as well roll them.

Will the map generated from this be pretty much the one in the OOC thread?

[Kantolin]

Smith took a moment to take in the information. It was so... large sounding. What on earth were they doing? And why?

So many mysteries. His job, however, was to keep up the link.

<Maybe.... they are split into castes?> He queried. It sounded strange - and from a crafter's point of view, he wished he could see the clothing himself.

<We could try walking up and trying to talk to ones nearest the edge? Maybe they'll be willing to just explain...>

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<Rada, we are going to meet them tomorrow, I don't think kidnapping one tonight is a good idea.

Smith, that is what we will do tomorrow.>

Grazik continues to observe the camp till sunset.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal Scout
Mal agrees with Rada he thinks knowing as many of there secrets as possible before walking into the middle of there camp to negotiate is good and the arm things could be important.
<I agree with Rada kidnapping one would be great.>

[Re'ozul]

@ Grazik
From your observation it looks like the pinkskins whose bracers have gone dark seem to have a much harder time keeping working at the same pace than the ones where the runes are still blazing golden.
From this distance your checks can't tell you anything unless you employ direct magic sensing abilities. (detect spells, scrying spells etc)


@ Kusque
You only remember that one time an elf with powers similar to yours had allowed you to witness a binding as a learning experience. The one he contracted showed some semblance to the beings in front of you.
There also was an image in one of their religious texts, that looked like them. You didn't pay it any mind at that point in time as the elves have strange religious concepts so the strange beings seemed perfectly normal for the way they were presented.

And yeah, the map will look like the one in the ooc thread, though unless you posess a bird for a higher point of view, the slightly hilly terrain will shield anything further than maybe 2 miles from your view. So you only see the logging camps and the first circumference of soon-to-be villages.

[Man on Fire]

Rada- Berserker

<"I know, I know. But I'm really worried about going to them, knowing almost nothing about them. If there is a way we may get some informations from one of them without kidnapping him and blowing our cover, I'm all ears."

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


<I can't think of anything else we can do. I suppose they'll be in a worse state, though. They have no idea we're here, so they don't know anything about us, either. That said, I don't know if we could kidnap one. The workers are being watched closely, and the metal ones are much farther off. I don't think we could do it without being noticed.>

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Information, directly as given to me:
From your observation it looks like the pinkskins whose bracers have gone dark seem to have a much harder time keeping working at the same pace than the ones where the runes are still blazing golden.
From this distance your checks can't tell you anything unless you employ direct magic sensing abilities. (detect spells, scrying spells etc)

How far away is the closest person? I think that a 38 on spot would allow me to see something 100 ft. away at least as well as a normal person could make it out up close. If it has the take 0 rule, It would be at least 29 better. I'm assuming I'm fifty feet up for this, though even if I'm 150, I would have a 19 or higher.

<How do you propose we kidnap someone without them knowing.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<We could try and find a lone worker, and then lure him into the forest by pretending to be a stuck friend. Do you see any now? It would be easier to take one if he's tired and the last one at his post.>


Results of map question:
"And yeah, the map will look like the one in the ooc thread, though unless you posess a bird for a higher point of view, the slightly hilly terrain will shield anything further than maybe 2 miles from your view. So you only see the logging camps and the first circumference of soon-to-be villages."

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"Gell's right, we cannot kidnap one of them anyway. We just have to hope they don't have anything that will blast us to the oblivion tomorrow. Speaking of which, maybe we should approach them at night? They don't seem to suffer from sunlight as we do, so walking to them at day would give them unnecessary edge.">

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal scout
In reply to Grazik Mal says How do you propose we walk into the middle of an enemy camp with no information on if its liekly that they'll kill us. he know that the sage is right about how we can't just kidnap one but he doesn't want to back down so he challenges one of Grazik's other ideas.

[Re'ozul]

@Grazik
the closest pinkskin to you is hacking away at a tree about 30' from yours to your left (when looking into the emptiness). His bracer still has some yellow glow left. As I said, there is about one of them for every 100' of edge.

[Kantolin]

Smith exhales.

Right, that /was/ the plan. So many things going on in his head at once...

<We're just gonna have to trust in our axes for if they turn hostile towards us.>

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Grazik's reply if 'says' is via the link, if it isn't, he probably wouldn't have heard it an wouldn't be able to reply. <We don't know if they will kill us. They didn't kill the patrol beast, we can hope, and we are strong. If they attack, then we must fight. I am aware this is a risk, but it is a risk I am willing to take. Kidnapping one of them would almost assure that negotiations will fail.>

Grazik spends a full minute focusing on the nearest bracer.
(Taking 20 on spot, 44, 31 with distance accounted for, to make out the bracer clearly.)

Do I use the same checks or use new ones?

[Re'ozul]

@ Grazik
While the runes are different than the ones you use, the way they are interwoven gives you a glimpse of its mechanism and that is truly the best word you can describe it with. It seems not truly a construct of magic made manifest, but a system that stores and transfers energy. It seems, thet the reason for the pinkskins' tirelessness comes from constantly being supplied with a form of magic imbuement. The glow indicates the amount of magic that is left and it seems designed to only provide the effect when it detects a lack of something. From what you have seen that something is most likely physical freshness as those that should tire easier due to lack of muscles seem to generally have less glow on their bracers.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

Grazik conveys the information he gained on the bracers.

Information as given to me:
While the runes are different than the ones you use, the way they are interwoven gives you a glimpse of its mechanism and that is truly the best word you can describe it with. It seems not truly a construct of magic made manifest, but a system that stores and transfers energy. It seems, thet the reason for the pinkskins' tirelessness comes from constantly being supplied with a form of magic imbuement. The glow indicates the amount of magic that is left and it seems designed to only provide the effect when it detects a lack of something. From what you have seen that something is most likely physical freshness as those that should tire easier due to lack of muscles seem to generally have less glow on their bracers.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"In case things go wrong, we need to take one or few of these things. Imagine if they would depoyl warriors armed in them to the battle - an army that never runs tired and never stops. If that's what they give their workers, I'm afraid to think what their warriors may have.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Shall we try now, or make our preparations in the morning? If we can find a lone worker now, we should take the opportunity unless you think they'll give us some when we walk in and start talking to them.>


See OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13054481&postcount=43), not sure how many others are following it.

[GnomeGninjas]

Kidnap a lone one now.

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<They lose power the longer they work, If we must run, we still have an advantage, If they range far, they will lose there magical support while far away from the main camp and anyone that could support them, then we could strike. Then still would be clumsy in the forest and we can be hard to find.>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal, scout
<If we are in the middle of there camp and they decide to execute us we will be surrounded and killed, some may escape but not many, we need to know if its likely that they'd promise a truce to negotiate and then cut us down.>

[rweird]

Grazik - Orc Shaman (Druid/Wizard)

<You are willing to risk the negotiation for a chance to know if they would be inclined to kill us? They might have Scrying, them might be able to figure out it is us without us knowing. I don't think we should risk the negotiations failing or them killing us when we approach for a chance to know if they will kill us when we are negotiating.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque looked down at the map painted onto the canvas. <Let's just approach them openly, and not walk into their buildings until we feel secure. We came here to talk -- if we want to reveal ourselves through kidnapping, then we should do so by going back to the village and raising a war party, if Chief will even let us.> He traced his finger down the map as he continued. <If we head south, we'll be in the same position relative to the huts, but we can perhaps escape across the water if things turn sour. Certainly we'll have an opportunity to get a closer look at that dark tower, and perhaps the pinkskin forces further to the east.> He folded the map up and stashed it in his pack. <Mal, don't worry. We'll keep our escape options open at all times.>

Can mounts jump just as well while being ridden?

[Man on Fire]

Rada-berserker

<"We won't be kidnaping anyone! Old gezzer is right, this would kill any chance for peaceful solution. And we won't walk into enemy camp, we will demand their leaders to come at the edge of the forest, to us. They are the intruders here, we won't let them think otherwise. Have you even been listening to what we were talking about?! And if you will try to bring the kidnaping one more time, I will feed you to your own tiger, do I make myself clear?!"> Rada yeled in mindspeak at Mal, expressing her increasing irritation with him.

[Re'ozul]

@ Sutremaine
Considering the weight on top I'd say they take a -2 to jump checks. The young bulette doesn't take any penalty.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-scout
Seeing that Kusque has decided to try to negotiate and he was alone now Mal realized the backing down was probably the best option. Rada was right about him not listening to what they were saying, he just assumed that they were discussing the stupid fine details of how they would walk into the middle of the enemy camp and try to talk to them, while they waited for Grazik to give them a full scouting report. He replies through thought speak to Rada yes mam hoping that the thought speak does pick up the heavy sarcasm.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

Grazik continues to observe the camp till sundown, he will tell the others what he sees, a little before sundown he will tell the others to come in closer. He keeps an eye on the Bracers trying to figure out how long it takes to get depleted.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque waited, keeping silent. There wasn't anything any of them except Grazik could do until they stopped scouting and moved out of the forest, and sitting here discussing action without being able to take any would only lead to more frustration. It wasn't only Mal who getting antsy. He wanted to get a little closer and watch for himself, but one misstep would leave them in just as awkward a position as a failed kidnapping attempt. Even if it would be more exciting, at least there was tomorrow.


doop de doo, just checking in

[Re'ozul]

@rweird
The bracers seem not to deplete at a fixed rate. The ones on weaker looking pinkskins were already depleted as you got there and you can see them breathing heavily, working slower and generally taking many small rests. Interestingly enough, they also seem to work on the less tree-intensive parts of the edge. Big burly pinkskins seem to still have a good bit of their glow, while others that also appear weker still retain some though are working at a more sedate pace compared to the burly ones.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

Grazik conveys the information to the others.

Information on the bracers as given to me:
The bracers seem not to deplete at a fixed rate. The ones on weaker looking pinkskins were already depleted as you got there and you can see them breathing heavily, working slower and generally taking many small rests. Interestingly enough, they also seem to work on the less tree-intensive parts of the edge. Big burly pinkskins seem to still have a good bit of their glow, while others that also appear weker still retain some though are working at a more sedate pace compared to the burly ones.

OoC:
Is it sunset yet, we're all ready for it. I'll assume that it is for the following part, if it isn't, I'll delete the following part.

<It is time friends.> Grazik sends the message as the sun sinks towards the horizon. <Is everyone ready?> he asks as he flies back to the group.

[Re'ozul]

Time moves by as you wait for the sun to set. As the light grows weaker you can see some of the pinkskins gradually stop working and collect their food baskets and water skins as they prepare to move to their camp for the night.

It is now close to sunset.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


<Right. Do you want me to try to remain unseen or act as a bodyguard?>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal- mounted archer
Mal is having trouble seeing in the dimming light with the shade from above, his eyes are not adapted for the dark vison in close range like the orcs of this forest, his eyes are better adapted for seeing long distances with small amounts of light which he thinks could be useful if he gets to the invader-made clearing. He trusts his tiger to guide him. "That is a good question Gell asks." speaking aloud this time.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Come with us, don't try to be unseen.> Graziks sends the message, calling his tiger, landing on it and taking the form of a Orc. <I don't think I'll be of much use as a bird anymore.>

EDIT:
Sorry about putting human, I was used to playing human characters and forgot I am an Orc.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

The night was sweeping in now, obscuring anything more than a few seconds out, and Kusque couldn't pick out any pinkskins in the nothingness beyond the forest. Well, no more lazing about. <I'll go in front. Smith, can I have the talking amulet?>


...Human?

[Re'ozul]

@ Sutremaine
I don't quite understand what you are asking.

[Sutremaine]

That was kind of addressed at rweird and his shiny new non-orc form. If he really is human-shaped at the moment that would save us a lot of trouble. :smalltongue:

[Man on Fire]

Rada-berserker

<"Stick to the plan! Kusque, me and Smith are going in, on the big guy, you threee stay behind to rush with help is anything bad happens. We're nto going all in their jaws, for ****'s sake.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<They're going to have to leave the trees to stay linked, unless you can think of a way of signalling them physically. Let them have their own marching order.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada-berserker

<"Great, just great. Anything else I don't know about? Pinkskins are big guy's delicacy? Okay....Kusque, you're doing the talking. But remember - don't ask them to bring us to their leaders, ask them to bring the leaders to us and don't follow them if they ask you to, do I make myself clear? I'll be with you as your bodyguard. We're riding in on the big guy, we two step down to talk, old gezzer, Gell and Smith stay on the beast. Mal, you and your tiger will go next to the beast, old gezzer's tiger will follow you. Communication only through thougthspeak, if you have a suggestion, send it to Kusque directly. In case of trouble we fall back to the forest, understood?">

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


<Understood. I'll follow your lead.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Yes, yes,> he said with some irritation. <I know, don't walk into any situation we can't walk straight back out of.> He clambered onto the armoured beast, feeling a little uncomfortable at being unable to move for himself, and tried to look imposing. Back straight, chin up, relax, pretend to yourself you spend all day straddling things the size of tree trunks... At least if they failed miserably tonight they'd know that talking was useless. Between Smith's amulet and the Hound he was as well-prepared for talks as he could reasonably expect, so if all of them were driven off with arrows the tribe would be able to mount an aggressive defence without fear of dishonour.

[GnomeGninjas]

I'll follow your lead too.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<I'll ride on my tiger, the beast isn't bigger than it, I think your massively overloading him anyways. The tigers are stronger, on of you should ride with me on Zalgrin.>

This landshark is only large, decreasing it's size from huge would give it a Str of 19, Zalgrin has 23. I don't think he can easily carry the three of you, maybe the two of you though, most definitely not the four of us without it being a medium or heavy load.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

The beast shifted heavily underneath Kusque, and he dismounted. <It's not as solid as it looks...> He looked around at the mount animals. <I'll take one of the wolves.>


There are five mounts for six of us, so weight won't be an issue for the tigers and dire wolves.

Looking it up... A quadruped with Str 19 and a size of Large has a Light load limit of 348lb. Unless Smith and his gear weigh about 120lb, only one person is going to ride the bulette at full speed. Rada weighs 320lb and her double axe and armour alone put her into the bulette's Medium load category.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Two people should take on of the patrol mounts, they're the strongest.>

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

<No one needs to ride double. I can keep up on foot if the beasts aren't running-and if they are, it's better that they be as light as possible.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"Then Kusque, you're on the beast, if you can control it that is. You will make good impression, considering it's you who will do all the talking.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Exactly. You keep quiet and look threatening, and I'll do the talking.> He ignored the jibe about his riding skills. Intentional or just Rada being Rada, rising to it and fighting both inside the group and outside it was a really bad idea.

[Man on Fire]

<"just remember to send us back everythign they say. Gell, be ready in case beast starts acting strange - we don't know how it will react to pinkskins, it may get scared or see them as food or something like that.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Let's move.> Kusque remounted the heavy beast and nudged it forward, straight at the boundary between the mother-forest and whatever lay beyond. As he cleared the last of the tree trunks, he became aware of how much space there was around him. Above him was an endless expanse of dark blue and purple, and below that a flat horizon separating land from air as far as his vision extended. The rough stumps that dotted the ground like stubble only made the world seem that much emptier. Here and there he could see a few leaves and stems that were poking out of the bare ground where they should have been wrapped around a tree or each other.

It felt like he was walking across a mass grave.


I'm not really sure whether we're arranged in single file, an advancing line, an advancing v-shape, or a loose clump. But nobody's posting and it doesn't matter anyway until the grid comes out.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

Grazik's face contorts, sure he looked at the desolation all day but riding through it was completely different. <Yes, we should go.> Grazik thinks, and edge to his thought. <I can ease mother-forest's pain, at least for some time, but not much. I think I will when the negotiations are over, if they go badly, they will have to deal with it. If it goes well, we can immediately begin healing Mother-forest.>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal- mounted archer
Mal rides forwards in silence, he is scared, really scared. He knows that the creatures they are about to face were able to sistimaticly destroy much of his home an seem to have know remorse or aggresion. They are completely alien and they are not right. He doesn't trust that our magic will lets us comunicate and he doesn't think negotiations will get very far. He wishes he could just fire opon them, kill them off or fail to and know that fighting will not work and he should flee or that they can die like anyone else for there crimes.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


Gell walks alongside the landshark, watching the camp for signs of activity.

<This is...disturbing.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada-berserker

<"I know this is hard for you guys, it is hard for me too. We don't know what can watch for us out there, what kind of treachry may we face. But we have to be brave, fate of the Tribe depends on it."> Rada tries to lift her commrades spirits.

[Kantolin]

Smith

Disturbing was a bit of an understatement.

It took Smith a moment - he nearly ended up cutting the link, actually, and had to refocus there to prevent that from happening. Since no, he would not dwell on it.

Talking to them had to fix this.

It had to.

He felt like he needed to chime in agreement to Rada's statement. <Stay Strong.> He reminded the group stoically - even though he himself felt differently.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<We can do this. All we have to do is get to the real boundary of the mother-forest.> Kusque leaned forward, narrowing his eyes, and tilted his ears. He thought he could see movement out of the corners of his eyes whenever he looked left or right, but it was always gone when he tried to focus on it. Perhaps the strange terrain was playing tricks on his mind. At least if he saw torches or heard an attack system he could do something -- riding through this wasteland just to talk nicely to the bunch of murderers who'd made this mess was jangling his nerves.

<Is there anything out there? Do any of you see anything?>


Spot check: [roll0]
Listen check: [roll1]

[Re'ozul]

You move along quietly, your life in the forest having consitioned you to treat stealth as essential whenever moving in unknown territory. Your mounts having been conditioned to do the same, the only source of louder noise is the finned beast. However, it seems the gravity of the situation is not lost on even it. It seems to have lost much of its energy, obediently following every command it is given. Thw closer you come to the pinkskin's camp, the more careful the beast becomes, tremors going through its armored hide as it emits near silent moans.

You can now make out the camp in more detail, the light from no less than three fireplaces lighting it from within. You can make out small huts, perhaps big enough to give shelter to two pinkskins each and constructed from some form of hide. You can make out voices that seem to be in good cheer. As you get ever closer a smell of grilled meat starts wafting stronger and stronger towards you. Only shortly before actually entering the camp, do you notice that the side it shows to you is not without guards.

There are the metal things the scouts had described. You count three of them. All sitting and looking into the darkness towards you. You do not know wether they have already seen you, but even sitting down, they seem powerful.

A short and high reverberating sound that tapers off towards the end suddenly overcomes the general noise. All talking in the camp stops as you can see some of the pinkskins by the fire whipping their heads towards the metal things. After a few seconds they seem mollified by the things' inaction as conversations resume.
Looking for the origin of the sound, you see more creatures at the other end of the camp. You recognize them, the elves use creatures similar though stockier.

As you stand in front of the camp full of oblivious pinkskins you know, the moment of truth is here.

The camp:
http://im.bilderkiste.org/4133494590593/logging_camp.jpg

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Diplomats, make yourself known but say to the edge of the light, the rest of us will wait here to see if they are hostile.>

Could you add a letter/number grid to the map so we can more easily convey where we are going to?

[Re'ozul]

I'll be trying to implement that, but as I am using maptools to make the maps I haven't yet figured out how.

[rweird]

Show Grid is under View, I add labels for the letter/number grid, though there probably is some other way.

[Man on Fire]

Rada- Berserker

<"Okay, Kusque, lets go. Gell, be ready in the case beast starts acting strange, Smith, keep the connection and warn us before we step out of it.">

Rada waits for Kusque as he is going to be the diplomat here. She just needs to look dangerous and be ready in case pinkskins try anything. Half of her heart wishes they would, so she could punish them, but the other half sinicerly hopes they are smarter than that.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque patted the beast and made some half-hearted soothing noises as he bent down to what he thought was an earhole. An animal groaning in the darkness might go unremarked, but people-sounds carried better than their loudness suggested.

Kusque noted the pinkskins' reaction to the noise cutting through the night, and watched the metal things until the conversation resumed. Seems like they rely on those things to keep track of things in the darkness. I wonder how well they see without fire?

<I'll head a little south. I don't want to spook them, but I don't want to get caught between those metal sentries.>

As he urged his unhappy mount closer to the edge of the light, he swapped the protection of his amulet for the diplomatic abilities of Smith's amulet. As the effect took hold, he felt a surge of approval run through him. At least someone's enjoying this.


I'm going to take off and put on the amulets until the effect of the Tongue Twisting one overrides the effect of the Natural Armour one. Then activate the Tongues ability.

Not 100% sure of the distances involved, but I'm aiming to end up between the lower two metal things, only slightly north of the southernmost one. That'll keep the top one out of range and possibly the middle one.

[Man on Fire]

Rada follows Kusque.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


<Yes, Leader.>

Gell keeps a close eye on the landshark.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Ah yes...> Kusque grasped the unused amulet that still lay on his chest. <Does anyone want to use this for now? Smith?>


One Amulet of Natural Armour +1 going begging while I use the Amulet of Tongue Twisting. And I posted that it was being switched off, too...

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal mounted archer
Mal follows Kusque an takes out his bow though he doesn't aim it at anything. He thinks he'll probably have to shoot one of them soon so he is ready.

[Re'ozul]

As you move closer to the camp, the metal things become clearer to see. They appear quite a bit more bulky than the pinkskins iff they truly are beings in armor. So far they have not shown any reaction to you.

However, as you draw closer, the beast starts behaving more and more afraid. Not to the point of actual fear or panic, but it seems to feel unwell in their presence.


The bulette is effectively shaken right now.
As I think everyone moved with Kusque this is probably what it looks like now.
http://i41.tinypic.com/f0sosn.jpg

[Kantolin]

Smith felt relatively similar to the beast. This was unnerving and uncomfortable.

He wordlessly took the amulet with a nod, keeping his mouth shut at the time being. He shifted his helmet, knowing the faceplate was looking back at the armoured figures.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"Kusque, we're goint to the edge of the shadow, call either pinkskins or metal ones and tell them to come here. Try to be polite.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Hey, what's up with you? He patted the beast's hide, more to reassure himself than because he thought he could really calm it. He remembered fear, but that didn't let him see what was so alarming about those metal things. They were still smaller than his mount, even if they did seem better protected.

At Rada's signal he settled comfortably in the saddle and began speaking to the pinkskins around the fires. "Our greetings to you, people from beyond the forest. We come on behalf of the tribes of the mother-forest and on behalf of the mother-forest herself. We would negotiate for the cessation of the destruction your kind are doing to our territory and our home." That would do for an opening. If they wanted to start trouble over as simple a request as that, then being fancy wouldn't do anything more useful.


Roll or take ten... nah, I'm feeling lucky.

Diplomacy: [roll0]

[Re'ozul]

As soon as Kusque starts speaking, everything changes.
Before even the first word has fully left his mouth, all talk around the fire stops and the pinkskins turn fast enough towards him that the combined ruffling of their clothes for a moment overcomes the crackling of the fire. You can see fear written clearly on their faces. Some instinctively grabbed for their axes, several overreaching or simply falling from their logs by the fire in the abrupt movement. However, they do not yell, do not scream they give no sound instead looking at either Kusques position in near darkness or the metal ones. The ones that do look at their guards seem to do so with a mixture of betrayal and desperation while the ones looking towards Kusque seem to be held between shock and panic.

As Kusque starts to form the word "people" movement now also comes to the metal ones. The two ones further away rise in one fluid motion, the closest one trying to do the same but in its haste not observing the ground it stands on and falling. This however does not hinder them in grabbing a part of their chest and calling out a quick phrase. Immediately you can feel something spreading from them. It barely reaches you as you feel it suffusing your being. Strangely it does not seem dangerous to you. Instead, you feel elevated slightly as if you were moving on ground blessed by a greater power as if Life itself was there shielding you slightly.

For a few moments, nothing happens as Kusque continues speaking. Then all is silent. The metal one closest to Kusque is now standing as well, holding his Greataxe at the ready. It seems they believe you will attack them anyway.
As the silence stretches a burning piece of wood comes flying from the closest fire and lands between you and the closest guard. The sudden Illumination gives you no trouble, but inside the camp, the pinkskin's behaviour changes once more.

You can hear them gasp as they look at you, trying to classify you and failing. See their eyes roam from one of you to the next, trying to find familiar features. They seem to compare you to something but you cannot say what. Then their eyes fall to the the beast and you can see the faces of several pinksins light up in recognition.

Murmurs start among them: "They don't look" "Could still be" "Remember that thing months ago" "tamed" "monsters" "allies" "which side" the words coming too fast and from too many mouths to make sense off.

Suddenly a sharp trill cuts through the voices and they fall silent. One of the Workers stands at the furthest fire, his hands still in the position to whistle. Not leaving you out of his sight, he speaks.

"Everyone with depleted bands to the horses, everyone with good glow grab your axe just in case. NO ONE ATTACK UNLESS THE SENTINELS OR THESE ONES DO."

He then grabs his own axe and moves towards you, passing the rings of tents. He stops as he arrives just next to the closest metal one and his gaze switches a few times between Kusque, the beast and the rest of you. Finally settling his eyes on Kusque he speaks again.

"I cannot say I have every seen anything like you. That thing though" *he points at the beast* "I have seen and the fact you are riding it speaks more to me than you may think." At this he looks from one metal one to the next motioning with his head towards you. Metal grinds on metal as they shake their head in unison at the unspoken question. "You do not seem to be the enemy from what our guards can tell. In this case I must apologize for most likely none of us has heard what you spoke before. I myself only heard you speak, but the words were drowned in the fear I was feeling just then. If you yould explain yourself again?"

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

For what I post, I assume that Kusque is telling us what we say via the link, If this is incorrect, ignore this post.

<The beast makes them uneasy, even though it is weaker than our other mounts, send it away, talk on foot, they would be more at ease. If we need to scare them, we can call it back into the light. It isn't very strong anyways, so them being scared of it is more of a bluff, the less they see it, the longer we could keep it up if need be.>

[Sutremaine]

Yes, assume that Kusque is relaying everything as quickly as possible, plus what he's saying if the Tongues spell alters the sound of a spoken tongue.
Kusque - Binder

Kusque grasped the beast's reins as the commotion unfolded, keeping his hand there to stop it from twitching to his sword. As the six of them were lit up by the fire and the murmuring started he passed on what he could catch. They were unsure, the advantage was not with them.

Before he made his reply to the pinkskin he replied briefly to Grazik. <No, let them be uneasy. I'll stay up here as long as its nerves hold.>

Out loud he called: "We come from the forest, which is our territory and home. You are destroying it with your axes. We want to end this destruction, and we want to do it peacefully." If possible... "What do you know of this beast, and what is its significance? To us, it's just one of mother-forest's creatures."

Over the link: <What do you all make of this? They don't seem nearly as confident in themselves as they were during the day.>


Diplomacy: taking 10 for a result of 21.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


<Seems they're scared of the big guy. Odd. Maybe they met a bigger one. In any case, I think they're blind in the dark. They didn't see us at all until this one came forward.>

[Man on Fire]

Rada - Berserker

Seeing pikskin early behavior Rada's hand was wandering dangerously close to her greatsword. In every moment she was ready to strike if they would choose to attack. Luckily, they didn't. Lickly, they were smarter than that. Luckily for them.

Right now Rada was observing the person who came to speak with them, this...negotiator? Would that be a good word? Anyway, Rada was watching him closely and suspiciously. Will he start acting suspicious, she shall see it, will he lie, she shall notice. And she let him knew she is doing that - if he is smart he will understand to not try anything stupid.


Sense motive check [roll0]

EDIT: Opsie, forgot to add +2 to Sense Motive from Tribal Enemy ability - do I have to roll again or we just count that as 20?

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<One that makes ready for war will probably get it, but it is your decision, I can only advise. They probably have bad night eyes, and didn't know anyone opposed them, you don't have to be brave if you don't know what your doing shows bravery.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<They've already seen me sitting on it, and right now they won't attack unless we do. We have this on our side, they have those metal sentinels, and if they're as scared of it as Gell thinks then they'll hold back longer. I won't take it into combat, but I don't want to leave it riderless while it's spooked like this. So I'm stuck on this lump for now, and if they don't like it, then that's good for us.>

He waited for a response from the pinkskin, watching the response now that things were quiet. He hadn't really enjoyed repeating himself just because of the skittishness of the other ones, but at least they had started talks.


Rolling a Sense Motive now for use when he starts talking.

[roll0]

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal Mounted Archer
Mal is relieved, he is glad that the invaders are afraid, that means they probably can be hurt and killed like us how ever he still doesn't know what will happen next.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<What is the pinkskin's name?>

Grazik watches intently, trying to perceive to speakers motives.

Sense Motive: [roll0]

[Re'ozul]

The pinkskin talking to you seems surprised as Kusque tells him you are from the Forest.

"I didn't know anyone lived there, didn't expect it either. Haven't seen anything really except the birds and maybe some strange form of game and that one huge Wolf like the ones some of you have. If you really are telling the truth then you let us come quite far before talking to us."

He takes a moment to sit down on the trunk the closest metal one had been sitting on.

"Can't really say we can stop cutting these down. We need them to build houses and ... well I guess you probably know about the Far Fortress already. Suffice to say we need a lot of wood for the tower."

He now fixes the beast with his gaze and continues to look at it as he speaks further.

"As for your other question. That thing was supposed to help us transport the trees to the Far Fortress. Its a good bit stronger than our Horses and could be useful in case of an attack. Didn't really count on how hard it was to keep in line though. We have a dozen or so big ones in the Fortress, that one was an offspring we tried to make do normal work. It broke loose and ran into the forest, so that failed. Higher ups haven't tried again as far as I know."

@ Rada (your sense motive)
You think the pinkskin is probably more shaken than he appears. He puts up a brave front and is truly intrigued by you but only seems sure that you won't attack him outright, so he is trying to act casual.

@ Kusque (your sense motive)
You think the pinkskin is probably more shaken than he appears and is trying to find out your reaction to things.

@ Grazik (your sense motive)
This is a brave pinkskin for coming towards you although only having seen you just now. While he doesn't look very strong, his bravery counts for something in your mind.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"This area was little-patrolled. Once we realised you were doing this, we moved quickly." He glanced around at the other remaining pinkskins. They all seemed comfortable enough with the whole sky over their heads and nothing around them, strange as that was. "You need to take the bodies of the trees? Look around you. You have emptied this place of life, and it will be decades before it returns to its true state. All this, just to... make a tree of your own?" He honestly didn't know what they were pulling, destroying trees and hauling their wood to build a tower not even out of sight of the stumps. "Why must this tower of yours stand there in the open, when there are so many strong trunks here to lean on? But... before we go any further, I would know your name and your role in this plan."

<Perhaps I should ask him what languages they have? Or do we let him think we all speak a common tongue?> he thought to the others.


Rolling Diplomacy again...

[roll0]

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Try to find out if they know another way to live. If they don't we can teach them, they don't want to do this to us, but they don't think they have another choice.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Very well. We'll see what else they can do but destroy. They do seem to be fairly intelligent.>


...says the guy from the race with the Int penalty.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"What is that whole "Fortress" thing? And "Tower"? We sometimes build watchtowers but there is no way they could build one large enough to consume so much wood."> Rada was confused. She didn't understood what colossal structure would require to kill so many threes. orcs sometimes make things out of threes, but they cut one, maybe two pointed by the Shamans. Pinksin was suspicious. Maybe he was lying?

Sense motive again, [roll0]

[Re'ozul]

At Kusque's mention of them having "emptied" the area of life, the pinkskin's face becomes stony.

"You say theres no life here? Just because we cut down trees? Are you mad? You have no idea what true lifelessness is like. I've seen it. Gray earth as far as the eye can see. Rivers still flowing, but nothing grows. No birds, no game, no predators, not even insects. All life gone from the largest to the smallest, from plants to animals. What we do here is nothing like that, it does not even begin to approach true desolation. For you it might look bad, but you are used to an overflow of life, you know nothing of what you speak. You think you know, but it'd be best if you were to hold your mouth for your experience is nothing compared to ours."

Towards the end of his monologue the pinkskins voice had rise, nearly shouting his last words. Now he falls in on himself as his back bows with the weight of memory.

"I apologize. This ... I had no right to expect you'd knew. My name is Anders, I am something of the unofficial leader of this camp as I am the one who has been at this ... oh what they call it ... sector of the clearing affort the longest. I was one of the first to come across and ... oh hear me rambling, you wouldn't even know anything about this. The fact is, the trees are needed for the tower. I don't rally know what the mages do with them, only that they are cut into pieces and then something is done with them that makes them both smaller and ... harder? Or magicky? I don't know. The tower itself is far more massive than any tree you can find. They only started recently as before we needed the wood for our own buildings and to send it back for smaller towers to slow the grey i think. As for size, I think I heard they wanted to make it about two thousand feet tall somehow to bring the use to maximum potential or some such. Can't really tell you what they mean, way above me."

@Rada (sense motive)
It really is weird that they'd need that much wood, but you can't really find any obvious clues that he would be lying. Omitting things maybe, perhaps due to being unsure as to your intentions, but he doesn't seem to be lying outright.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Them wanting to make a massive tower is no reason to destroy our home, why do they need it. It is clear they are fleeing something, though that gives them no right to destroy our land. See if you can find out about the tower, or talk to someone who can.>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-mounted archer
Mal is confused by the strange persons words. In thought speak he asks. Why do they need there stupid tower and far fortress?

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

Rada's hand went up, closer to the sword's hilt, and she herself moved closer to Kusque, as the pinkskin had become more agitated. She wasn't threatening him, just sending clear signalt that the moment he will try to strike her commrade in anger, she will strike him.

It's suprising for her, but she can understand the man. Not the words - the tone of his voice, gesticulation, emotions - she had seen them many times. He wasn't telling them something - why they are building that "stronghold" thing and insanely enemorous tower - but his behavior had given out enough.

<"Ask him what they are afraid of so much."> She tells Kusque.


Standard, another sense motive, Rada is checking him out all the time.
[roll0]

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque snorted. "We know something of which we speak, otherwise we wouldn't be here asking you to stop this. How much are you willing to take, in order to replace what has been taken from you? And where should we go, in order to replace what you're taking?" He knew from the pinkskin's posture that he was being hard on the creature itself, but being told by this intruder that he didn't know what he was talking about when it was clear to anybody -- Hmph. Cut them down. And let them see how they like it? But they'd been chased here by something, and killing them wouldn't stop the grey thing the pinkskin was talking about. Stripping the earth even down to the insects and the roots of the smallest plants? Anyone should be afraid of that, although this was not the right way to fix it. He let out a ragged breath and tried to smooth things over.

"I apologise also. Perhaps you could show us what this desolation is, if you really think we don't understand, and why the tower and the fortress are so important to you. What makes you so afraid that you're willing to continue the destruction that this greyness has started?"

After that, he adds: <I'll try and steer the conversation towards the functioning and size of the tower, if asking about the greyness doesn't tell me why wood is so important.>


Diplomacy: um, I think I'll stick with the safe 21.

[Kantolin]

Smith

<Perhaps...> Smith contemplated. This all seemed just so strange - but he wanted to keep his own responses down. Having a million voices in your head was rough enough when you're trying to talk to other people.

Then again, Kusque was doing it marvelously and without a hitch. He really had it more together than Smith did.

<If they do insist on building this tower, can they build their tower with stone? Or perhaps sod - there are many resources that do not require...> He paused for a moment as he mentally tried to parse out how many trees would be required for a measurement of 'two thousand' that was 'larger than any tree'.

But this 'grey' also did bother him. <Although... focusing on this 'grey' may also be wise. If this destruction seems like nothing to them, and they have run so far that they have ended up here, then this 'grey' which is more destructive than they are may also be on its way here.>

He cringed. So much for not adding to the plethora of suggestions. <But handle the conversation as well as you can - don't let me distract you.> He said, realizing the oxymoronic nature of that statement after he said it, and shutting up again.

[Re'ozul]

"Where you'd go? We didn't even know you were here. And this Forest is massive. While for any other forest our work would have been devastating, this one probably hasn't even noticed all that much yet. Still, I heard numbers of fifty miles be thrown around when we started the effort. I don't know what that number was ascribed to though."

By this point you can see some pinkskins slowly inch their way back to the fires, their eyes darting between you and the meat skewers that seem to have started to burn with no one turning them.

"It seems you truly need to see the grey if you think what we do is in any form related to it. Though I have no idea how you would view it. The only way I could think of would be walking through the gate that connects the Far Fortress with the Remnant Forces in Taldaria. Though I doubt the Warlord or the council would let you in so easily."

@ Rada (sense motive)
Whenever the pinkskin speaks of the tower, his composure breaks slightly. He seems unsure of the tower. He seems jaded as if he wishes to hope but has lost much of it already.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

Rada was struggling to maintain emotionless face. Mother-forest didn't noticed that they had in few days cut more trees than their tribe in last ten generations? And do they really thought it's empty out there? Never considered that not only may somebody live in the forest but it may be quite crowded here? It's like they would find something unnatural in living in warm place, that gives you everything you need. She wanted to start knocking on her forehead with her finger. These pinkskins are crazy!

<"Ask him more about the grey and tower, he seems unsure, like if tower was supposed to give him hope but he doubts it will work, or something. And ask him who this Warlord is."> She said, once the sense of duty let her calm down. This can wait now they need to learn more about the invaders, if she could still call them that.


You guessed it, another roll
Sense motive [roll0]

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<They think that because the forest is big, we don't matter, so they can walk in here, from there 'Remnant Fortress' and destroy our homes. I don't know why we didn't respond earlier, though it is clear thzt we should have. This is getting out of hand.>

Sense Motive for when he next speaks: [roll0]

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque glanced over to the pinkskins trying to get back to the fires. "They can go back to what they were doing. They won't be needed for combat." All he wanted at the moment was information, specifically where the greyness was relative to where they were. "You say the mother-forest hasn't noticed yet... Even if that were true, how much are you going to take before you stop justifying yourselves like that? A full fifty miles? Tell us more about these towers, and why they must have wood and nothing else as fuel. Perhaps we could find an alternative, if you can think of a way of getting us to the council you speak of. Would the Warlord be willing to hear us out? And one final request -- speak everything you know about the greyness. Where it is, how it came, how it spreads, if it affects anything but the land... As you say, we have never seen it, and seeing alone won't tell us everything."

<I know, Grazik, but we need to get to the ones in charge. This one here is only carrying out the order to destroy the forest. Smith's right, we should find out more. Nothing like this has happened before, has it?>


Rolling Diplomacy: [roll0]
Also rolling Knowledge: History, to try and answer my own question: [roll1]

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

Grazik and Zalgrin search there minds for any mention of the grayness.

Grazik's Knowledge (Arcana): [roll0]
Grazik's Knowledge (Nature): [roll1]

Zalgrin's Knowledge (Arcana): [roll2]
Zalgrin's Knowledge (Nature): [roll3]

<Does anyone know anything about Taldaria? If we can give them our knowledge of these things, it may help.>

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

<We knew their woodcraft was poor, but this is almost painful. Still, surely someone in this camp knows such things...and if so, they could perhaps explain this 'grey'.>

[Re'ozul]

At Kusque's words Anders waves to the others. They slowly move back to the fires and resume eating. However, conversation does not truly restart, only whispers are exchanged between them as they keep eating. Those that are not eating have moved themselves to such positions to watch you talk with their leader, while they do no longer have their axes gripped tightly, all of them at least have them next to themselves.

At Kusque's questions, Anders raises his hands as if to surrender.
"I do not know much of anything about those things. As I said, I only heard the fifty mile figure at one point, I do not really know what they meant with it, also that was nearly two years ago. The only thing I know about why the towers need wood is that the material has to have been alive at one point I think, something with channeling energy if I recall correctly.
The council though, they are a whole other mess of a problem. They are the defacto rulers here because the Warlord spends most of his time with the remnant forces. They might hear you out, but don't expect them to actually listen to you. The few bits of success they've had against the grey pretty much gives them a free ride on whatever they wanna do as long as they keep up succeeding. If you think you can get them to listen, you can try but..."

At this point another pinkskin comes closer with a piece of meat and a few pieces of fruit in a wooden bowl. He walks in a slightly hunched manner, apparently trying to look harmless as his eyes dart between all of you. As he reaches Anders he holds out the bowl to him and scurries back to the fire as soon as Anders takes it.

"Where was I, oh yes, you can try to get the council to listen, but its not very likely unless you have something to offer them or catch them in a really generous mood.
The grey now, thats not something I really wanna talk about, nor do I know much about it in the first place. It came from somewhere 53 years ago. At that point Taldaria was at war with another nation that somehow had managed to gain the favor of of some sort of demons. It started as something we thought they had done. Somewhere at the front of the war towns began to die, then fields,, then forests. Anything that lived or at one point had been living was reduced to ash over time. Grass withered first, ancient oaks last. The mages back then tried to stem it, but failed. Even the strongest magic based on the force of life only slowed it. They managed that at least, but then the grey ... retaliated. This is not something I like to say as the council basically declared it false propaganda, but the timing was too precise. When the grey was finally slowed a lot, things came from within it. Anything that had been killed by it was returned, still dead but moving, attacking the constructions the mages had placed the slowing seals and spells onto. When they were destroyed they reformed again, bits of different creatures forming new ones. Even when incinerated the very dust reformed into beings made of it, though that took much longer. Only ceratin magic was able to make them stay down, and we lost more people to the grey than we managed to kill permanently.
In the end, the mages decided that the retreating battle could not be won. They still fought it, but built great Towers from the remaining material they had to offer and researched greater spells to perhaps stop the grey completely. They did not succeed completely, but managed to build a ring of towers at 20 miles around the Capitol that eventually was able to virtually stop the grey. They reinforced them with as many troops magic they could and until now none have fallen. The grey still advances into the influence of the towers, but only a few feet every year. Still we were running out of space to feed our people so the mages created the gate to this place."

@ Rada - Sense Motive
He seems to have accepted you as non-violent as is starting to be more open with you.

@ Grazik - Multiple

Sense Motive: He speaks more of these things than you'd expect someone of his station to know. You get the feeling he is or at least was more than a simple worker at one point.

Arcana: The grey sounds like primal Necromancy, something so abhorrent to the tribe as it is now that virtually all knowledge of it was banned when the clan wars were over. Though even what you know of Necromancy is not that powerful and all-encompassing as this grey sounds.

Nature: His explanation of the grey sounds like its alive and agressive, wishing to consume more and more and developing new means to do so when denied.

@ Kusque - History
Not to your knowledge. The forest never had something like this and the tribes have no individual historic accounts to that topic.

@Zalgrin - Arcana/Nature
Arcana: The grey sounds like primal Necromancy, something so abhorrent to the tribe as it is now that virtually all knowledge of it was banned when the clan wars were over.

Nature: His explanation of the grey sounds like its alive and agressive, wishing to consume more and more and developing new means to do so when denied. Though the way it does so, shows intelligence it does either show a lack of creativity as its just doing the same thing over and over, or simply slow rate of adaptation, like from a smart animal instead of a smart orc

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"Tell him we understand their situation, but they cannot just jump into our home and starts butchering it like it's their property. Ask him if he can arrange the meeting with the council. Through the one who should speak to them should be the Chief, not us.">

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<The grey sounds like primal Necromancy, something so abhorrent to the tribe as it is now that virtually all knowledge of it was banned when the clan wars were over. Though even what little I know of, Necromancy is not this powerful and all-encompassing as this grey sounds. I believe this man speaks the truth, though they are still trying to destroy our lands, the grey is a real threat.>

Another voice 'speaks' gruff and primal, it is that of Zalgrin (I assume he is in the link because he is smart enough) <His explanation of the grey sounds like its alive and aggressive, wishing to consume more and more and developing new means to do so when denied. Though the way it does so, shows intelligence, it does either show a lack of creativity as its just doing the same thing over and over, or simply slow rate of adaptation. Though it may be slow and stupid, it is very powerful, and is an enemy to be feared.>

<We need to contact the tribe if we can. This is bigger than we imagined, maybe we can find another way to stop the grey and get them to stop killing mother-forest.>

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal- mounted archer
Mal is highly annoyed and scared. Just when he figures out that the great destroyers fear us and are probably killable they tell him there is another threat out there even more alien and destructive who is out to get the invaders and destroy there stuff. He doesn't want to fight the greyness it is scary, thankfully he is able to deceive his mind into believing in a solution that will not put his tribe in conflict with the greyness. Loudly in orc he bellows These invaders have done great evil and greatly pissed of this greyness/primal necromancy thing. I say the greyness was tired of them slaughtering such massive quantities of stuff that if decide to do the same to them. Give 'em a taste of what they did to everyone else. If we negotiate or make peaceful contact with these invaders mister primal necromany will see us as an ally of his enemy and destroy mother forest. OPEN WARFARE WITH THE INVADERS IS THE ONLY OPTION! It is the only way primal necrothingy can see that we are on its side.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

Rada immiediatelly walks to Mall and punches him in the face, before he can even start talking.

<"Shut up, you @#$%ing idiot! If you have something to say, do it in thoughtspeak! Next time you will open that big damn mounth of yours I'm gonna CUT YOUR @#$%ING TONGUE!"> She tells him in thoughtspeak. <"Kusque, apologize for his behavior. Tell him we are forbidden from speaking without premission."> She tells their negotiator. She tries to appear sorry to pinkskin, to keep the masquarade.


Bluff to fool human into thinking that's just a minor protocole violation not somebody encouraging open warfare with them [roll0]
Sense motive because I forgot it in previous post [roll1]

[Kantolin]

<So...> Smith contemplates. <There's a tremendous set of devastation that has chased these humans here. It is so devastating that they consider the damage they have done to be next to nothing.>

He shook his head. <What has this pinksin seen? How wide was the devastation such that it - >

And further talk was interrupted by Mal's outburst. He exhaled, keeping himself stoic despite Mal's shout and Rada's swift response. Terrific.

<...And wi'dat, we lose th'main advantage in dat up 'till now, we seemed secure'n sure of ourselves. Now dey have incentive t'believe we's as worried as they.>

Again, he was glad he had a concealing full helmet - his annoyance was hidden behind metal. So just as they discover a second even greater threat to Mother Forest, they may end up fighting the people who could tell them about it before it showed up on their doorsteps.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Enough Rada, no use throwing fuel on a raging fire. The damage has been done. They probably didn't know what Mal was saying, though you walking over an punching him most likely alerted them, though yelling about open war isn't a good idea in this situation. They were worried when they saw us, I think explaining the same thing is so for us may be the best solution if they don't believe it was a 'minor breach' though we shouldn't say what he said.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Magic's powerful stuff, and even the branches we do know about are -->

It was then that Mal decided to say his piece. Kusque winced at both the words and the sound of Rada's fist on Mal's face. "Please excuse me," he said to the pinkskin. He turned to face Mal. "Mal. Contain yourself. Now is not the time," he said in Orc. <And you, Rada. Talk we can explain away, smacking each other in the face... less.>

Turning back to the pinkskin and keeping his eyes on him and him only as though nothing was really the matter, he tried to carry on as before. "I apologise for my colleague's outburst. I promise you, there will be no speaking out of turn. This is a matter of necromantic magic, isn't it?" He smiled thinly. "We don't like it much either, and being out of the forest in this place is trying. You can appreciate how it fray's one's nerves." He'd maintain this friendliness as long as he could, even if it meant implying that they were bothered in the slightest by being here in front of them. As much as he disliked the pinkskins, this greyness was far, far bigger than them. And it didn't seem as though it would discriminate between pinkskin and orc.

<Mal, this thing doesn't care. It was summoned by the enemies of these pinkskins, and it's already swallowed up forests. It won't be on our side, or anyone else's. No kind of magic is, once it's free in the world.>


Rolling Diplomacy: [roll0]
Rolling Bluff to fake nonchalance: [roll1]

[Re'ozul]

At Mal's outburst Anders jerks and nearly lets go of his bowl of food as his right hand instinctively twitches towards his axe. The metal on the sentinels shrieks as they grip their weapons and lower their stance, awaiting a form of charge or attack. The ones near the fires seem to have the same reaction, three even starting to run towards the horses brfore noticing that no actual attack seems to be forthcoming.

Rada's punch seems to further confuse them as Anders glances between the two and the Sentinels momentarily turn their heads towards each other, seemingly seeking explanation that no one can give.

"I guess when you're out of your element things get annoying faster than normal. Let me guess, he's a more hands-on type of guy. Less thinking more doing? Probably bored with all the talking in a language he can't understand and wanting to something? I have seen my share of people like him. Though I find it interesting that someone like that would be with a group seeking contact. So I take it you are the only one that can speak our language and they are here as your bodyguards or something? If so, maybe you should come back some other time, my men are probably still realy wary of you as well, and if one of your men is that close to snapping from inaction, the others may not be far behind.
All the talk about the grey is also not doing anything for my enjoyment of my food. The grey may be necromancy or it may not. It was the first instinct of the mages and the populace as well, so for a while we had a hunt for anyone with knowledge about that area of magic. Though the mages hunted for help and the people just hunted in the irrational thought that killing necromancers would make the grey go away. Though even with whatever help the mages got, the grey is ... deeper than necromancy. Its more like the necromancy that mages do is akin to skimming the top and the easiest to reach morsels of a deep deep ocean and the ocean suddenly decided to come alive and start eating things."

@Rada - Sense Motive
Mal's outburst put the pinkskin on edge again. He is holding up very well, but the days work seems to slowly put its toll on him. He is trying to keep with Kusque, but the shock of being confronted with you, his hunger, general tiredness seems to start making him less favourable towards the situation. Kusque's rather intelectually demanding questions aren't helping either it seems.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<This is urgent, if we are to leave, we must ensure no more of mother forest will be destroyed until this is resolved. I believe Anders was more than a worker, at least at some point, he has contacts most likely, he might be able to arrange something, he doesn't have the rank to end this himself.>

Grazik tries to remember everything he can about necromacny, though the tribe banned knowledge, and he doesn't study it, he has heard many things about magic.

Grazik's Spellcraft to figure out more about 'the grey:' [roll0]

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

Rada was pissed off. Everything was going sweet and then Mal decided to be an idiot and humilate them in front of those guys. Her punch didn't made them look better, but at least cleared out they have no hostile intentions.

<"This thing is way abov our or his level. Aks him if he can arrange the meeting between our Chief and this Council, or even better, that Warlord guy."> She told Kusque. <"Mal, once everything is over I'm gonna kick your a**.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<I really don't think I can get him to stop tomorrow's cutting if that's what you're after, Grazik. Maybe I can convince him to slow down, but if they're feeding trees to the tower because they want to protect themselves from the grey then it'll be a tough sell. If any of you have any suggestions, speak up.>

He sighed. They'd been doing so well up until now, but he'd have to cut the talks short before the pinkskin lost interest in being helpful. At least those sentries were still reading them as nonaggressive, even if they'd been seen as fighters as well as diplomats. "Indeed... We did come here to talk and not shout, despite our preparations for worse, but perhaps we should withdraw for the night before tempers rise further. For the morning, is there any way that you could speak on our behalf to the Warlord or the council, and arrange a meeting between our Chief and your Warlord?"

[spoiler]
Diplomacy again...

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal-mounted archer

Mal was annoy by Rada's unprovoked attack on him. If she was going to ignore him at least don't ruin the pinkskins belief that the group was all unified behind the diplomancy efforts with them. So Rada doesn't punch him again his reply to Kusque is in thought speak. Exactly, it doesn't care about us it was summoned by enemies of the pinkskins so it just wants to kill pinkskins and there allies. We should not act like the pinkskins allies so the primal necroguy leaves us alone.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<If this one here is reporting correctly, it eats everything and it's some sort of force acting on the land and the creatures in it, spreading like a fungus. There's no comfort in it leaving us alone if it takes the forest we live in. Besides, it's apparently contained now, so even if it can care, what's it going to do about us?> He was pretty annoyed with Mal, but losing his temper with him wouldn't improve his temper when dealing with the pinkskins. He could save that for later.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal- mounted archer

Mal does not want to annoy Kursque so he tries to be respectful. I agree but it only kills off the pinkskin's stuff, why would it attack our home?

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Because it's there. I might not know that much about the different classes of spells, but the forces that power them are like lightning strikes -- wherever they fall, they make their mark, and they don't care whose ground gets scorched.> As the camp settled down into its new, tenser state, he watched the reactions from the pinkskins and especially the sentinels. They'd been looking at each other in the latest ruckus, and Kusque wondered if there were creatures under that armour. He continued. <Tomorrow we can see for ourselves, if we can find out which way it lies. I wouldn't ask Grazik to go inside the area, but I can do that... though not in person.>


Pondering Taldaria and where it might be... [roll0]. That's for whichever Knowledge skill is most relevant, with History and Religion trained. Arcana is a +5 mod if that skill is relevant.

Also Sense Motive, mostly aimed at the sentinels: [roll1]

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


<We've made good headway for the first encounter...mostly.

If it comes to one person to investigate that area, I can handle it. At least I only have the normal senses focused on it, rather than magic-senses to feel it worse.>

Knowledge Geographic c/Taldaria: [roll0]

[Re'ozul]

At Kusque's admittance that you were ready for a fight, Anders smiles.

"Ahh, the men will feel better knowing that their first reaction wasn't totally unjustified. Then again, I doubt they were going to lose sleep over it much anyway.
As to speaking with either council or the Warlord, I can send a message to people I know. However, I doubt they will agree that easily as they are very busy and have greater problems most of the times. Then again, wit here for moment please."

With that he sets down his bowl and leaves towards one of the tents. Upon entering you can hear ruffling of clothes and the sound of chests being opened and closed as if he is searching for something.

@Grazik - Spellcraft
Nothing you remember from your studies of magic comes close to the grey. Though you could venture that its not actual magic in itself. It sounds more like something otherworldly was infused or joined with necromancy and perhaps at least transmutation magic considering the rebuilding of slain foes that the pinkskin Anders described. Somehow that combination then gained sentience if not sapience and tried to do what the magics were meant to do.

@Kusque - Sense Motive
You don't get anything from the sentinels. They seem to react like you'd expect from orcs standing guard, but the amount of metal on them makes it hard to figure out anything as they don't move a lot.

@Kusque/Gell - Taldaria
You have never even heard of the land before, it must truly be far away.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"Mal, keep your crazy ideas for somebody who cares. I don't want to hear a single word from you, thoughtspeak or not, until we return to the camp. Kusque, I think that... Anders.... that's his name, right?.... that Anders figured out enough you may tell him we don't now their language an tried to maintain a facade that we do, it won't cause much trouble anymore and a little bit of honesty may clear his mind from some suspicions he must have.">

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque patted the beast some more and inconspicuously twined the reins around his fingertips as he waited for the pinkskin to return from his search. It was deeply dark now, dark enough for the forest boundary to be completely out of sight. Behind him, it was almost distractingly quiet. With the breeze that was blowing he should have been able to hear the rustling of leaves, but nothing was reaching him from this distance. He really wanted to be back in the trees, and with the sudden end of the conversation and the promise of talks between their leaders the only thing left to do was find out which way the grey was.

<If they want to make assumptions instead of asking, that's their business. We can be a little more relaxed around this bunch at least, but once we speak out we can't take it back.>


I've been translating the whole time, it's just been cut so Kusque isn't restating IC what you all saw the DM write. There were a quick few posts on it (which I can't find, so that I check the wording), either right back at the beginning of the talks or in the OOC thread. So I guess Anders knows.

Unless you meant translating via thoughtspeak? Either works with the actual posts I wrote.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<I don't think the grey is a spell, more of extraplaner entity, empowered by magic, that gained sentience or sapience, to follow the intention of the magic it is infused with. I do not believe we can reason with it any more than you can reason with an enraged dire badger, you being there is an affront to it, so it will kill you.>

I always assumed you were translating via thoughtspeak.

Knowledge (The Plane, [untrained]) to figure out were the grey came from: [roll0], maximum of ten.

[Man on Fire]

I thought you're translating via thoughtspeak too, so humans would think we all speak their language

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal- mounted archer
As mal is thinking of how to reply to Rada, Grazik explains more about the greyness. Reluctantly he comes to realize the Grazik is probably right since he actually knows about magic, primal necromancy, spirits, extraplaner thingyies, ghosts and many other things Mal doesn't know about. He considers saying something but he figures that he has all ready ticked off Rada-who he doesn't personally fear yet she is the chief's daughter so annoying her to much would be a bad idea and Kusque- who he does personally fear.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<You think it's something using the necromancy magic to stay in the world?> That in itself was something he could understand, and anything that helped him get a grasp on how this thing worked would help.

He ignored Mal for now, though he tried to sense whether he was agitated enough for another outburst. Without being able to see him it was hard to pick out the subtle sounds of movement, and spying on him through the link (if it was even possible) would be rude.


Translating via thoughtspeak it was, then.

Knowledge: Arcana roll, to see what Kusque knows about magic being used to support other effects: [roll0]

[Re'ozul]

After about two minutes, Anders returns, holding a small wooden box in hand.
Once he gets close he opens the box and shows you its content.
Said contents appear to simply be a small piece of wood in the shape of a shield. Its edge is bronzed and it shows a stylized sun with an overlaid silver ring through which goes a sowrd with its handle at the bottom of the shield.

"Here, take this. Should you decide to contact someone else, this should give them some indication of your peacefulness."

@ Everyone
This is a decision situation. Further actions depend on what Kusque does with this offer, therefore no actions other than thought until this matter is resolved as we are talking about a timeframe of mere seconds for the next exchange. This is a bit of a problem in pbp so in situations like these I'll put FreezeFrame at the bottom of the nonspoilered content from now on in situations that are structured like this.
Right now the situation is: Kusque grabs the shield or not depending on action situation will continue.

@ Grazik - Planes
Your limited knowledge in the field of planar sciences leaves you with no guideline to figure out where the grey came from - pity, was a good roll but its definitely nowhere near common knowledge.


@ Kusque - Arcana
Magic can ceratinly be used to sustain or support other things. Usually those fall under Enchantment, perhaps Abjuration. In this situation, necromancy could have its uses as it deals with the ebbs and flows of life and the energies ascribed to it.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

Kusque briefly examined the token and its design. Probably the symbol of their people, though with the upright sword it seemed as though they had something of a taste for war themselves.

"Thank you," he said, reaching for the box. "On which side of the wall beyond would we find the gate to the citadel?"


I'm not touching that thing if the DM is suddenly changing format. >.>

What's the box's size, and the item inside? I'm imagining a box whose longest side is less than six inches.

[Re'ozul]

Anders allows Kusque to take the box and even puts the top back on.

"Very well, remember to show it in plain sight if you attempt to speak with someone else. Though be careful should you attempt to talk to the workers during the day, you saw our reaction to you. Now imagine what could happen if they already had their axes in hand and were in the mindset of swinging them at something," he concludes.

If you wish, you may come back tomorrow evening if you wish to talk more. However, keep in mind that it will most likely take several days for my message to go to the Far Fortress, be delivered and a response to be sent.

The box is made of, how else could it be, wood. It seems like fine craftsmanship and has a smooth varnish on it. It is 8''x6'' and the small stylized shield inside seems to be made of wood as well, though the colors either are very well done or those are metals pressed into the wood.
The box has a lid that can be taken off completely.

I'm stil making the picture of the small stylized shield.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"Very well, we'll take care with the workers. Where do Taldaria and the grey lie from here? The name is unfamiliar." The talk of axes made his stomach twist. Oh yes, they'd be here tomorrow's evening. Any earlier than that and he'd have to watch what they were doing, and that wouldn't improve his mood. He stared at the nearest tree stump and his mouth twitched. As he returned his gaze to the pinkskin and stashed the box in his lap he asked: "What would it take for you to ease off on the cutting while we wait for a response?" The tone was light, the question presented as a question and not a rhetorically-phrased demand.

<I doubt it's anything we could provide, but I guess it's worth a try.>


Diplomacy check again, then: 21

[Re'ozul]

Anders takes his bowl back into his hand and shakes his head:

"No can do about the cutting. We need the wood and if we were to slow, the men would'nt get paid, which means their families wouldn't get as many rations and that is something I won't ever tell them to accept.
As for Taldaria, I have no clue. The gate brought us here, but where here is in relation to where we were is beyond me."

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

<"That's probably the best we can hope for at this moment. Kusque, thank him and tell we'll return soon. We need to report what we learned to the Elders, then we will return. Unless anybody has better idea what to do. Anybody except Mal.">

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<No, the elders already gave us permission to act in there place, they said if we run back and fourth like that, it will take to long. We need to act now, let us go to the city tonight and request to speak to the leaders. Take the box, i don't think he'll try to mislead us. We have waited long enough, they destroyed a massive amount of mother-forest, this cannot go on.>

Does the tongues effect need to be continuous?

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<Grazik, I already committed to doing this the fancy way. We can act again tomorrow, but in the meantime the elders should know that this is more than simple-minded destruction. If we ride quickly mostt of the night will still be ours by the time we return, and while we're in the village we can find some more impressive livery.> He might have been wearing a nice cloak, but the rest of his clothes were as plain as the things the pinkskins were wearing. They'd already shown themselves the value of making a good entrance, and he'd certainly expect some sort of show if he heard about foreign diplomats coming to see the tribe.


I think the amulet is one-shot, since it casts Tongues instead of activating it on command and noting that the wearer may split up the time as they please. Also, waiting until the morning means someone else gets a shot at direct communication. I feel a little uncomfortable hogging the limelight this long.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter

"If you think wearing more impressive regalia will help, I'm all for it. But as far as alerting the Elders goes, we could just send those two that have been watching the camp with a message."


'Hog' as you like. If your character is set for this, I'm hardly going to think someone else needs to take over. Even if I did OOC, I'm thinking Kusque is the best character to handle this IC, unless we think we need to switch to Rada stepping up to act as leader.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<Let us go and report then. I can see you wish to wait.>

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<If those two are still here scouting they could pass on the news of the grey and the travel gate, but unless they had mounts hiding in the trees we'll be able to get back more quickly. I think we'd better talk it over with the Chief -- he'll want to know everything, and that would be a long message to deliver.>

Out loud he said: "Until we meet again then, Anders. I am sorry we couldn't agree on anything more this night." It would be a long ride back to the sanctuary of the forest, knowing that the first few trees they passed would be gone by the time they returned. How easy it would have been if these pinkskins were the only threat.

If nobody else wants to do anything I'll make to turn the bulette around and leave.

[Re'ozul]

Anders acknowledges your goodbye by raising his bowl of food for a moment and nodding.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

He raised a hand in farewell and turned the heavy beast around, going back the way they came. It was eager to get away from the pinkskins, and he had to tug at the reins a few times to keep it at a steady pace. On the way back he kept his eyes fixed to the standing trees, not wishing to look at either the open sky or the empty ground.

<Grazik, do you really think we can do this? The greyness sounds beyond this world, and without the pinkskins trusting us we'll never be able to find out enough about it to make them use something besides trees to keep it contained.>

If any of us can find the two scouts again they'll get the message that we couldn't do anything tonight.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

<I don't know if we can do this, but if it comes, we must be ready. This is an enemy, though currently it is like a powerful beast in a far off part of the wood. It can't hurt us yet, but you should be worried. I don't know of much of the Greyness, though I will attempt to study and research it when I can, if I can. We can't trust the pinkskins, and they shouldn't trust us yet, though we may need to work together to defeat the greyness, if it exists.>

Spot and listen for the Scouts:
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]
Zalgrin has scent and will tell us if he smells them.

[Man on Fire]

Rada-Berserker

"You're blowing this out of proportions. It's quite simple - we need to find whatever is causing the grey and pound it flat. We can do this with pinksins or without them. Through doing it with them would be prefferable, at least for some of us." Rada gives Mal long, unpleasant look."But it's not our decision, we will do as chief will say. And if he decides the price of allying with pinkskins will be too much, we will act approriately." Of course Rada knew, things won't be as simple. There were many who would gladly preffer to go into the fight, dismissing the threat of grey as a fairy tale, agreeing with Mal about it or being just too blinded by rage to see the bigger problem.

On the other hand, they had pretty strong position. Grazzik was respected by Elders and shaman's word meant a lot. Gell was known as great hunter and would be heard by others of his cast. Kusque...he was feared, with his powers many misunderstood it couldn't be otherwise. But it was good fear, the one that births respect. If they would feel that even somebody so powerful is worried, it will help them understand the weight of situation. Smith was great asset on their side - almost everybody has a weapon or other item made by him and nobody could question his lolyality. Too bad Mal will clearly side with their opponents - he was the hero of his clan, even if a young one, they will probably side with him.

The weakest link of their side was Rada herself. Not only she was unsure about her own feelings - a loud voice in the back of her head was still screaming they should murder all of those disgsting tree-cutters - but her position wasn't so good either. She didn't had many supporters, even among Berserkers, who generally accepted her as one of them. Many were still against the idea of female chief and would rather see her death than give her a chance to make it reality. They would side against their option only because it came from her. Especially followers of Gruumsh, ever since her brother had become champion of one-eyed god. Frox was what worried her the most - would it come to confrontation between them, he would win. He was more skilled and mastered traditional double axe she still has problems with. In combat he would be total pain in the a*s. Her training as Berserker, that was supposed to let her counter all the power he is getting from Gruumsh, still wasn't completed. If it would come to it, could she really strike her own brother?

<"Why some things cannot just be simple?"? She thinks ot herself, unaware that she accidentially sends it to the others.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

"If one leaves meat to bait a great beast, killing him won't drive the beast away, If something is alive, if its' mother dies, it doesn't cease to live. The greyness is a foe in and of itself, destroying its creators wouldn't destroy it, if the greyness hasn't devoured them already." Grazik speaks softly, "Regardless of our feelings towards the pinkskins, we need them if we are to combat the greyness, though I believe it to be far off. They don't know where there land is in relation to here, that makes us presume it is far, though the longer we wait, the more the grey consumes."

Grazik feels sorry for Rada, he wished that all this never happened, that they weren't drawn into this. There life was simple, and they enjoyed it, but this happened in there time, so they must face it with what strength we have. I will provide what help I can on this, though it is a shame it falls into there years, all of our years.

[Winds]

Gell-Hunter


"We will defeat the grey. We can't accept any other option...all the tribe will put forward what they can. It's what we do. It couldn't be any simpler...nor any stronger. And if the the pinkskin workers are all like Anders, they may well be potent allies in and of themselves."

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

<As Rada says, it would be so much better if things were simple. I can't think of these pinkskins as allies--> even through the link the contemptuous tone was clear-- <while they're carrying on using whole trees as fuel. They're a necessary evil until we can get to the grey ourselves, if we can find out where it is from here.>

He stared down at the box with the shield in it. It seemed like a mockery. The wood no doubt came from a felled tree, though the pieces were small enough to have come from a large branch, and holding onto it even with his trousers providing a barrier made him uncomfortable. He unwound his headscarf and awkwardly wrapped it around the box like a shroud.

Flicking a finger through his hair to get it resettled, he pondered their options. Doing things the proper way, slow as it was, would ensure better relations between orc and pinkskin. But every lost day meant more lost trees. Examining the tower and the gate before being granted permission to enter would at least give them something to do while information trickled up and down chains of command. But if they had enough magic for a travel gate, there would be wards, and the gate itself and the workings of the tower would be in a physically defensible position.

He realised that he'd had his finger in his hair long enough to look like he had lice, and shook his head self-consciously before deciding that the whole thing was bothering him. So he tugged his hair band free and fiddled with that as his thoughts turned back to the tribe.

Convincing the Chief of the need for more talks would probably be easy. He'd been expecting them to not go in swinging. Mal's group would be harder to convince unless the other orc had some sense talked or knocked into him to at least stop him from encouraging open war and getting the whole tribe riled up. And also Frox, who was a fanatic at the best of times and even more bad-tempered than Rada. It was little surprise that he hadn't been sent along for this expedition.

With Mal as the only dissenter and the cooler heads on their side, he was confident that they could avoid dangerous excitement. That said, he was ready to crack somebody's skull after the frustration of finding themselves caught up in another's fight, and Mal's was suitably thick. He pulled his mount alongside Mal's.

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal- Mounted Archer
We are going to have to fight Mr. Primal Necrothingy. We are going to have to fight Mr. Primal Necrothingy. We are going to have to fight Mr. Primal Necrothingy. The thought has been pounding around in his head since they left the pinkskins. Now it sunk in hard and Mal was very scared. He wanted to learn as much about Mr. Primal Necrothingy before fighting it because not only would this give us an advantage against him it would postpone the inevitable fight. As Kusque pulls his mount aloneside him he looks up. "What do you want?"

[Sutremaine]

Kusque - Binder

"What were you playing at back there?" he snapped. "I was able to get back to talking with the pinkskin, but what's going to happen if you start yelling that stuff in front of the tribe?"

[GnomeGninjas]

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.

[Re'ozul]

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.

[Sutremaine]

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.

[Man on Fire]

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.

[GnomeGninjas]

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.

[Man on Fire]

"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.

[Re'ozul]

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."

[rweird]

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."

[Sutremaine]

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.

[GnomeGninjas]

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.