One Stranger

[greenpotato]

Trystan is at sea for but a day before a storm of tremendous proportions appears.
The captain of the vessel assures him that there is nothing to worry about but Trystan can see the terror in the old man's eyes as he clings futility to the ships spinning wheel.
With a crack of thunder the ship is hit by lightning and Trystan is knocked to the deck, hitting his head on the way down. All goes black...




...Trystan awakes to a face full of sand and a gentle bobbing rhythm. He is lying on top of a piece of wooden deck half in and half out of the sea, his legs and body rest on the wood while his face anchors him to a sandy soil, most undignified. He is on a deserted beech and a few other chunks of the ruined ship bob in the shallow blue water but he sees no other survivors. At the edge of the beech is a forest of unfamiliar trees. Along the waterline in one direction he sees a large rock outcrop while the other direction holds nothing but more beech as far as he can see.

[BelGareth]

Trystan leans on his hands as he looks out over the devastation. It reeked of death and he crinkled his nose at it, the surf was swaying him back and forth and he struggled to his feet before he vomited what sea water he had swallowed.

Standing he purveyed the scene in its entirety and he gasped at the destruction he saw. He almost swooned at the thought of it and tears swelled in his eyes at the death of the crew.

The sun ha dried the sand on his skin and he started to feel it crusting and a terrible itch spread across his face, bending down on his knees he splashed sea water over his face, letting the cool liquid fall where it may, soaking his vest and cooling his skin. Standing he patted himself down and sighed with relief once he found his Iuon stone and released it back to orbit around his head, Tetsu was at his hip and his quiver was an easy find, strapping it on his back he scanned the beach for anything that could help.

[roll0]

If he sees anything of use he may pick it up

Looking up and covering the sun with his hand he sees the wooded shoreline and the rocky outcrop one way and beach the other.

Which way to go? He thought to himself. Concentrating for a second he summoned his will power and plucked the knowledge from the cosmos itself.


Manifesting Know Direction and Location (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/knowDirectionandLocation.htm), 1 PP

[greenpotato]

A glance at the wreckage of the ship marks the only flotsam of note a bottle of wine. Apart from that there is a fair amount of splintered timber and frayed rope.

Trystan gets the feeling from his psionic power that he is on the eastern coast of a land called 'Jilga' The outcrop directly south of him known as 'Black crab stone' and the forest to the west is called 'Yarranga Bush'

[BelGareth]

As he plucks the information from around him he feels even more confused, the names seemed appropriate enough, but just as foreign as the beach he stood upon.

Nothing of worth was left from the shipwreck, a bottle of wine, which he did not need thanks to his small orbiting stone around his head.

But perhaps I could use it for trade? Shaking himself he wades back into the surf and grabs the bottle inserting it into his quiver.

The rope was ragged and sea soaked, it would be worth much and probably to heavy. He left it floating with the rest of the flotsam and walked off toward the tree line, he would need the shade and even more so he would need to find some shelter for the night.

Moving on the tree line he moves and looks for any sign of life, whether animal or intelligent, moving away from the rocky outcrop and down the beach.


Using track feat:
[roll0]

[greenpotato]

Trystan comes across a narrow track through the scrub. He is unsure weather it was created by intelligent life or by animals but it looks fairly well used for such a seemingly deserted place.

[BelGareth]

Finding what he thinks is a game trail, he follows it, in hopes of finding a road or perhaps even game?

He moves through it and pulls his bow out of his magical quiver, notching an arrow.

[greenpotato]

He follows the trail for about one quarter of an hour before he comes across another sight. The trees are beginning to thin as the path leads to a clearing, through the space Trystan can glimpse a small village, perhaps a dozen huts. The huts are simple affairs assembled from the wood of the forest and covered with a red mud.
Two human women are walking from the village towards the forest, and Trystan.

The women are young but it is clear their life has been hard. They wear simple dresses of a course grey material that is little more than a shapeless tube held on with two straps over their shoulders. The women are wiry and thin like and their exposed shoulders and arms are deeply tanned by the hot sun of this place.
One of the women has her dark hair held back from her face with a loop of bone while the other lets her long locks hang loose.

[BelGareth]

Trystan eyes the woman with curiosity before he realizes they are headed his way. Without thinking he almost hunkers down to hide himself but then realizes the folly of it, seeing the bow in his hands however he thinks best of displaying a weapon with first contact.

As quick as possible he stows his bow in his quiver and moves forward arms raised.

"Hello, could you tell me where I am?"


[roll0]


He knew this may be dangerous, but he thought they may be peaceful also...

Lets see

[greenpotato]

The women look surprised and then worried. One of them glances back towards the village while the other simply stares. It's obvious that they didn't understand what you said.
The one looking back at the village calls out a single word "Yukal!" (a name perhaps?) while the other says in elven;
"Who are you? Where did you come from?"

[BelGareth]

Trysten feels abashed and smacks his head with his hand.

"Of course! How could I be so rude? My name is Trystan, it would seem my ship wrecked on the beach and I know not where I am"

He says fluently in Elven.

Attempting to be as non aggressive as possible he stops moving and keeps his hands clear, slightly raised to allow visibility for both of them.

[greenpotato]

"This is the village of Wirjri Trystan. Are you a dwarf?" Says the one that spoke before as she eyes Trystan's weapons.

Another Human approaches from the village, a tower of a man with his exposed musclebound torso the same tanned complexion as that of the women. The short skirt he wears rides dangerously high as he bounds towards Trystan with a long wooden harpoon in hand. He also locks eyes upon your weapons and says with more curiosity than hostility "Are you a dwarf?"

[BelGareth]

Watching as the newcomer approaches Trystan is almost bowled over by the question that follows.

"Dwarf?" he says almost in shock...he takes a good look and realizes they are serious. "Um...No, No I am not. Why do you ask?"

[greenpotato]

"Our Lord told us to be wary for dwarves, said that they would try and capture us and take us to work in their mines. One day later, you turn up. Its either a big coincidence or you are a dwarf come to steal us away." The man says although he doesn't quite sound convinced.
"But, you don't have a beard... so maybe.. hmmm"

[BelGareth]

Trystan smiles and tries his best to make himself look as genuine as possible, "I think I would be a little shorter too...Have you ever seen a dwarf?" he shakes his head and can't help but smile ruefully at them.

"Well, I'm not a dwarf, like I said, my ship got smashed in the storm at sea and I washed up on shore, you said your Lord told you to be wary of dwarves? Could I speak to him? Maybe I could help?"


[roll0]

[greenpotato]

"No, I've never seen a dwarf. All I know is that they look different to us or our masters and have beards"
Says the burly man.
"As for our Lord you will have to wait for five days, he comes once a week to collect tribute. What happened to your boat? Are there more of you?"
The woman who spoke before adds.

[BelGareth]

Trysten nods at the mans words "Aye, they look different, short stunted folk, with great big beards, even their women have em, hard to tell the difference, but I'll say one thing, if you ever see one you'll know right away."

He ponders for a second thinking on the mans words.

Lord comes to take tribute? What kind of lord is that, I wander if these folk are vassals of some sort...

"Tribute? What kind?what for?" he shakes these questions off with a hand "Never mind that, I'm a stranger on your land, is there anything I can do to help? I'm not a bad hunter and can carry a weapon or too, do you have a village elder or somesuch?"

[greenpotato]

"Most of the villagers are hunting in the forest, those who are left are working in the fields" Says the woman pointing first north and then further inland. "Our chief is leading the hunters"
She looks Trystan up and down again.
"I suppose if your not a dwarf you could come with me and Deppie, we were heading to the rocks to look for crabs" The woman says nodding her head to her quite peer.
"Yukal is guarding the village in case dwarves appear while everyone else is working"

[BelGareth]

Trysten nods "Very well then, until the Chief returns from the hunt I am your man." he starts turning looking for a direction to go "Where are these crabs you're talking about?"

[greenpotato]

"Follow me" she says as she sets off down the path towards the beech.
The two women lead Trystan back out and then down to the rocky outcrop that he recalls was called "Black Crab Rock'

[greenpotato]

They take him up to the rocks and spend the afternoon collecting crabs and small shellfish from the rock pools that rest at the base of the cliffs. As the sun starts to go down they head back, their skirt held up by the hem and laden with the bounty of the sea.
They travel back up the trail towards the village.

[BelGareth]

Trystan tries to help as best he could, all the while watching how the two interact. He was sure something was amiss here and wanted to see that he was not caught up in the local politics, this lord of there's could easily be something more than they say.

He wasn't going to be caught flat footed.


[roll0] huntin fer crabs


Gathering what crabs he had found he walks back with the ladies, he shrugs his shoulders at the events of the day and strums up a conversation with them in Elven.

"So, how long have you lived here?"

[greenpotato]

I was born in this village, so was Deppie" Says the talkative one "Our village has been here since the very beginning and we will always be here because of how boutiful this land is, we have rich soil to grow fruit and wheat, the ocean within a short walk, the forest to hunt in and the river to fish. We are so lucky. What is your land like? Is it this easy to get food where you come from?"

[BelGareth]

Trystan listens with amazement as they tell him of their village and so called shielded life. How had they not been seen by traders, pirates or even just sailors.

How far had the ship been taken, he wandered.

As they walked back to the village he regaled them of how easy food is to come by, how vast fields are plowed and worked to grow crops which in turn are sold to be turned into baked breads, pastries, sweet pies, spiced crusts for hens and pigs and cows, wine and beer. He would go on about how some go hungry because they cannot work or afford the food, but most are able to eat if they work hard, and if you are rich with gold and coin you can eat as much as you want.

All the talk of food suddenly got to him and even though his magical Iuon stone that orbited his head gave him sustenance, he found he was becoming hungry for something wholesome, something with substance and taste.

[greenpotato]

As they stroll along the path back to the village and Trystan enters the village proper for the first time they are met by a clearly angry Yukal "The dwarves, they came and took everything!" He says.
"We killed one but the rest made off with all of our food and children!" the big man begins to cry and the two women drop their crabs and go to comfort him.

[BelGareth]

Trystan is shocked and almost drops his load of crabs, and then does so as he realizes what has happened. He kneels down moving past the woman and holds the mans head in his hands.

"Did you see where they went? Tell me, show me where they went, I will find them, I promise!"

He looks directly into the mans eyes gauging the man he see within, the tears of grief shocked him to his core, he had not seen such emotion and open fear for such a long time...

Then something struck his mind, like a thought that exploded with the force of a hammer upon loam.

"wait...where is the dead body? Show me it, show me the dead dwarf!"

After finding the body he makes sure it is really a dwarf, inspecting the body, the equipment, garb and method of death.

He will take 20 on a search check for the body.
20 + 7 = 27 Search check


Once he has checked the body he will move to locate the tracks, with or without the guidance of Yukal.

[roll0]
Track (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#track)


Once he finds a trail he bends down and picks up some of the dirt, smelling the freshness of the earth, anticipating the hunt to come and the feeling of wroth in his limbs. He stood and turned to Yukal, "I will find them." and then he takes off, bow in hand.

[greenpotato]

The distraught man leads you through the village and Trystan can see a huddle of many of these people crowding around something. With Yukals approach they disperse somewhat to allow Trystan to view the body;
A stocky powerful humanoid it surly is, but it is no dwarf. The creature must have stood about five feet tall you assume and it's thick frame is still impaled with five of harpoons that Yukal tells you is what took the beasts life. The creature is covered in thick course yellow hair and it wears a long skirt of mail from the waist down but nothing above that. It's short face has both jutting tusks and a long thick beard a shade darker than it's fur.
One of the villagers is holding what they tell you is it's weapon, an iron mace crudely stylized into the shape of a spurred ***** foot.

Upon questioning the villagers Trystan learns that thirty of the creatures burst from the earth in a surprise attack and quickly gathered all the villagers food and snatched up the children before taking off into the forest.
They killed a five villagers but they seemed to restrain their violence is the account Trystan receives, preferring to deliver a non-lethal blow than to kill the villagers.

Trystan easily finds the trail that these 'Dwarves' left and sets off after them into the forest, Yukal says that he would follow but that the villagers should all prepare in case the dwarves strike again and that he must tell the hunters what happened when they return.

[BelGareth]

Upon seeing the dead body Trystan mutters to himself, "This is no dwarf." he says simply. Crouching down he moves to look the creature over, he was not sure what it was. Short and stout it looked capable of fighting, having ample enough muscle mass.

It seemed somewhat barbaric. He thought to himself, and then he saw the villagers staring at him in similar garb. No more than these villagers.

The creature reminded him of some orcs, but it was much smaller than regular orcs, maybe a distant cousin. Nonetheless, he was going to have to be careful.

Looking to Yukal, "Let your elders know what happened when they return, and stay alert."

With that he draws his bow and moves out, keeping low and tracking them as quickly as possible.


Track at normal speed (-5) [roll0]


To identify the creature type:
k. arcana [roll1]
k. history [roll2]
k. novility [roll3]
k. religion [roll4]
k. the planes [roll5]