Megadungeon D (IC) II

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Julius tells the tritons that Xander is coming out to tend to the wounded, and the tritons... do not shoot him when he emerges! He approaches one of the unconscious people, checks for a pulse, and finds one! The person is not dead, just unconscious and bleeding!


Meanwhile, Jeffery and Julius move out to meet the triton leader in the middle of the square.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander knelt down by the dying villager and used the magic in his healing belt to stem the bleeding, then moved cautiously towards the nearest unconscious villager, while keeping an eye on the Tritons.

Xander hoped the second villager was also not quite dead.

Spoiler

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1 charge: (2d8)[5]

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Jeffrey, Jeffrey... just use your honeyed tongue and follow your instincts. They do speak common, if they didn't want to mediate they wouldn't have let us come talk to them. Just follow my lead."

As the two walked out the door and out of earshot of the captain, Julius added with a whisper "And if things go south, well, perhaps the spears go missing in the assault."

With a grand gesture Julius hails the Tritons and beings speaking in aquatic to them.

Spoiler: Aquatic

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Great Tritons, Chosen of Hafgufa, I am a faithful follower and Cleric of Hafgufa who remembers the years he allowed my people to live in his domain, knowing that he could crush us whenever he pleased. Forever will my people owe him.

Then continuing in common,"The Whalers of Steve's Haunt, have summoned us from Endeesy, to mediate this dispute. I stand here to hear the sins of my people and, allow me to introduce my companion, Jeffrey Gill. A mediator sought after by those who are serious about ending hostilities.

Julius waits to hear them introduce themselves. If handshaking is the norm, among the Tritons, he extends his hand in friendship.

Spoiler

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When Jeffrey rolls diplomacy, I will assist him

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Xander has time to heal as many townsfolk as he has healing belt charges for (if he wants to use all three charges -- if not that's fine too), and then can work on binding the wounds of the others -- luckily, nobody's quite dead yet. The first one gasps and coughs and regains consciousness, and Xander helps him to his feet and he staggers off away from the scene. The tritons allow this to take place, shifting away from the fallen townsfolk to give Xander room to work. They're angry, not bloodthirsty.

The lead triton is apparently not feeling friendly enough to switch to Common, if indeed he knows it (which probably he does, tritons are generally pretty smart). Allowing Julius to translate if he so chooses, the triton leader introduces himself in Aquan,

Spoiler: Aquan

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"I am called Mela~typpe, son of King Tusus~nosta the Crusader. I lead this war band."

He taps his heart with a fist.

Spoiler: Julius's Knowledge

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Julius alone is familiar with the politics of the tritons (and everything on this page), and knows that petty king Tusus~nosta ("petty king" is an apt description, but probably not a good idea to actually use it when talking to the son of a petty king, just "king" will do) is among the top ten most powerful triton rulers, but not top five. He rules a territory of several tens of thousand (maybe a couple hundreds of thousands -- there's no centralized government to take a formal census or anything) tritons.

Mela~typpe continues,

Spoiler: Aquan

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"These surface-folk have hunted in my father's seas without our permission and without offering the proper sacrifices to Hafgufa. Moreover, they slew and harvested the giant white narwhal Spear-of-Breath, who was a blessing from Hafgufa, and took her meat and bones and horn from our waters. And they have offered material aid to sahuagin raiders in our seas." (The government of Gus is officially allied with the sahuagin government, so whalers out of Gus might be obligated by law and treaty to offer a bribe to any sahuagin raiders they meet -- or it might just have been self-defense, because the sahuagin are as likely to prey on the whalers as on the tritons in the absence of a bribe from the former.)

[theterran]

Jeffery

Unable to understand the Triton, Jeffery concentrates on the Triton himself, attempting to look attentive, though it's hard to be interested when you haven't a clue what's going on.

...hopefully he'll see fit to translate...otherwise I'm just another target... he thinks to himself.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

When Mela~typpe is done speaking, Julius begins duitifully translating,

"We are in the presence of Mela~typpe, son of King Tusus~nosta the Crusader. He has charge of this war band.

The Tritons have accused the whalers of hunting in their seas without permission and without offering the proper sacrifices to Hafgufa. They have slew and harvested a giant white narwhal that Hafgufa blessed them with, named, Spear-of-Breath. They took her meat. They took her bones and horn. And the whalers have offered aid to Sahuagin raiders while in the Tritons seas."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander helped another of the most wounded villagers, then looked around to see if anyone else was helping.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery turns to Julius,

"You know, these negotiations would go much smoother if we had the guildmaster out here as we are supposed to be the neutral third party. At present we have no way to know what type of restitution the guildmaster is willing to give...", Jeffery glances about, "...though under present circumstances, I would imagine he would be amenable to just about anything."

Jeffery turns his head back toward the guild hall and shouts.

"Someone see if they can find the guildmaster and bring him out here, negotiations would go much smoother if we could get perspectives from both sides."

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

All the injured townsfolk are stabilized and/or returned to consciousness! There were only a few, and nobody was killed. Success! Nobody dies! Yet!

Somebody fetches the guildmaster, who emerges bearing the five magical spears and harpoons. When informed of the tritons' objections, the Guildmaster responds indignantly to the last one, "If these guys kept their waters clean of the sahuagin, we wouldn't need to appease them with gifts so they don't attack us!"

[theterran]

Jeffery

Noticing that the guild master only takes issue with the last one, Jeffery presses him.
"So you're not denying the other accusations that have been levied against you?" he asks, accusingly.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Not sure if any of these help.

GatherInfo - (d20+7)[15]
Diplo - (d20+8)[18]

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius narrows his eyes at the Captain, "Their waters?" Captain, you seem eager to remind them that it's their waters when we're talking about the sahuagin raiders. But what about when you sailed on them? Hunted on them? Did you ask their permission? You would really kill a giant narwhal from their seas and think nothing of it? If what Mela~typpe says is true, then you've insulted Hafgufa. In the days where our whole race lived on the seas, my father would sacrifice men like yourself, who would blaspheme against our lord. To allow one who doesn't fear the Leviathan onto a ship threatens the lives of all the men on it. Who is your second in command?"

Spoiler

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You can roll anything for me as applicable (intimidate vs Captain), (assist on diplomacy for the Tritons), etc

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

The guildmaster quails under the accusations of Jeffery and Julius. He resists Julius's demand to speak instead to his second-in-command, but otherwise he does his best to coöperate: "Methinks Dorgus's crew did bring in a great big narwhal the other week. Methinks he kept the horn as a trophy, maybe if he gave it back to these fellows...?"

Mela~typpe nods, that this would be a good first step.

The guildmaster however, objects to the other accusations: "Most of me crews always make sure to make the proper sacrifices to Hafgufa. I'm sure with this incident I can impress on them how vitally important this is going forward, if they be shirking. But we did get permission! From, um, whatsisface, they called him 'the Cruel'..."

Another whaler helpfully pipes up, "Kom~quosa the Cruel, it were."

The guildmaster nods, "Yeah, him! Gave him a great big bribe and everything."

Mela~typpe glowers. At this point, he switches to Common, because the whole translation deal is proving awkward, but it's not his first language and he isn't great at it, "Kom~quosa control territory north of my father territory. Permission fron Kom~quosa not permission from any other king."

The guildmaster splutters, "And just how were we supposed to know that? Be we expected to bribe every petty king in the seas?"

Mela~typpe nods as if this is reasonable, "Yes."

The guildmaster's eyes bug out a bit with the apparent unreasonableness of this demand.

[Jopustopin]

"A map of the various territories and which king rules them should suffice." Julius says then repeats it in Aquan.

"If you don't want to pay their tax for hunting on their lands, stay off the lands you didn't get permission to hunt on. You don't have to pay every king in the seas, that's ridiculous." Julius offers helpfully to the captain.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Having your people be aware of whose territory they're in, so you know who to bribe, would go a long way in limiting further hostilities, so that map would be extremely helpful." Jeffery says, agreeing with Julius' statements.

"These negotiations can take place as needed going forward, however what needs to be done now is a negotiation on ending the present hostilities before there is further bloodshed." says Jeffery.

Spoiler: rolls

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Diplo - (d20+7)[10](if applicable)

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Mela~typpe frowns, but sees the necessity of providing the whalers with an up-to-date map, if they are to stick to hunting only in correctly taxed seas. After a bit more negotiation, both he and the guildmaster eventually agree to the proposal that up-to-date maps and records be provided to the Guild (the map has a habit of changing every time any leader dies, and it can get complicated), and the Guild will make sure to pay any king whose seas they hunt.

Eventually, somebody fetches Captain Dorgus, who in turn (after some stern looks and words from the Guildmaster and Mela~typpe) fetches from his ship a great spiral narwhal horn, several feet long, and hands it over to Mela~typpe, who handles it with reverence.

Jeffery is right, though, the current situation is tense, all the tritons are still armed and angry, and the town guard are on the way.


Speaking of whom: A couple squads of town guardsmen charge in from the southeast, with swords and crossbows, ready to do battle! Their sergeant, a great big mongrelwoman with a great big greatsword, holds a hand out to indicate stopping, and surveys the scene!

She sees armed and mounted tritons! She sees blood pools and spatters on the ground! She is just observant enough that she sees there are no fatalities, thanks to Xander!

The sergeant narrows her eyes, "What's the story here, then?"

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Mostly a case of miscommunication taken to extremes," Xander replied, "I think it's mostly resolved now, or at least we have a way to move forward in relative peace. Probably."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

"Hold, hold. I'll go speak with the guards." Julius says quickly to the Tritons in Aquan before turning to Jeffrey in common, "Let's finish this up - 'lll go and speak with the local militia and let them know they are not needed."

Julius will walk over to where Xander and the guards are speaking.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

Eventually, Xander and Julius and Jeffery convince the sergeant that everything is fine now, all just a miscommunication. She narrows her eyes, but isn't exactly eager to get her guards into a fight with a bunch of tritons and sea cats, even on land, so she lets the whole thing go.

Mela~typpe's remaining irritation is assuaged when the guildmaster offers him an enchanted harpoon out of the reward that was going to go to the party. Mela~typpe promises to send detailed maps of the Tritons' seas, and the guildmaster promises to keep his whalers from hunting anywhere other than where they've offered offerings to the local rulers.

The tritons and their sea cats withdraw back into the ocean!

The guildmaster offers the remaining four spears/harpoons to the party, as promised! This reward consists of +1 longspear, a +1 spear, a +1 shortspear, and a +1 harpoon (harpoon is from Stormwrack p107).

Each member of the party also gains 930xp for resolving the dispute. By my calculations, everyone levels up to 2.

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius makes an exaggerated show of counting before turning to Jeffery, "Was never good at math, does these add up to five to you?"

Spoiler: ooc

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Who is gathered around Julius? Did we already lose someone in game, or are all five of us still there receiving four spears?

Who is officially in Party D right now and who did we lose?

Also - my character sheet is leveled up. Converted Knowledge Domain to Knowledge Devotion now that I meet the prerequisites.

[theterran]

Jeffery

"Nope, not unless 5 means 4 in seafaring lingo." he says, shrugging.

Spoiler: ooc

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I'm still here.
Also, I forget how we generate stats, what is the method for getting HP for the next level?

[Jopustopin]

Julius turns to the captain with a threatening look, "I'm sure the captain's arms just weren't strong enough to carry all five of them."

Spoiler: Character

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The big 16 is in the OOC.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points? 30 point buy. First level: max hit points. Subsequent levels: half the maximum size of your hit die, plus 1 (d4=3, d6=4, d8=5, d10=6, d12=7).

[Thundercracker]

Xander

Xander watched as the others jumped in on what he already noticed. It seemed there wasn't much else for him to say.

Spoiler

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will level up the sheet when I get a chance.
Edit: Sheet updated, added see the unseen invocation, skill trick collector of stories, and 4 points into knowledges.

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt, Outside the Whaling Guild

The guildmaster protests that the tritons were still mad and the easiest way to make them un-mad was with a gift and if you want to get the fifth enchanted weapon you're welcome to go retrieve it from Mela~typpe.

Julius, Jeffery, and Xander are still there for sure. Vasillia may have become distracted by some other urgent task and wandered off or something. Meera is around.

Spoiler: OOC

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BaratheonFury seems to have wandered off without word. Jeriah left a message that she's in the hospital until further notice but will want to rejoin if ever she can. Y'all can of course do whatever, but my suggestion is Julius, Jeffery, Xander, and Meera each get a reward thing. And you head back to Endeesy, and we lose Meera and Vassilia and recruit two people, bringing you up to five, and if Jeriah gets better and comes back then Meera will be welcome to rejoin as a sixth.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery looks over toward the Tritons, contemplating getting the rest of their payment, then shakes his head at the thought.

"Not worth the hassle..." he mutters to himself.

"So how do we divy up these four items?" Jeffery asks to the others.

"I myself would not be opposed to the longspear." he comments, in an off-handed way.

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"I don't actually have a practical use for any of them, so I'll take whatever is left over," Xander replied, "most likely will end up selling or trading it."

[Jopustopin]

Julius

The mongrelfolk listened to his allies carefully with a stoic poker face, all the while watching the guildmaster. Gripping one of the spears he grips the spear even tighter, as if he was getting ready to use it. His dog, begins emitting a very low and hostile growling as if sensing Julius's displeasure.

"It is worth the hassle. Right now we don't have a reputation. We've just begun working together. But I'll die before we get the reputation of allowing people to not pay us our bounty. We're not in a position to do anything about it here and now." Julius's face has completely lost any semblance of humor or a smile; his eyes bore into the guild master, "But at a later date, I will come and collect what is due to me and mine. We completed our end of the bounty Sir, and you will complete your end of the bounty. I don't mind at all the reputation I'll get after the world sees what happens when you don't pay up. A day will come when you feel safe and secure, the tritons far from your wearers and worries, and you'll find this spear shoved deeply into and through someone you care deeply for. Pinned to one of your ships. And each year, I'll return one of these spears to you in the same fashion until you finally finish this deal."

Unless the guildmaster has anything important to say, Julius immediately hands the longspear off to Jeffery and gives the Harpoon to Xander. Holding the other two he proceeds towards Meera and simply nods his head as if to indicate that she needs to follow him.

Spoiler: Next Action

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Unless someone stops Julius he's going to proceed immediately to the docks to arrange transport back to Endeesy.

[theterran]

Jeffery

Jeffery's left eyebrow raises slightly at the words of Julius, but he says nothing.

As they're walking back towards the docks, Jeffery moves close to Julius and mutters under his breath, "Remind me never to piss you off..."

[Thundercracker]

Xander

"Slight short changing aside, I think we can call that a success," Xander said cheerfully, "so, do we celebrate? Or is it on to the next job?"

[Malimar]

Steve's Haunt

The guildmaster quails under Julius's wrath, but says nothing.

Arranging transport back to Endeesy!

The party soon finds a captain who is not only heading south within the day, but who has heard about how they prevented casualties and healed victims and negotiated with the tritons and so on, and he hails them as "Heroes! Haha, the heroes of Steve's Haunt will pay no money to me, free berths to Endeesy for all y'all!"

The party has like two hours to celebrate in Steve's Haunt!

Then most of a day aboard ship! The crew, on the captain's orders, plies them with the ship's best grog! (Not for nefarious purposes, everybody's pretty sure.)

And probably a nap on the ship's hammocks is called for!

In the sky, the blue Wanderer Saquel (representing sadness and failure) is in the Crucible (representing science and engineering)! Today is not to be a good day for technology.

The next morning, the ship unloads its passengers onto the Black Docks of Endeesy!

[Jopustopin]

Julius

Julius doesn't appear to be in a good mood while they are walking together, but the moment he begins interacting with the captain he's all smiles. At some point he's garbed up in his sea blue robes (which is beginning to look small on him) and proudly displaying his holy symbol of Hafgufa.

During his two hours he'll bask in the limelight of being the town's hero, taking up Xander's suggestion to celebrate. He makes sure to speak of the guildmaster highly (and trying to find out more about his personal life, such as family members). He spends good coin at the bar buying drinks for people who are praising him and his four companions (as he drinks, he more than once denounces to his group about the coward Vasillia who must have took off at the first sign of hostilities). While at the bar he makes sure that people know that he's a cleric of Hafgufa, that he's praising the guildmaster and naming his family members specifically (perhaps by name and age) and blessing them as well.

If he does find out about any children the guildmaster might have, Julius buys appropriate gifts for them and boards the ship to Endeesy. He blesses the voyage with an appropriate sacrifice and continues blessing the entire city of Steve's Haunt, praising Hafgufa for their alliance and promising good harvest for the whaler's guild - still speaking very highly of the guildmaster and his family.

While on the voyage over grog he'll befriend the captain and ask him a favor (for a small fee of course) when he returns to Steve's Haunt, to give the guildmaster these gifts. They are for his children (or anyone else who we determined was close to him - if nothing was found then the gift is for the guildmaster himself). A sealed note is attached to a ribbon to one of the gifts with a message for the captain: With Hafgufa's blessings you will have a profitable year. - Julius D.M. Bloodstorm

Spoiler

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Perhaps 20 gold in total?