Ruins of Azlant IC

[u-b]

Investigating the grindylow problem, Tazmara came up with the following: there were just two grindilows in the bay. They presumably kept quiet for some time after their first attack on the fishermen, but then you saw them increasingly treating the bay as if they owned it. Marius took some guards on the shore and they shot a salvo when the duo surfaced next time. The grindylows were mostly in water and not too close to the shore to begin with, but they have disappeared after that and did not appar on the surface again. It was unclear if any of them was actually hit and whether they left or were still lurking under the water. Taz has accompanied the guards examining the nearby shores, but the only outcome was that there were no signs of grindylow presence anywhere examined. You could only conclude they either come from the depths or from a more remote part of the island. Guessing she could be able to handle the two, Tazmara tried to dive deep, find and ambush them, if they are still in the bay. She indeed found them playing under the water (or doing stunts or such like). She was spotted before she could get in range. At first, the grindylows seemed confident too, but when she got one and wounded the other, that other just darted away. Taz needed some professional medical help after the encounter, but at least the bay should be clear now, until more grindylows arrive from whence they were coming.

When the rest of the party returns, with prisoners, stories and strange mushrums, Tazmara has something to say at least about the later. The mushrooms are indigo milk caps - an uncommon where you came from, but totally edible mushroom. Opinions vary on its desirability, though, as some rate it quite good while some others rate it below average. Maybe it would depend on how it's cooked, but regarding that Taz has no idea.

Spoiler

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Since Laurelata is cooking, DC 20 to come up with a good reciepe. Otherwise, they'll be meh.

Would you believe it, but no one in the colony seems to know any Goblin.

More to follow tomorrow, about the process with the goblins in particular.

[farothel]

"I can understand goblin," Laurelata said to Jessica, "but I can't speak it. Well, if nothing, I can understand what they want, even if we have to use hands and feet to explain stuff."

With Taz indicating the mushrooms were in fact edible, Laurelata decided to use them in the stew that night. Probably the goblins would appreciate it, even if nobody else would. They still had some boar left over and that would go down nicely with a good mushroom sauce. At the Green Dragon inn they had a very good recipe for mushroom sauce and she was quite confident that she could adapt it for use with these mushrooms. It might take a few tries though, but she was sure she could do it in the long run.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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profession(cooking): (1d20+6)[21]
EDIT: recipe achieved.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri helps carry the goblins back to the colony, his silence somehow expressing disagreement even though he's usually quiet. Once back at the settlement he deposits the small humanoids and then excuses himself to settle down and watch the efforts of the others. He makes it a point to stay close and help guard them, unconvinced that lethal force isn't the right answer.

[u-b]

Laurelata uses the mushrooms in a sauce and it turns out to work quite well, at least according to her professional taste. The mushrooms themselves have somewhat spicy (peppery) flavor, so using them as a main component would not be for everyone, but in a sauce they seem to work quite well.

You lock up the goblins and take turns helping to watch them overnight even though you would rather sleep, really. For obvious reasons, Hewitt is excluded from these watch shifts. In fact, he goes to sleep early and misses the pork&shroom dish, though you can leave him some.

DAY 23 AFTER LANDING

Checking the goblins you can see they have all regained consciousness. The diplomancing does not go quite well. Jessica an Laurelata think they got them to understand limited-time one-way nature of possible verbal communication, and its gestures-and-pictures alternative, but the goblins simply don't participate. They don't attack you or such, they eat and drink what they are given, but they are clearly still quite hostile.

Spoiler

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Hostile attitude. DC 23 to change, rolled once/day. The rest of the party can tend for their business. Also, you will be summoned to chat with Ramona, at your convenience.

[farothel]

Laurelata lets Jessica, who obviously has more experience with negotiations, at least the ones without swords, and tries to help where possible.

During a pause in the talks with the goblins, she suggests to go to Ramona and see what she wants.

[SanguinePenguin]

Tazmara was happy to have provided some useful information, but was nearly giddy after her first bite. The flavor was pretty good - honestly, the best meal she'd had in months - and the mushrooms gave a nice peppery balance to the savory pork. That her contributions made the meal possible made her feel good.

After hearing about the other’s exploits, she tells of her own affairs, “while you were away, I managed to drive the grin-dee-lows,” her accent once again catching on the strange word, ”from the bay. One to the grave - the other away. They might be back with more though.”

---

Taz really disliked that the monkey goblins were in camp. They could escape, and even if they didn’t, they were a drain on resources. She could tell that many other attitudes toward Jessica’s newest naive endeavor were as cool as her own. Still, she does her duty and acts as a guard when it is her turn. Though, after the night passes, Taz confronts the group - and especially Jessica, “I don’t understand this. We can hardly communicate with them. They are a drain on our resources. I’ve seen the glares from the other colonists - they are scared, and justifiably so. Goblins are vile and dangerous. What is the goal here? Because this could end very badly. What if we encounter more? Will we fill our homes and drain our stores? Who will watch them while we are away? We will likely just come back to three dead goblins.” The dwarf shakes her head, “I see your hopes, but I think it is wrong to make the colony more dangerous in this way. If they escape, or the others come for revenge... you did not give the other colonists a say, yet I worry that one of them may ultimately pay the highest price for your prison experiment.”

Spoiler

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Taz really doesn't like goblins.

[farothel]

"We can always kill them should it become necessary," Laurelata said, "but if we can come to some form of agreement, it can be quite useful in the long run. And I don't know about you, but if we want to completely remove them, we'll also have to kill all the women and children. Are you willing to do that?"

[Farmerbink]

Jessica isn't surprised by the Goblin's resistance to her initial efforts. After all, they're prisoners, and she's effectively their captor. Still, she doesn't take it personally, and is extremely grateful for Laurelata's presence and help. "No worries," she responds cheerfully to her companion. "We've got time. They aren't going anywhere and they won't hurt anyone kept unarmed, under lock and key." The priestess spends most of her day repeatedly checking in on the Goblins, and makes sure to be present for every meal.

When Taz pulls her aside after dinner, Jessica is genuinely surprised. "Not to be rude, but you weren't there, miss. We will encounter more of the Goblins. There was a whole village of them. I... don't expect to be able to keep them all here, but I don't think we have a better option. It won't be a simple matter to eradicate them. Though...." She wonders for several seconds at the possibility that the rest of the Goblins will mount a rescue attempt.

"Honestly, I didn't consider that. It would be problematic... but no more so than trying to assault their home with 5 people. At least here there would be more guards to help and less walls to break through- for us. I suppose if the guards kill them, we're right where we were in the first place, but I think there's much to be gained if we can manage to make nice, and too steep a cost to not even try." She turns to Laurelata, smiling sweetly at her companion and happy for the emotional assist.

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy for day 23? (1d20+8)[14] (+2 more, if Laurelata's OOC assist applies here, I'm not clear on the timing right now)

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt still didnt trust the goblins and remained skeptical on the posibility of negotions working. Lightburn seemed more open to the idea and tried his best to keep Hewitt from letting his personal feelings on the goblins blind his judgment. "Is there anything we can do to help?" Lightburn asks.

[Farmerbink]

"I don't really know," Jessica admits. "I kind of figure that with enough time I can prove to them that we're not here to hurt them. Hopefully that will be enough to get some help learning their language, and from there, who knows? Surely they know a lot about this island that they could share with us, and at the end of the day we could easily help protect them from dangers that would be too big for them to handle directly." She smiles hopefully, before shrugging again.

"But it'll definitely take some time... They're not real fond of me yet," she chuckles a little slyly.

[SanguinePenguin]

To Laurelata’s question, she adds, “goblins are dangerous regardless of gender. I would hope that you could appreciate that. Children are… another matter. I have to think about how I feel about that.”

Taz shakes her head, “you are right, I wasn't there, but these are goblins! You can’t dwarvenize them like that! They are spiteful little menaces that through sheer numbers have done more harm to civilization than most other monsters out there combined. They are not mindless and they are not animals, but that is why they are so dangerous, not a cause for sympathy. They will kill, they will devour, they will swarm. Even if you somehow manage to strike a tenuous peace with them, they will be looking for any opportunity to break it, take what we have, and kill us.

“There is a relevant dwarven parable: a dwarven city and a goblin settlement are at war. The dwarven army crushes the goblins in a drawn out battle. The leader of the dwarves then sets out with his army to attack the goblin’s home, but he has a change of heart once they reach the settlement. He offers a deal to the goblin king - begin peace, start trading, and be neighbors. In face face of overwhelming odds, the goblin king accepts.

“Both settlements flourish under peace. Initially, the dwarves sent a full battalion went with the trade caravan, but over time the dwarves got complacent, and fewer and fewer guards went. The trading strengthened both communities. But after two years, the goblins suddenly attack the caravan, kill the guards and all the other dwarves. As the last dwarf lay dying, he asked the goblin king - why? The goblin king responded - because you did not guard it well enough, and I did not need to trade away our supplies to take yours this time.”

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri frowns from where he is writing in his journal as he listens to the conversation. "I'm just worried we lost the chance to surprise violent enemies. If they will stop being violent, great, but capturing these three seems an odd way to try and make friends...I know I wouldn't like it to be a prisoner..."

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt agreed with the general consensus. "I totally agree. They are pretty nasty creatures and and I am unsure by how much progress we have made on the matter." Hewitt plays with his hands rubbing them together. Lightburn looks at him in his general direction and speaks to him mentally. We should try to help. Any ideas?. "Look. I understand how you feel but its not that easy. We might need some kind of leverage. Maybe, getting something for them that they really want though I wonder if such a thing exists."

[farothel]

"I thought to go back to their village to see what they were doing now," Laurelata said, "and maybe get a better idea about their numbers. That will also give us more information on how to proceed. And yes, I'm aware that this can fail and we'll have to take more drastic measures, but I would like to try this first before we start killing."

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz listens calmly to the others and, after a moment of reflection, she says, mostly to Jessica, "it would seem that I am on one end of this issue and you on the other, with our compatriots on the spectrum between. I admittedly don't have a concrete solution, and I have voiced my objection, so I will relent to your plans. In support of our venture, I will aid with this task however I can."

"Getting more intel on the goblins would be a good idea. Another option would be to search for the origin of the choker. They are subterranean creatures, and likely there would be a cave entrance or something not too far from here since I can't imagine it venturing about without knowing it could avoid the sun. A proximal cave that runs deep could be very dangerous."

[DarkOne-Rob]

"I will go back, but I don't want to carry more prisoners back here. What is our plan if we fight them? Kill them? Or not?" asks Henri.

[farothel]

"Let's go back tomorrow," Laurelata said, "when we're well rested. And we'll see tomorrow what we do, okay? It will depend on what's going on there, at least for me."
She will go to see Ramona to hear what she wanted.

[u-b]

During the day, you find time to have a talk with Ramona. She is in the government house and quite eager to hear what you did, what you do and what you are going to do. And also what's this fuss with these goblins. She shows a great interest in these topics. Another topic she brings up is the completion of the guard tower. The trick is, how the colonists should be using it? During the day, it's all clear: one guard on the second floor can more or less see all of the surroundings. During the night, let's say, not so much. Most of the guards are humans (well all full-time guards, in fact), so unless you keep open fire everywhere or some such, their field of view is limited. There are voices heard both for and against continued patrols, so Ramona does want to know your take on the problem.

[farothel]

"I would keep a patrol out," Laurelata said, "especially for the houses outside of the wall. But it can be reduced to what we have now. As for the guard in the tower, we could place torches around the wall, so at least nobody can approach that without being seen. And I know there's magic spells and/or items that can confer low-light or darkvision. Maybe we should get one of those for the colony, so the guard on duty has better senses, no matter who it is. Do you know when the next ship is supposed to arrive and do we have ways of contacting 'home' for anything we might need?"

[DarkOne-Rob]

"Lights along the walls and outside homes is easiest. Magic will be better for longer, but is more expensive to begin," comments Henri quietly. "Really, we need to make the area safe. The goblins are a big part of that, one way or another..."

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods, appreciative of Taz's input, despite their obvious disagreement. "I promise I'm not taking this lightly," she assures the Dwarf. "I'll be disappointed if we can't find a way to at least come to some agreement with them, but if you turn out to be right, I'll do what I have to do to keep everyone safe." After a moment's pause and a rueful half-frown, she adds: "I won't like it, but I'll do it...."

Talking to Ramona, she agrees calmly with Henri and Laurelata. "There's plenty of wood, and gathering more only broadens the field between us and the jungle's natural cover. We could easily keep torches lit along the walls and maybe a bigger fire by the gate? It's not perfect, but it's been enough for our people elsewhere. Still, I hope that we don't need to station guards forever. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to make some kind of breakthrough with the Goblin tribe we've encountered."

[SanguinePenguin]

“Yes, setting up many torches and continue patrols until things are more secure would be a good idea. Though its not just the goblins - there are also the creatures in the water,” with a measure of pride she adds, “I drove them off for now, but they could be back and we don’t know where they come from or how many there are.” Setting her face sternly, she continues, “but the biggest threat might be wherever the choker came from. The depths of the earth can be home to all sorts of terrors. If there is a cave entrance nearby, something far more dangerous than goblins could emerge. There could be nothing too - but that is a risk we have not assessed. Ramona, has anyone mentioned sighting a cave? Or was there any mention of a cave in the logbook or some other notes?”

[u-b]

Ramona notes your decision to burn fires and walk occasional patrols. "The choker appearance here is strange, to be honest. I had Anya look around the day after landing. She found no tracks leading in or out of the village. Might have been washed out with the rain or just were too old to easily notice. We have not checked the surroundings to be totally certain there are no secret entrances to caves anywhere, and you see, we are here somewhat elevated from the sea level, and the slope continues on for a bit, so there might be some caves, but so far, nothing too obvious was spotted."

[farothel]

"I would suggest we try to get these goblins out of the way, one way or another, first," Laurelata said, "then we can look around for other things. And before we can go underwater for any length of time, we need to have a way to function there, either by magic or by items."

[SanguinePenguin]

“If our approach is diplomacy, it will be slow as we cannot even speak to the prisoners, and probably not to other goblins either. Building a relationship will take days if not weeks."

"I do see the value in observing the camp and better assessing their numbers and security," Taz then shakes her head with a frown, "but then I don’t see what other actions we could take. We can’t attack any of them without ruining our chance for diplomacy. If we continue to spy, we will eventually be seen and lose or at least set back our chance for diplomacy. We could just walk up the camp and say we want to be friends, but especially without their language I suspect that would end in bloodshed. Maybe we could ascertain what they need and give it to them as a sign of good faith first… but figuring out what that is seems a long shot if we can’t talk to them.”

She shrugs, “looking for a nearby cave - or anything else of interest - seems like doing something valuable at least.”

[DarkOne-Rob]

"It seems we know the problems," starts Henri, quietly as he seems to think out loud. "But if we want to make anything better we need to do something that will be productive. I think we need to make a big gesture of friendship and look at releasing the captives. Make a big show of it so it can't be mistaken for anything except good will. Then see how they react."

[DaOldeWolf]

"I suppose so but where do we start? Food? Gold? Other goods like clothes?" Hewittt asks not sure about anything that the goblin culture. He really didnt know much orcared about their culture before.

[farothel]

"We could bring them back to their village and release them there," Laurelata said, "even while clearly visible. Maybe there's someone in there who knows a common language. Me or Henri can first have a closer look to see how many there are still."

[u-b]

Ramona is strongly against releasing the goblins and says that much. In fact, she would rather held them hostage even if you are able to strike a deal. She does not actually object to your going there without a solid plan, but does not have high hopes about the goblins knowing a human language from across the ocean, or even proper Azlanti, after all that time.

[farothel]

"Okay, then they stay here for now," Laurelata said, "too bad we don't have anybody here who knows a spell to also speak other languages, instead of only understanding like I do."