Rather than be disheartened or surprised at the lack of a welcoming commitee, Hun rolled his eyes and mumbled something deritive under his breath. He then sighed, looked up once more, and seemed just about ready to shout into the room from the entryway of the room when Kairus beat him to the punch.
A touch frazzled by this, he blinks owlish at the Triton a few more times, before quickly recovering and finally hopping down from Mr. Thicc. "Stick by young blue."He quietly ordered the construct, as he himself looked from the scattered bones to back the way the group came in narrowed eye suspicion.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
@Rhogal: The chamber looks almost exactly like you remember, but some of the piles of pulverized bone have moved. You catch Hun looking at the bones too, so perhaps the kobold has also noticed this.
As the group takes in the chamber a second time, Yulmiath begins pacing around, his hands extended as if searching for gusts of air. He doesn't get too far before Kairus calls out the undead serpents. Hearing their name causes Yulmiath to shiver a bit and refocus his efforts away from searching for hidden passages and toward keeping an eye out for the serpents.
Upon hearing their names and an invitation to parley, the two Nagas slither dryly as they can out of separate piles of bone and bone dust. They hiss magically as they move, since they don't have tongues, flesh, or organs of any kind. Ssura speaks first: "Yesss, we can talk." Y'zleth adds: "We recognize your voice but not your visssage, blue ssskinned trickssster." Ssura: "But your group had been tasssked with a retrieval quessst." Y'zleth: "And you ssssay you were ssssuccessful? That is most delectable!" In unison: "LetusssssseethemarvelousiconofMerrshaulk."
(OOC: This is the first time the Nagas have named the deity who is worshiped in this shrine. This confirms something that Kairus had already deduced upon your first visit to this place.)
If Kairus looked back to Hun at all, the Kobold would in turn give him a meaningful look, hopefully the Triton kept to the 'proof of life first' plan. If he failed to, regardless of a look or not, then:
Hun immediately facepalms before dragging the hand down his snout with a groan. "Before we get far ahead of ourselves-..."He follows up with, interrupting others if need be, as he began marching over to eventually stand beside the Triton. "We've learned in our travels that there were others beside the rock folk who came before us. A human along with some others that you strong-tailed into a similar agreement as our own, after taking one of them hostage." He explained.
"If you yet still have him and he is yet alive, I would see him first. An uneven trade in your favor for seeing your marvelous icon again... wouldn't you agree?"He'd implore. "We've no intention to keep it from you of course regardless. But, I would know of this before we get into seeing things returned and promised reward granted.. to Young Blue here."
If Kairus kept to the plan, layering whatever smooth talk he wished to further better their odds, then Hun would stand up straighter and look almost proudly at the Triton. Hun is otherwise quiet and attentively keeping an open ear for any signs of deceit to the guardians next few words. Either way, Mr. Thicc's protective orders remain unchanged as it stood nearby Kairus and whoever else opted to join the fish young'un.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Kairus nodded energetically to soften the next sentence. "In a moment, esteemed Nagas. Let us all see the things we treasure first. We do have the statue - have to add it was not easy to get - but as you have something of ours now (the human that came before us that my companion mentioned) let's be fair and trade on the open. Shall we?"
Taken aback at the sight of the Naga's just slithering out of a pile of bones, Yulmiath lets a curse slip out before he's able to regain his composure.
"Shit on a stick!"
Smoothing down the front of his ragged shirt, as if it might make a difference, Yulmiath takes up a position close to one of the Naga (Nagi?), flanking and withing charging distance of this goes south.
While this exchange plays out, Yulmiath runs through the Packer's go word in his head over and over.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
DM's Screen:
CHA rolls: 817
(OOC: As Kairus is sticking with the "proof of life" plan, than @Ori's conditional/spoiler part of his post is not taking place. Hence, Kairus' is the first mention of a human in this conversation.)
While Rhogal and Krodhen stay put near the entrance, Yulmiath continues to slowly move around the room. His initial intention was to find hidden passages; now, he is hoping to flank one of the snakes. His movement is noticed but not reacted to.
Mr. Thicc flanks Kairus instead, while Hun stays a few yards away observing the interaction and letting his facial expressions do the talking on his behalf. The snakes reply to Kairus' comment. "Thingssss you treasssure? A human?" Ssura says, followed by Y'zleth: "Let usss remind you that your group accepted the quessst out of the kindnesss of your heartsss. You mentioned no reward or payment." In unison: "Yourrequessstto ssseea human,even onewe donot know of,isss changingthe initialagreement."
@Hun:
Although it strikes you as being somewhat surprising, you know the Nagas are telling the truth regarding the initial agreement. They promised no reward of any kind and the Snackers never bothered to bargain for one. They are clearly taking offense to this sudden additional request, as it goes against the initial agreement. Whether Hun cares about that is obviously up to you but, in a way, the Nagas are in the right here when it comes to keeping to the agreed upon deal. Trying to change it once you have retrieved the statue is sort of a low blow, kind of asking for ransom really, and Hun recognizes that.
All of this said, the whole "even one we do not know of" strikes you as a blatant lie.
OCC: Remember that at this point, the spoiler portion of your previous post did not take place.
Still in a calm tone, Ssura adds: "Show us the icon."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Hun's eyes darted about as he looked towards the ground, frustrated seeming at first, before narrowing his eyes at a thought. Once more he pulled out the strange card again for a quick once over and reminder, prior to then sighing and stuffing it away again. After which, he looks up to the Naga that spoke last, open his mouth to say something only to hesitate seeing Yulmiath for moment, but then abruptly carry on with, "Technically speaking, we promised to /try/ and retrieve it. Never was it directly referenced that we would return it upon acquisition, if you want to play that word game."He says, narrowing his eyes at the last snake to speak.
"It just so happens that we succeeded, accepting the risks of such actions. And it's only /now/ -- out of the 'kindness' of our hearts -- that we've return to you to further discuss things for a proper and equitable arrangement." He explains. "Now we can go back and forth about the 'spirit' of the agreement, other technicalities, and so on and so forth. We could also let things get a bit /messy/ on both ends. Which I'm sure neither side wants that. So, you can either adhere to my associates request, making sure the human is returned to us alive and well as an addendum to said request, AND that we are allowed to part ways from this temple without further interaction be it directly or indirectly. Or at least confirming he is beyond your reach, and his whereabouts as you know it. Truthfully. Do either of these things, and your statue shall be returned to you."
Charisma(?) Check: 2. (see OOC for further details regarding said check, if even needed)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
"Come on, now. This is true, we agreed to help out of the kindness of our hearts. And we did our part. However, we did not know that you kept some human hostage and sent another to retrieve the statue. You said it yourself, you can not tell one human from another and do not care about us. Consider us returning the statue on his behalf. Would you let him go once you get the thing?"Karis turned to others. "Can we just show the statue? To prove we do have it?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Yulmiath decides to maybe set his own stall out, trying to support their play for a reward.
"Mmm, some of us would have negotiated for a reward of some kind and now we know about what you offered another..."
Yulmiath looks around the other Packers to maybe back the play?
"We can only assume that their agreed reward is something of equal worth that you don't mind parting with given you've already made the agreement..."
He leaves the last part hanging in the air for the Naga's to ponder.
"We could always see if some other bunch of geonids want to buy it from us... I mean, they'd probably just eat it, but there we are. Giving us something you've already promised away to another, doesn't seem like a loss to me, seems like fair exchange to me."
(OOC Really hoping Yulmiath's actions can be interpreted as help to Karius. Really don't want to have to make the persuasion roll with his mighty +1! Just in case though, 2.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Kairus nodded again. "Sadly, this is also true. It was I who promised unconditional help without consulting with my companions first and I would give the statue back immediately. But turned out, that the human you have, is quite dear to some of us and in the light of new circumstances, we need to know he is fine and you will release him. Truly, there is no need for a fight here when a simple exchange will get us both what we want."
Hun huffed through his nose at Kairus initial rebuttal, but found himself grumbling a note of acceptance to at least part of it. When the Triton however double down on accepting the bone naga's "truth" of the meeting, which thanks in part to them Hun had been able to recall in far more detail, and thus provide a window to worm their way out, his sucked in a breath and steeled his expression.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
The Nagas do not respond well to Hun's attempt at dicing their initial agreement to the most minute of details. In their view, the agreement was simple: their religious icon was stolen and the party of adventurers agreed to retrieve it for them. This second-guessing, legalese cross-examination, and new demands seem quite the unhanded tactics.
Kairus' tone seems more agreeable. When the bard asks the rest of the group if they can show the icon, Ssura can't hold back her support: "Yesss. Proof of your successss."
Yulmiath tries to jump in the battle of words but what he is trying to achieve is lost on the snakes. They ignore the dragonborn at first but, when Kairus continues on a similar thread, they focus their attention on the triton. When Kairus seems to agree with another bit of their claim --the original agreement-- Y'zleth relents and agrees to some trade in addition to the original one, showing that an agreement can still be reached: "Quite dear to you, you sssay... like the icon issss very dear to usss. If we have the human, we ssshall reveal them to you. But..." She pauses, letting her companion pick up where she left off. "You are the onesss changing the agreement, so it fallsss on you the need to garner some goodwill. Ssshow usss the icon if you have it, and we'll ssshow you the human if we have them."
Before Kairus or any of the others can even say anything, Hun barks out a sharp command in a throaty and garbled tongue that immediately had Mr. Thicc not only snapping to attention, but also immediately marching to the Kobold's side. Until which time he stood at attention staring flatly at the pair. Without a word after, he looked once to the entryway frame in brief consideration before stepping at least five feet back into the tunnel.
Commentary, demands, request, pleas, and questions all fall on deaf ear drums until the Kobold seemed satisfied enough with his new positioning, Mr. Thicc having stayed directly at his side all the while, before dipping a hand into the bag. Again he utters something only the construct (and perhaps the snakes, should they speak Deep Speech) understood, before pulling out the idol and show it. All the while he glares at the duo.
@Lerus:
Hun gave the command to Mr. Thicc to do everything in its power to destroy the idol should it be taken from him.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
"Here, see? Safe and sound, all in one piece. Now about that human. To remind you: some time ago two humans wandered in here. You ... restrained one and sent another to get the statue. Rings the bell?" Kairus was sure it does - snakes were obviously lying before - but still tried to stay diplomatic.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tensions continue to rise, albeit at a gradual pace. Yulmiath tightens his grip on his weapon as Hun retreats a bit and digs into his magical bag, Mr. Thicc by his side. All attention turns to the kobold once he reveals the statuette. Kairus takes the chance to demand the Nagas keep their part of the deal. They don't.
Their empty-socket eyes immediately flash. Their targets are the four Packers who have been the most stubborn/annoying in their view in this current transaction:
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Krodhen and Rhogal watch as half of their party immediately stops moving. Kairus has just about avoided being incapacitated by the innately cast joint spells, but Yulmiath, Hun, and Mr. Thicc find themselves in a bit of a predicament.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The snakes proved to be as bloodthirsty as anything else on this island. Kairus was not wholly crashed by the deceit (both sides tried their best to deceive one another) but sad. Not so much to lose his head, though. The magic that filled the room felt kind of familiar (arcana check: 10) but regardless, the enemy was clear now all that could be done was to attack.
Kairus hissed something very quiet to others but sounding loud enough to the snake in front of him:
And then yelled quite loudly: "Yulmiath! Snap out of it, we need you!" Kairus hoped the dragonborn could hear him and still had a chance to join the battle. (Bardic Inspiration on Yulmiath)
(Cutting Words are on the ready for the successful attack of any snake on any target except construct)
Rather than be disheartened or surprised at the lack of a welcoming commitee, Hun rolled his eyes and mumbled something deritive under his breath. He then sighed, looked up once more, and seemed just about ready to shout into the room from the entryway of the room when Kairus beat him to the punch.
A touch frazzled by this, he blinks owlish at the Triton a few more times, before quickly recovering and finally hopping down from Mr. Thicc. "Stick by young blue." He quietly ordered the construct, as he himself looked from the scattered bones to back the way the group came in narrowed eye suspicion.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
@Rhogal: The chamber looks almost exactly like you remember, but some of the piles of pulverized bone have moved. You catch Hun looking at the bones too, so perhaps the kobold has also noticed this.
As the group takes in the chamber a second time, Yulmiath begins pacing around, his hands extended as if searching for gusts of air. He doesn't get too far before Kairus calls out the undead serpents. Hearing their name causes Yulmiath to shiver a bit and refocus his efforts away from searching for hidden passages and toward keeping an eye out for the serpents.
Upon hearing their names and an invitation to parley, the two Nagas slither dryly as they can out of separate piles of bone and bone dust. They hiss magically as they move, since they don't have tongues, flesh, or organs of any kind. Ssura speaks first: "Yesss, we can talk." Y'zleth adds: "We recognize your voice but not your visssage, blue ssskinned trickssster." Ssura: "But your group had been tasssked with a retrieval quessst." Y'zleth: "And you ssssay you were ssssuccessful? That is most delectable!" In unison: "Let usss sssee the marvelous icon of Merrshaulk."
(OOC: This is the first time the Nagas have named the deity who is worshiped in this shrine. This confirms something that Kairus had already deduced upon your first visit to this place.)
If Kairus looked back to Hun at all, the Kobold would in turn give him a meaningful look, hopefully the Triton kept to the 'proof of life first' plan. If he failed to, regardless of a look or not, then:
Hun immediately facepalms before dragging the hand down his snout with a groan. "Before we get far ahead of ourselves-..." He follows up with, interrupting others if need be, as he began marching over to eventually stand beside the Triton. "We've learned in our travels that there were others beside the rock folk who came before us. A human along with some others that you strong-tailed into a similar agreement as our own, after taking one of them hostage." He explained.
"If you yet still have him and he is yet alive, I would see him first. An uneven trade in your favor for seeing your marvelous icon again... wouldn't you agree?" He'd implore. "We've no intention to keep it from you of course regardless. But, I would know of this before we get into seeing things returned and promised reward granted.. to Young Blue here."
Persuasion: 6. (if needed)
If Kairus kept to the plan, layering whatever smooth talk he wished to further better their odds, then Hun would stand up straighter and look almost proudly at the Triton. Hun is otherwise quiet and attentively keeping an open ear for any signs of deceit to the guardians next few words. Either way, Mr. Thicc's protective orders remain unchanged as it stood nearby Kairus and whoever else opted to join the fish young'un.
Insight: 15.
d
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Kairus nodded energetically to soften the next sentence. "In a moment, esteemed Nagas. Let us all see the things we treasure first. We do have the statue - have to add it was not easy to get - but as you have something of ours now (the human that came before us that my companion mentioned) let's be fair and trade on the open. Shall we?"
Persuasion: 24
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Taken aback at the sight of the Naga's just slithering out of a pile of bones, Yulmiath lets a curse slip out before he's able to regain his composure.
"Shit on a stick!"
Smoothing down the front of his ragged shirt, as if it might make a difference, Yulmiath takes up a position close to one of the Naga (Nagi?), flanking and withing charging distance of this goes south.
While this exchange plays out, Yulmiath runs through the Packer's go word in his head over and over.
DM's Screen:
CHA rolls: 8 17
(OOC: As Kairus is sticking with the "proof of life" plan, than @Ori's conditional/spoiler part of his post is not taking place. Hence, Kairus' is the first mention of a human in this conversation.)
While Rhogal and Krodhen stay put near the entrance, Yulmiath continues to slowly move around the room. His initial intention was to find hidden passages; now, he is hoping to flank one of the snakes. His movement is noticed but not reacted to.
Mr. Thicc flanks Kairus instead, while Hun stays a few yards away observing the interaction and letting his facial expressions do the talking on his behalf. The snakes reply to Kairus' comment. "Thingssss you treasssure? A human?" Ssura says, followed by Y'zleth: "Let usss remind you that your group accepted the quessst out of the kindnesss of your heartsss. You mentioned no reward or payment." In unison: "Your requessst to sssee a human, even one we do not know of, isss changing the initial agreement."
@Hun:
Although it strikes you as being somewhat surprising, you know the Nagas are telling the truth regarding the initial agreement. They promised no reward of any kind and the Snackers never bothered to bargain for one. They are clearly taking offense to this sudden additional request, as it goes against the initial agreement. Whether Hun cares about that is obviously up to you but, in a way, the Nagas are in the right here when it comes to keeping to the agreed upon deal. Trying to change it once you have retrieved the statue is sort of a low blow, kind of asking for ransom really, and Hun recognizes that.
All of this said, the whole "even one we do not know of" strikes you as a blatant lie.
OCC: Remember that at this point, the spoiler portion of your previous post did not take place.
Still in a calm tone, Ssura adds: "Show us the icon."
Hun's eyes darted about as he looked towards the ground, frustrated seeming at first, before narrowing his eyes at a thought. Once more he pulled out the strange card again for a quick once over and reminder, prior to then sighing and stuffing it away again. After which, he looks up to the Naga that spoke last, open his mouth to say something only to hesitate seeing Yulmiath for moment, but then abruptly carry on with, "Technically speaking, we promised to /try/ and retrieve it. Never was it directly referenced that we would return it upon acquisition, if you want to play that word game." He says, narrowing his eyes at the last snake to speak.
"It just so happens that we succeeded, accepting the risks of such actions. And it's only /now/ -- out of the 'kindness' of our hearts -- that we've return to you to further discuss things for a proper and equitable arrangement." He explains. "Now we can go back and forth about the 'spirit' of the agreement, other technicalities, and so on and so forth. We could also let things get a bit /messy/ on both ends. Which I'm sure neither side wants that. So, you can either adhere to my associates request, making sure the human is returned to us alive and well as an addendum to said request, AND that we are allowed to part ways from this temple without further interaction be it directly or indirectly. Or at least confirming he is beyond your reach, and his whereabouts as you know it. Truthfully. Do either of these things, and your statue shall be returned to you."
Charisma(?) Check: 2.
(see OOC for further details regarding said check, if even needed)
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
"Come on, now. This is true, we agreed to help out of the kindness of our hearts. And we did our part. However, we did not know that you kept some human hostage and sent another to retrieve the statue. You said it yourself, you can not tell one human from another and do not care about us. Consider us returning the statue on his behalf. Would you let him go once you get the thing?" Karis turned to others. "Can we just show the statue? To prove we do have it?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Yulmiath decides to maybe set his own stall out, trying to support their play for a reward.
"Mmm, some of us would have negotiated for a reward of some kind and now we know about what you offered another..."
Yulmiath looks around the other Packers to maybe back the play?
"We can only assume that their agreed reward is something of equal worth that you don't mind parting with given you've already made the agreement..."
He leaves the last part hanging in the air for the Naga's to ponder.
"We could always see if some other bunch of geonids want to buy it from us... I mean, they'd probably just eat it, but there we are. Giving us something you've already promised away to another, doesn't seem like a loss to me, seems like fair exchange to me."
(OOC Really hoping Yulmiath's actions can be interpreted as help to Karius. Really don't want to have to make the persuasion roll with his mighty +1! Just in case though, 2.)
Kairus nodded again. "Sadly, this is also true. It was I who promised unconditional help without consulting with my companions first and I would give the statue back immediately. But turned out, that the human you have, is quite dear to some of us and in the light of new circumstances, we need to know he is fine and you will release him. Truly, there is no need for a fight here when a simple exchange will get us both what we want."
(Persuasion with help: 20)
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Hun huffed through his nose at Kairus initial rebuttal, but found himself grumbling a note of acceptance to at least part of it. When the Triton however double down on accepting the bone naga's "truth" of the meeting, which thanks in part to them Hun had been able to recall in far more detail, and thus provide a window to worm their way out, his sucked in a breath and steeled his expression.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
The Nagas do not respond well to Hun's attempt at dicing their initial agreement to the most minute of details. In their view, the agreement was simple: their religious icon was stolen and the party of adventurers agreed to retrieve it for them. This second-guessing, legalese cross-examination, and new demands seem quite the unhanded tactics.
Kairus' tone seems more agreeable. When the bard asks the rest of the group if they can show the icon, Ssura can't hold back her support: "Yesss. Proof of your successss."
Yulmiath tries to jump in the battle of words but what he is trying to achieve is lost on the snakes. They ignore the dragonborn at first but, when Kairus continues on a similar thread, they focus their attention on the triton. When Kairus seems to agree with another bit of their claim --the original agreement-- Y'zleth relents and agrees to some trade in addition to the original one, showing that an agreement can still be reached: "Quite dear to you, you sssay... like the icon issss very dear to usss. If we have the human, we ssshall reveal them to you. But..." She pauses, letting her companion pick up where she left off. "You are the onesss changing the agreement, so it fallsss on you the need to garner some goodwill. Ssshow usss the icon if you have it, and we'll ssshow you the human if we have them."
Before Kairus or any of the others can even say anything, Hun barks out a sharp command in a throaty and garbled tongue that immediately had Mr. Thicc not only snapping to attention, but also immediately marching to the Kobold's side. Until which time he stood at attention staring flatly at the pair. Without a word after, he looked once to the entryway frame in brief consideration before stepping at least five feet back into the tunnel.
Commentary, demands, request, pleas, and questions all fall on deaf ear drums until the Kobold seemed satisfied enough with his new positioning, Mr. Thicc having stayed directly at his side all the while, before dipping a hand into the bag. Again he utters something only the construct (and perhaps the snakes, should they speak Deep Speech) understood, before pulling out the idol and show it. All the while he glares at the duo.
@Lerus:
Hun gave the command to Mr. Thicc to do everything in its power to destroy the idol should it be taken from him.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
"Here, see? Safe and sound, all in one piece. Now about that human. To remind you: some time ago two humans wandered in here. You ... restrained one and sent another to get the statue. Rings the bell?" Kairus was sure it does - snakes were obviously lying before - but still tried to stay diplomatic.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Trying to continue to act casual, Yulmaith's knuckles whiten on the haft of his greataxe slightly undermining him.
This all feels a little like a Whaterdavian stand-off to the dragonborn, not one he feel like he want to be part of.
Tensions continue to rise, albeit at a gradual pace. Yulmiath tightens his grip on his weapon as Hun retreats a bit and digs into his magical bag, Mr. Thicc by his side. All attention turns to the kobold once he reveals the statuette. Kairus takes the chance to demand the Nagas keep their part of the deal. They don't.
Their empty-socket eyes immediately flash. Their targets are the four Packers who have been the most stubborn/annoying in their view in this current transaction:
Krodhen and Rhogal watch as half of their party immediately stops moving. Kairus has just about avoided being incapacitated by the innately cast joint spells, but Yulmiath, Hun, and Mr. Thicc find themselves in a bit of a predicament.
ROLLING INITIATIVE:
(Hun can't do much, so Mr. Thicc, Rhogal and Kairus go first.)
The snakes proved to be as bloodthirsty as anything else on this island. Kairus was not wholly crashed by the deceit (both sides tried their best to deceive one another) but sad. Not so much to lose his head, though. The magic that filled the room felt kind of familiar (arcana check: 10) but regardless, the enemy was clear now all that could be done was to attack.
Kairus hissed something very quiet to others but sounding loud enough to the snake in front of him:
Dissonant Whispers for 18 (Wis dave 15 for half damage and no effect)
And then yelled quite loudly: "Yulmiath! Snap out of it, we need you!" Kairus hoped the dragonborn could hear him and still had a chance to join the battle. (Bardic Inspiration on Yulmiath)
(Cutting Words are on the ready for the successful attack of any snake on any target except construct)
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice