Tock steps forward. "We convinced him to be forthright about the nature of this place and what he hopes to discover here. It is of utmost importance to us that some of it be uncovered and utilized."
He sighs. "This seems to be unsatisfactory for you though. How can we help you make peace with the fact that this is going to happen over the coming days? We have many connections in many places and some fairly potent abilities ourselves. Is there any other problem, situation, question or wish you would like us to solve for you in exchange?"
“Are you confident that you can excavate trapped magical artifacts safely? Wouldn’t you rather him take the risk, cleanse these lands of one last dangerous item from the mage wars while you oversee what is taken from a safe distance, with an assurance he will not return? As my colleague said, he will just try to return and pester you further,”Dog says, before pausing and looking at Sturdyoak with a thoughtful expression. “Do you know Silverbraid?”
Tock is observing the rest of the goliaths. Are all of them as steadfast as the leader? He is rolling around a few options in his head of .. lets say neutralizing the leader and is trying to assess if this would turn the situation around or would he just get attacked by all of them.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Martin approaches. His cloak begins to flutter in the wind from his position up the hill, creating a very heroic looking image.
“When you cut your hand on a saw, you don’t bury the saw. When you put a fish hook in your palm, you don’t blame the hook. The tool is what it is. It’s time to pick up the tool again, and get to work. Let that feller up there work.”
Motes of light begin to rise from his cape, as he tries to put on the show he thinks these people need, more than what they want
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The goliath do not seem torn or unsure. They appear to have great confidence in Sturdyoak.
DM shield:
20
"We live and breathe the mountain air. We may not tunnel like dwarves or gnomes but we know our way through the rock and soil. We shall dig out what you need and bring it to you and the gnome will never see these lands again."
The goliath are mildly impressed by Martin's magic as stone appears to chisel from off his face, shoulders, and arms to reveal the man underneath the illusion.
"And we are the proper tool," Sturdyoak says. "So let us work."
As the kenku begins to cast, Dog thinks back to one of the last times he saw his parents. Frustrated to learn that most goliaths, such as his parents, have tattoos on their arms, heads, and often their torsos, he became ashamed at his unadorned skin. He wanted to show how fierce he could be.
So he tried to draw tattoos on his head, similar to his father's. When his parents discovered him doing this, his mother became enraged, and his father withdrawn but no less furious. The ink eventually came off, though it took a few weeks for it to really disappear.
Tock recalls a riddle he heard many years ago one night around the campfire of the circus.
And elderly woman asked with a smirk: "Riddle me this - what happens if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
After a lot of joyous wondering and joking by everyone around she guided the crowd towards the conclusion that the only way this can be solved is if the object is broken.
Tock has absolutely no problem with breaking the immovable object.
Martin recalls an argument he had with… no, her name is too much. Like digging up her corpse.
She had an idea for changing the forest. Her belief was that the forest hadn’t always been filled with evil. It had been a normal, everyday forest with trees… but they watched. The townsfolk had taken to abiding by the law and presenting themselves as good people, in town. But the forest… that was where they went to do evil. They used it to dispose of their trash, and to hide them as they performed evil deeds. They thought they would return to town with none the wiser. The trees watched though. No one ever came to walk with a lover, or teach a child to love nature. So the forest’s trees had turned. It was why she and Martin were necessary in the first place. To hack the evil trees to pieces and keep the forest at bay.
She wanted to build a house there. She believed that - in time- the trees would see the warmth of life the two of them would make there and change the trees. Martin had scoffed, called it impossible. The two of them fought over it often. She stopped coming with him to fight back the woods.
She had gone and started building the house anyway. When she finished, she showed Martin, and he was angry about what she had done. Angry that she had left him on his own to fight for a foolish idea. In his spite, he left her on her own.
She had died for his stubbornness. Maybe if he had stayed with her, believed in her, trusted that change was not just necessary, but good…
Ronis remembers an older man's face, from when he was younger, both of them crammed into a cell along with others. He'd been crying, a friend of his had been taken earlier that day, and the man was trying to comfort him.
"Why?" He choked out between sobs. "Why wont they just leave us alone?"
The man had just smiled sadly, running a hand down his back, letting him cry. "There will always be those who seek to use others to achieve what they want, to abuse others for power or their ambition. We can do not but stand firm against such ideas, in the way of those who would hold them, and fight to keep success from them."
Ronis was only half listening, tears still streaming down his face, mixing with snot as he choked out breaths, but still he managed to nod.
"We take such risks every day," Studyoak says, gesturing to the hills and the mountains beyond. "These are our..."
Tock has cast his spell but not without notice. A goliath woman to Sturdyoak's left reaches for her axe handle, unsure about what is happening but sure that something is. She has not drawn the weapon but has clearly tensed in readiness.
"...lands, our home."
Sturdyoak finishes his sentence, the strength of his voice waning as Tock's charm sways the goliath. A silence falls between the goliaths and the party.
Tocksays, "We know and understand that this is your home. And it has history and you have emotions about it. Completely normal."
He gestures at all of them, "All you are doing is taking care that you and yours is safe and some bad history does not repeat itself. I understand that, we all do. It's not what we are trying to take away from you."
Tocksays, "For us it's the same thing - we are taking care of us and ours and trying to make sure some bad history does not repeat itself. But the picture is somewhat larger - it also contains the Heavens and Hells and many thousands of years of history. Just recently we spent quite a few days at the bottom of the ocean recovering an obelisk that was put there about six thousand years ago. It kept the memory of the last time GODS fought and died."
He then asks Sturdyoak directly, "But I'm getting ahead of myself. May we sit down here and tell our story?"
Dog actually manages to keep it relatively brief. Just the toplines. Whether he's listening to Tock, or he's nervous in a way he's never been nervous before, or if he's trying to play for not-too-much time, he starts at the circus and then does a 5-10 minute summary of meeting Genny and Nev, the fight to control her waged by the Hells and the Heavens, and how they ended up royal appointees and guardians.
Then he does a much briefer explanation of the stakes -- though not the more sensitive specifics -- of the current problem. Gods fighting, the threats they've learned about, the stakes. Whenever possible, he tries to assemble a cogent argument that this fight affects everyone, and the sooner and more expeditiously it can be resolved, the better. (And some highlights of the most impressive things he's fought and defeated.)
He also spends a few minutes explaining his dealings with the wizard. He resented him for years for employing his parents, keeping Dog from being a true goliath warrior. Leaving to go seek glory and fortune, failing, and ending up on the trail to the circus. Then Finnegan finding him again, being grumpy but trustworthy.
"So we will be watching him like hawks, and while he is powerful, we can handle him. Nothing he takes will be misused."
Whenever possible, he pulls in the others for help with an explanation. Tock of course. Martin and especially Ronis for outside perspectives that might put the goliaths at ease, similarly skeptical.
Recap: Tock has charmed Sturdyoak, who has come to evict Finnegan, the mage, from his archaeological dig into the likely ruined laboratory of a notable mage (Kalazath) from the long-ago Mage Wars. Weapons are down and Sturdyoak is sitting quietly as Dog regales him with their tale.
"Such a story to tell your children," Sturdyoak says politely. "I look forward to telling my own children of what we find when digging into this hillside for you."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Tock steps forward. "We convinced him to be forthright about the nature of this place and what he hopes to discover here. It is of utmost importance to us that some of it be uncovered and utilized."
He sighs. "This seems to be unsatisfactory for you though. How can we help you make peace with the fact that this is going to happen over the coming days? We have many connections in many places and some fairly potent abilities ourselves. Is there any other problem, situation, question or wish you would like us to solve for you in exchange?"
"This land is not for sale," the goliath says. "We offer no exchange. The gnome must leave, one way or another."
“Are you confident that you can excavate trapped magical artifacts safely? Wouldn’t you rather him take the risk, cleanse these lands of one last dangerous item from the mage wars while you oversee what is taken from a safe distance, with an assurance he will not return? As my colleague said, he will just try to return and pester you further,” Dog says, before pausing and looking at Sturdyoak with a thoughtful expression. “Do you know Silverbraid?”
Tock is observing the rest of the goliaths. Are all of them as steadfast as the leader? He is rolling around a few options in his head of .. lets say neutralizing the leader and is trying to assess if this would turn the situation around or would he just get attacked by all of them.
Insight check: 22
Martin approaches. His cloak begins to flutter in the wind from his position up the hill, creating a very heroic looking image.
“When you cut your hand on a saw, you don’t bury the saw. When you put a fish hook in your palm, you don’t blame the hook. The tool is what it is. It’s time to pick up the tool again, and get to work. Let that feller up there work.”
Motes of light begin to rise from his cape, as he tries to put on the show he thinks these people need, more than what they want
I think I’m using my glamour weave cape correctly
performance 16 dis/adv 3 + cape bonus 4
Paladin - warforged - orange
The goliath do not seem torn or unsure. They appear to have great confidence in Sturdyoak.
DM shield:
20
"We live and breathe the mountain air. We may not tunnel like dwarves or gnomes but we know our way through the rock and soil. We shall dig out what you need and bring it to you and the gnome will never see these lands again."
The goliath are mildly impressed by Martin's magic as stone appears to chisel from off his face, shoulders, and arms to reveal the man underneath the illusion.
"And we are the proper tool," Sturdyoak says. "So let us work."
“And you can disarm ancient deadly arcane traps and wards? Would you accept help on that front as you dig?” Dog says.
Tock just casts Charm Person on Sturdyoak to see what happens next. WIS save 17.
As the kenku begins to cast, Dog thinks back to one of the last times he saw his parents. Frustrated to learn that most goliaths, such as his parents, have tattoos on their arms, heads, and often their torsos, he became ashamed at his unadorned skin. He wanted to show how fierce he could be.
So he tried to draw tattoos on his head, similar to his father's. When his parents discovered him doing this, his mother became enraged, and his father withdrawn but no less furious. The ink eventually came off, though it took a few weeks for it to really disappear.
Tock recalls a riddle he heard many years ago one night around the campfire of the circus.
And elderly woman asked with a smirk: "Riddle me this - what happens if an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
After a lot of joyous wondering and joking by everyone around she guided the crowd towards the conclusion that the only way this can be solved is if the object is broken.
Tock has absolutely no problem with breaking the immovable object.
Martin recalls an argument he had with… no, her name is too much. Like digging up her corpse.
She had an idea for changing the forest. Her belief was that the forest hadn’t always been filled with evil. It had been a normal, everyday forest with trees… but they watched. The townsfolk had taken to abiding by the law and presenting themselves as good people, in town. But the forest… that was where they went to do evil. They used it to dispose of their trash, and to hide them as they performed evil deeds. They thought they would return to town with none the wiser. The trees watched though. No one ever came to walk with a lover, or teach a child to love nature. So the forest’s trees had turned. It was why she and Martin were necessary in the first place. To hack the evil trees to pieces and keep the forest at bay.
She wanted to build a house there. She believed that - in time- the trees would see the warmth of life the two of them would make there and change the trees. Martin had scoffed, called it impossible. The two of them fought over it often. She stopped coming with him to fight back the woods.
She had gone and started building the house anyway. When she finished, she showed Martin, and he was angry about what she had done. Angry that she had left him on his own to fight for a foolish idea. In his spite, he left her on her own.
She had died for his stubbornness. Maybe if he had stayed with her, believed in her, trusted that change was not just necessary, but good…
———————————
Martin lowers his bow.
Paladin - warforged - orange
Ronis remembers an older man's face, from when he was younger, both of them crammed into a cell along with others. He'd been crying, a friend of his had been taken earlier that day, and the man was trying to comfort him.
"Why?" He choked out between sobs. "Why wont they just leave us alone?"
The man had just smiled sadly, running a hand down his back, letting him cry. "There will always be those who seek to use others to achieve what they want, to abuse others for power or their ambition. We can do not but stand firm against such ideas, in the way of those who would hold them, and fight to keep success from them."
Ronis was only half listening, tears still streaming down his face, mixing with snot as he choked out breaths, but still he managed to nod.
The man was taken the next day.
DM shield:
WIS(17): 20
12
Jet lag is a real beast!
"We take such risks every day," Studyoak says, gesturing to the hills and the mountains beyond. "These are our..."
Tock has cast his spell but not without notice. A goliath woman to Sturdyoak's left reaches for her axe handle, unsure about what is happening but sure that something is. She has not drawn the weapon but has clearly tensed in readiness.
"...lands, our home."
Sturdyoak finishes his sentence, the strength of his voice waning as Tock's charm sways the goliath. A silence falls between the goliaths and the party.
Tock says, "We know and understand that this is your home. And it has history and you have emotions about it. Completely normal."
He gestures at all of them, "All you are doing is taking care that you and yours is safe and some bad history does not repeat itself. I understand that, we all do. It's not what we are trying to take away from you."
Tock says, "For us it's the same thing - we are taking care of us and ours and trying to make sure some bad history does not repeat itself. But the picture is somewhat larger - it also contains the Heavens and Hells and many thousands of years of history. Just recently we spent quite a few days at the bottom of the ocean recovering an obelisk that was put there about six thousand years ago. It kept the memory of the last time GODS fought and died."
He then asks Sturdyoak directly, "But I'm getting ahead of myself. May we sit down here and tell our story?"
Sturdyoak nods slowly and sits crosslegged on the ground. His tribe, looking no less uncertain, sit as well.
Tock sits down and invites others to do the same.
"Lets start from the beginning. Dog, if you will? You have a way with words. Lets keep this to less than an hour, so it should be thorough but brief."
Dog actually manages to keep it relatively brief. Just the toplines. Whether he's listening to Tock, or he's nervous in a way he's never been nervous before, or if he's trying to play for not-too-much time, he starts at the circus and then does a 5-10 minute summary of meeting Genny and Nev, the fight to control her waged by the Hells and the Heavens, and how they ended up royal appointees and guardians.
Then he does a much briefer explanation of the stakes -- though not the more sensitive specifics -- of the current problem. Gods fighting, the threats they've learned about, the stakes. Whenever possible, he tries to assemble a cogent argument that this fight affects everyone, and the sooner and more expeditiously it can be resolved, the better. (And some highlights of the most impressive things he's fought and defeated.)
He also spends a few minutes explaining his dealings with the wizard. He resented him for years for employing his parents, keeping Dog from being a true goliath warrior. Leaving to go seek glory and fortune, failing, and ending up on the trail to the circus. Then Finnegan finding him again, being grumpy but trustworthy.
"So we will be watching him like hawks, and while he is powerful, we can handle him. Nothing he takes will be misused."
Whenever possible, he pulls in the others for help with an explanation. Tock of course. Martin and especially Ronis for outside perspectives that might put the goliaths at ease, similarly skeptical.
Recap: Tock has charmed Sturdyoak, who has come to evict Finnegan, the mage, from his archaeological dig into the likely ruined laboratory of a notable mage (Kalazath) from the long-ago Mage Wars. Weapons are down and Sturdyoak is sitting quietly as Dog regales him with their tale.
"Such a story to tell your children," Sturdyoak says politely. "I look forward to telling my own children of what we find when digging into this hillside for you."