Dimir's Out of the Abyss

Trill gives off a soft laugh, and responds quietly in Aimon's voice. "...crazy fish people..."

If its still within an hour of her casting Comprehend Languages, Trill will try to get a sense if the speaker is telling the truth.

Insight: 18

Aimon stands up but doesn't approach the kuo-toa.

"Hi there," he says to them (in common or undercommon depending on what language they used). "Excuse us for being a wee bit wary of what's going on here. It's a lot to take in so quickly. I'm Aimon."

He then gestures at the other group of dead kuo-toa.

"What just happened?"

"They told us to come out, and that they aren't going to hurt us," Caelynn whispers to Oak. "I don't know how much I trust them, so if anything goes wrong, get ready to jump in."

Then, she takes a single step out around the side of the boulder, prepared to dive back behind it if they attack. "Who are you? And who are they?" She adds to Aimon's question, gesturing to the fallen kuo-toa.

(Taking the dodge action)

“hHMmmph...” snorts Oak from behind the boulder “Hmmmm... yes ok. Yes I’m ready...”, he says to Caelynn.

He stays hiding behind the boulder for now. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the boulder is hiding in front of Oak ((he wants to see if they will play nice without the added incentive of a hulking great minotaur staring them down)). But he is ready for the slightest reason to storm round and help...

((From now on, it goes without saying that the Kuo-toa are talking in Undercommon. Sorry.))

The Kuo-toa that was casting spells disdainfully nudges one of the dead bodies with his webbed foot as he says, "They are traitors to out ways. We were going to follow and slay them." He turns back to the group and says, "I am Ploopploopeen, archpriest of the Sea Mother Blipdoolvpoolp." He begins rocking up and down on his heels in excitement before he says, " The Sea Mother has sent me you in answer to my prayers! Help us, and we will reward you greatly!"

Ploopploopeen is about five and a half feet tall. He too clutches a staff with a pincer on top. Strangely, he is wearing robes made of fishing nets. All sorts of random junk is hanging from it: fish, crystals, lobsters, seaweed, thigh bones, a wedge of cheese... All of it is hanging haphazardly from small  hooks woven into the net.

Trill, you get the sense that he is being truthful. He seems happy at your arrival.

Hearing that things have died down a little, Oak peeks out from his hiding space, and emerges slowly behind Caelynn, so as not to startle any one: nothing in his hands.

((OOC: can Oak assume that Caelynn would quietly translates as best she can for him, whenever it’s appropriate and where it wouldn’t cause any fuss?))

Aimon swings both arms out and bows before hoping up onto one of the boulders.

"I'm Aimon Silvertongue," he says to Ploopploopeen. "We are very grateful for your assistance here."

He pivots on top of the boulder and introduces the rest of the party, naming Trill, Caelynn, Oak, Jimjar, and Topsy, omitting Stool as he seems to be hidden again. Then he turns back to the high priest.

"Now, tells us about your troubles," he says then pauses before smiling," and the reward, don't forget the reward part." 

" Ploopploopeen, archpriest of the Sea Mother Blipdoolvpoolp - we do not want to harm you! The Sea Mother has sent - us - in answer to - prayers! "

Caelynn nods and lifts a hand in greeting when she is introduced, then stands back and lets the slightly more charismatic members of the group handle the negotiations. She translates what is happening to Oak while keeping an eye on the kuo-toa to make sure they aren’t planning anything underhanded.

Ploopploopeen thinks for a moment before saying, "My daughter has been worshipping someone called the Deep Father. The rites she does are frowned upon by the Sea Mother. Her followers and mine have been quarreling for the past several months. I want you to pretend you are sacrifices I have captured to give to her as a peace offering. When the time is right, you drop the facade and kill her. We will give you gold. And jewels. And a navigator. " He looks very pleased at his plan.

Oh crap, Aimon thinks. Jimjar wasn’t kidding about how crazy these guys were.

”That’s an amazing reward,” Aimon says. “And what a terrible sounding daughter. But, and this is purely a suggestion, what if you just talked to her? Maybe you could talk her into coming back to the proper ways.”

He then looks over at the others, eyebrows raised.He the. Looks back to the priest.

”Is your daughter evil by any chance? Killer of innocents?”

"I've tried talking to her, but she won't listen to me! She's crazy!" He exclaims.

He begins pacing and gesturing energetically with his hands as he continues. "I thought this Deep Father was fake, but she suddenly gained magical powers after she began worshipping him. Some of my people flocked to her side, leaving the Sea Mother. And yes, she has used several Kuo-toa as sacrifices, but she and her followers are too caught up in their worship to realize how horrible that is."

 " Will you help me kill her? "

As Caelynn explains what’s happening, Oak seems amenable and says, “Well we could certainly do with a navigator down here...”.

Aimon looks back at the others with a bit of a grimace on his face. 

"I think we just play along for now until we get a better idea of what's really going on," Aimon says quietly in Common. "Agreed?"

Oak speaks quietly and slowly, in common, out of the side of his mouth, to Aimon, in an even lower register than normal (if that’s possible), whilst trying to move his lips as little as possible... “... ... ... a-greed.....”, he manages to say (thinking he’s being super smooth and sly and sneaky). He may even throw in an overblown, ostentatious-wink, for good measure, that he probably thinks the Kao Toa can’t see...

...Come to think of it, they’ve probably never even seen a wink before anyway. They don’t look like they have eye-lids. ‘They must be so jealous of me winking...’, thinks Oak...

Happy with that, he then glances around at the fish massacre all over the floor to see if he can see any weapons... He’s specifically looking/glancing to see if he can spot any nets, or shields, or any other one-handed weapons.

He’s not taking them (or even moving) he’s just looking to see if he sees anything like that...

"A navigator would be useful. They might even know of a tunnel to the surface..." Caelynn's face brightens a bit at the mere prospect of seeing the sun again. She doesn't know how much she trusts the kuo-toa or believes the priest's story, but if he's at least being honest about the reward, they shouldn't pass up the opportunity. And if worse comes to worst, she's fairly confident they could take on a few fish people and get out of there.

If nobody has any objections, she'll tell Ploopploopeen in Undercommon, "We'll try to help you."

At the party's consent, Ploopploopeen hops from one foot to another in excitement as he says, "Praise the Sea Mother for your help! We will tie ropes loosely around your hands as to not draw suspicion when we enter the village."

 He snaps his fingers, and his escorts approach and the ropes around your wrists. They do it gently, and you feel like you can easily slip out of them.

With that, he begins happily leading the group towards those settlement with a spring in his step. He is humming a perky time as he does. A few Kuo-toa lag behind the group to make sure they keep up, but they leave you plenty of space to converse without eavesdropping.

Caelynn spends a moment testing the ropes, and is satisfied with her ability to escape when the time comes. She glances over to Oak, who she recalls had the worst reaction when they were tied up for real by the now-dead kuo-toa. She wonders if he's had bad experiences with being captured before. Regardless, she wants to make sure this isn't stressing him out too much. "You doing alright?" She asks him quietly, adjusting her pace so she's walking next to him.

Oak looks over at Caelynn, with his wrists only loosely bound this time. “I’m fine...” he says.

As the group are lead away from the scene, she might notice he’s carefully stepping over all the wreckage and the bodies... 

But when he gets to one particular fish-person - without breaking step, or looking down - he raises his enormous hoofed-foot (as if to step over), but brings it down right on the head of the dead Kao Toa, with a sickening,.. squelching,.. crunch...

”...I’m fine........”, he says, as they’re lead away from the scene.

Aimon matches his step with the others and keeps his voice down.

”This is crazier than I imagined. Who finds a group of random strangers and asks them to kill their daughter?” 

He walks on for a few more steps.

“I think the sooner we’re clear of these guys the better. Getting mixed up in some part religious part family dispute can’t end well.”