Caliban leans on his warhammer as if it is a cane and looks behind, to the sides, and even above to ensure no other creatures are coming at them from other angles. He keeps his eyes out for threats while letting others in the party parlay with the bullywugs.
Allorian is quietly assessing the situation. Not making any sudden moves and taking his cues from Brue to seem unthreatening. His eyes watching the bullywugs posture and body language to try to get a read on whether they feel threatened or if they feel in control of the situation.
The largest of the bullywugs looks directly at Rhasor and Serzor and says "Why do men come on land uninvited?"
Rhasor bows and says "We are here as emissaries to see your king. Is Bigllirg still on the throne?" As he finishes his statement, Serzor steps forward with a small box and holds it out toward the bullywug as he opens it. The bullywug quickly snatches it from Serzor and hides it away on his person before replying "We will escort you to see King Bigllirg. He is not happy that men have violated our agreement. May he let live you."
In the brief glance at the box, it appears that there were red, blue, yellow, and green gems in it. The lead bullywug turns and leads the way deeper into the swamp, with the other bullywugs continuing to surround the party. Rhasor and Serzor both move forward and motion for the rest of the party to follow. If any one at the rear of the party will not move with the others, they will get prodded with a spear or two, not enough to cause damage, but, hard enough to let one know that the spears are sharp.
After another fifteen minutes or so of travel, the party enters a small village, with crude huts surrounding a plaza. At the far end of the plaza, is a platform and at top the platform is a large throne in which sits an enormous bullywug. While most of the bullywugs stand about 5'6" tall and may weight 150 to 170 lbs, this bullywug appears to weight twice that, and appears to be somewhat taller too, although that is hard to tell while he is seated. Sitting on either side of the throne are two giant frogs, each easily five feet tall. There are two lines of bullywugs holding spears lining in the plaza, forming a narrow path through which the party must traverse to reach the throne. The bullywugs escorting the party joins these lines, with the exception of the leader of your group. He continues walking up the pathway to the throne, at which point he kneels and bows his head, before saying "Most exultant, supreme leader of all that is wet, Glugle brings you emissaries from the despicable, traitorous men-things that live south of your most exultant domain."
"Yes, we recognize Rhazooor and Serzooor. We will listen to their pleas before we put them to death for betraying their agreements with our exalted selves."
Rhazor and Serzor step forward, with Serzor pulling a small chest out of his backpack. Rhazor bows to the throne and says "Your most exultant one! We bring additional tribute to you, to honor your greatness." Serzor steps forward and places the chest on the ground before opening the lid for the bullywug to look into.
While the bullywug is looking at the chest, Rhazor continues "How have we betrayed the agreement? We continue to pay you tribute on every other full moon, as we agreed to. Our hunters our instructed to keep within 10 leaps of the river. We would like to understand what we have done to offend you."
The king looks down at Rhazor and Serzor before reaching into the chest and pulling out a small, box "How does this work, scum?"
Serzor reaches up and turns the small handle on the side of it, to which a tune begins to play out for a few seconds.
After listening to it, Gibllirg says "This is a nice treasure, but, does not make up for you hunting and killing our pets. (as he says this, the king pats the head of one of the giant frogs) Several of our less stout warriors were even killed trying to defend them. Why do you come into our kingdom and kill our pets?"
Rhazor and Serzor exchange looks that appear to be of surprise and shock "But, o magnificent one, we have done no such thing. We have heard there are strangers out in the bay. We have no control over them, if they are the ones that are attacking your pets."
"Bah, you lie. The men we talk about, talk like you, dress like you, and use your landing to invade our lands. We even recognize some of your subjects leading them. The strangers, we know of them. They don't understand your tongue, but, if we ignore them, they ignore us. They only use their camp, over their (and points to the northwest). Perhaps it is time we killed their little ones."
As he finishes this statement, you hear a noise off to the side of the plaza, and look over and see two children in cages being carried into the area by four bullywugs.
OOC This week is turning out to be very hectic. My posting will be somewhat erratic until Saturday.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Xarrut steps forward. “Oh majestic great one, please allow this one to show loyalty to your mercifulness. For although I have just seen you, I perceive your wisdom clearly. Allow me the first opportunity to show loyalty in the face of such betrayal by killing the men who have wronged you.” He bows low.
Tandal clenches his hands, digging his fingernails into his skin. "This is all for some pets!" He wants to say, but doesn't. These frogs are getting on his bad side.
"King Gibllirg, could you tell us more about these people from the village that are hunting in your area? We (Allorian indicates our group) are here to investigate some of these disturbances and could be of assistance to you."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Bayard has no real reason to believe they're lying, but no reason to believe they're telling the truth either, so he pays close attention to the king at the reactions of his people, trying to learn their body language and determine the truth of things. As they may be telling the truth, he also watches the townsmen as well to be safe.
Rhazor, Serzor, and Brue all look over in shock at the children being carried into the plaza. After Xarrut steps forward and promises to kill the offending humans, the look of shock changes to one of horror.
After a pause, Serzor steps forward and bows low before saying “Most wise King of the Swamp and all wet lands, we have no clue who these men are that use the docks to hunt your frogs. We remind the villagers regularly about our agreement with you. We can hunt mammals in the swamp, we can fish in the river, and within 20 leaps of the river. We can hunt reptiles within come onto our side of the river, or are present within 20 leaps of the river, but, we cannot hunt amphibians on this side of the river. We have honored this agreement. We do not know who these men are that do not honor the agreement.”
The king spits on the ground before using his tongue to capture a fly that was buzzing around his head. “You lie. We have followed these men back to a boat at the landing. The boat went downriver, and headed south of the town to the let the hunters off before returning to your docks. Why do you bring people into our swamps to hunt our frogs? We found Rex’s brother (at this point, the king pats one of the giant frogs on the head), killed and cut open with some of his organs taken from him. That is barbaric and we will not allow that practice to continue.”
At this point, the two children are set down in front of the king, who then motions for two of the bullywug guards standing near the throne to come forward.
Bayard has a difficult time reading the bullywug’s body language, but, near as he can tell, all the individuals involved are telling the truth, or what they believe is the truth.
Bayard looks to the men from the village, "What is south of the river? Any other settlements? And, your majesty, could you identify the specific boats you've seen so that we may bring the individual involved to justice rather than spark a war between your people?"As he speaks, he looks to Allorian for cues on his opinion of what to do, holding himself ready for combat if necessary.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Allorian makes a calming gesture with his hands. Not wanting to engage in combat while on their home turf. Nodding to Bayard that he is on the right track.
"Yes, your Majesty, we need more information if we are to solve this and figure out who is poaching on your land. Harming the children will not solve this problem but only increase the feud between your people and the people of the village. Rhazor and his men have not authorized this illegal hunting...have you Rhazor (this last said with emphasis). You have had many years of peace dealing with Rhazor so please do not be rash, and those children certainly did nothing. Now, describe these men and their boats, or show me where I may catch them in the act of poaching."
Turning to face Rhazor with his back to the bullywugs Allorian gets in his face, and with an intense stare and a calm voice asks, "Do you know of these poachers?" Insight- 8
The king responds “humph, your boats all look the same from under the water. But, we’ve followed them from the old docks to the empty beach south of town and then back north to your docks. That is where you can find the poachers. If Rhasor and his people were serious about stopping poaching, they would have brought those men to me by now!”
Rhasor stutters out a response “No, no, we would never authorize this poaching. The agreement has been good for us.”
When Allorian turns to face Rhasor, the man goes pale, before softly saying “About a month ago, several men, dressed in fine clothes, came into the Mermaid, looking for people to take them on hunting expeditions into the swamp. They were vague about their prey, but, we turned them away. I suspect they may have found some of our villagers to help them. But, I don’t know who they are.”
He appears to be telling the truth.
The king did not hear Rhasor’s softly spoken statement. He is concentrating upon the two bullywugs slowly approaching the cages with their spears pointed at the children inside.
Allorian turns back to face the king, then fixes his gaze on those pointing the spears at the children and takes a step forward, "One drop of blood spills from those kids and you die first (addressing a spearholder). Your Majesty, harming those children will cause you more issues not less. I will find these men, but only if those children are unharmed. Final offer."
Allorian signals the others to be ready and on guard, but he isnt drawing any weapons yet.
((OOC - Sorry guys I have been out for a bit. I have a lot going on. Found out my mom has cancer and I have decided to move to be closer to family. So it has been a whirlwind around here. I think I am in a position where I can get back to posting daily))
Caliban grips the head of the Warhammer tightly and a wry grin comes across his face as he looks upon the bullywugs ready to bring his wrath to bear if they harm a child.
((OOC - Sorry guys I have been out for a bit. I have a lot going on. Found out my mom has cancer and I have decided to move to be closer to family. So it has been a whirlwind around here. I think I am in a position where I can get back to posting daily))
Caliban grips the head of the Warhammer tightly and a wry grin comes across his face as he looks upon the bullywugs ready to bring his wrath to bear if they harm a child.
Family first. No need to apologize. I’m sure it means a lot to your mom to have you closer.
Bayard frowns at the king, "If they had known about the poachers, they would have. And the only way they would have known was if you'd told them sooner." He moves brings up his shield and keeps his hand on his warhammer, but doesn't yet draw it.
OOC Sorry to hear that MrNivloc. I wish her the best in her treatment.
IC
The king responds to Allorian “Yes, find me these men.” The bullywug then turns to Rhazor and adds “You will make sure that no more killings happen here before this knight brings me the men. I will keep your children safe in the meantime.”
Finally, turning to Bayard, the king says “We thought they were the poachers, and, there was no need to tell them what they were doing.”
With a wave of his hand, the children are picked up and carried out of sight, with the ranks of bullywug guards closing behind them, so that the party can’t follow them without coming to blows.
“It is time for you to leave.” The king gets up and, in a single bound, leaps over to the nearest hut, walking around behind it.
The bullywug guards who escorted you here point there spears back in the direction you came, and, will escort you to where they originally confronted you, before diving down into pools in the area and disappearing from site.
Caliban relaxes a little as the tension in the air subsides. "I don't know but their actions have brought danger upon this village. We will find them. They will pay for their actions." He thinks for a minute "we can watch the waters keep an eye out for these strange sailed ships with multiple hauls but how will we reach them?"
Bayard hesitates, "I don't know that they're necessarily the same people. As a matter of fact, they're probably not the same. After all, the townsfolk said the strange ships don't come to port and wouldn't need to hire boats from the townsfolk."
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Tandal examines his surrounding, looking for something the bullywugs are trying to hide.
Caliban leans on his warhammer as if it is a cane and looks behind, to the sides, and even above to ensure no other creatures are coming at them from other angles. He keeps his eyes out for threats while letting others in the party parlay with the bullywugs.
Caliban Dune | Lvl 1 Barbarian | Gillesburg
Allorian is quietly assessing the situation. Not making any sudden moves and taking his cues from Brue to seem unthreatening. His eyes watching the bullywugs posture and body language to try to get a read on whether they feel threatened or if they feel in control of the situation.
Uldran Sporebringer | Lvl 2 Dwarf Druid | Stonebound
Allorian Silverfin | Lvl 1 Rogue | Gillesburg
The largest of the bullywugs looks directly at Rhasor and Serzor and says "Why do men come on land uninvited?"
Rhasor bows and says "We are here as emissaries to see your king. Is Bigllirg still on the throne?" As he finishes his statement, Serzor steps forward with a small box and holds it out toward the bullywug as he opens it. The bullywug quickly snatches it from Serzor and hides it away on his person before replying "We will escort you to see King Bigllirg. He is not happy that men have violated our agreement. May he let live you."
In the brief glance at the box, it appears that there were red, blue, yellow, and green gems in it. The lead bullywug turns and leads the way deeper into the swamp, with the other bullywugs continuing to surround the party. Rhasor and Serzor both move forward and motion for the rest of the party to follow. If any one at the rear of the party will not move with the others, they will get prodded with a spear or two, not enough to cause damage, but, hard enough to let one know that the spears are sharp.
After another fifteen minutes or so of travel, the party enters a small village, with crude huts surrounding a plaza. At the far end of the plaza, is a platform and at top the platform is a large throne in which sits an enormous bullywug. While most of the bullywugs stand about 5'6" tall and may weight 150 to 170 lbs, this bullywug appears to weight twice that, and appears to be somewhat taller too, although that is hard to tell while he is seated. Sitting on either side of the throne are two giant frogs, each easily five feet tall. There are two lines of bullywugs holding spears lining in the plaza, forming a narrow path through which the party must traverse to reach the throne. The bullywugs escorting the party joins these lines, with the exception of the leader of your group. He continues walking up the pathway to the throne, at which point he kneels and bows his head, before saying "Most exultant, supreme leader of all that is wet, Glugle brings you emissaries from the despicable, traitorous men-things that live south of your most exultant domain."
"Yes, we recognize Rhazooor and Serzooor. We will listen to their pleas before we put them to death for betraying their agreements with our exalted selves."
Rhazor and Serzor step forward, with Serzor pulling a small chest out of his backpack. Rhazor bows to the throne and says "Your most exultant one! We bring additional tribute to you, to honor your greatness." Serzor steps forward and places the chest on the ground before opening the lid for the bullywug to look into.
While the bullywug is looking at the chest, Rhazor continues "How have we betrayed the agreement? We continue to pay you tribute on every other full moon, as we agreed to. Our hunters our instructed to keep within 10 leaps of the river. We would like to understand what we have done to offend you."
The king looks down at Rhazor and Serzor before reaching into the chest and pulling out a small, box "How does this work, scum?"
Serzor reaches up and turns the small handle on the side of it, to which a tune begins to play out for a few seconds.
After listening to it, Gibllirg says "This is a nice treasure, but, does not make up for you hunting and killing our pets. (as he says this, the king pats the head of one of the giant frogs) Several of our less stout warriors were even killed trying to defend them. Why do you come into our kingdom and kill our pets?"
Rhazor and Serzor exchange looks that appear to be of surprise and shock "But, o magnificent one, we have done no such thing. We have heard there are strangers out in the bay. We have no control over them, if they are the ones that are attacking your pets."
"Bah, you lie. The men we talk about, talk like you, dress like you, and use your landing to invade our lands. We even recognize some of your subjects leading them. The strangers, we know of them. They don't understand your tongue, but, if we ignore them, they ignore us. They only use their camp, over their (and points to the northwest). Perhaps it is time we killed their little ones."
As he finishes this statement, you hear a noise off to the side of the plaza, and look over and see two children in cages being carried into the area by four bullywugs.
OOC This week is turning out to be very hectic. My posting will be somewhat erratic until Saturday.
Xarrut steps forward. “Oh majestic great one, please allow this one to show loyalty to your mercifulness. For although I have just seen you, I perceive your wisdom clearly. Allow me the first opportunity to show loyalty in the face of such betrayal by killing the men who have wronged you.” He bows low.
persuasion 11
“I am queen amidala!” Lol
Paladin - warforged - orange
Tandal clenches his hands, digging his fingernails into his skin. "This is all for some pets!" He wants to say, but doesn't. These frogs are getting on his bad side.
"King Gibllirg, could you tell us more about these people from the village that are hunting in your area? We (Allorian indicates our group) are here to investigate some of these disturbances and could be of assistance to you."
Uldran Sporebringer | Lvl 2 Dwarf Druid | Stonebound
Allorian Silverfin | Lvl 1 Rogue | Gillesburg
Bayard has no real reason to believe they're lying, but no reason to believe they're telling the truth either, so he pays close attention to the king at the reactions of his people, trying to learn their body language and determine the truth of things. As they may be telling the truth, he also watches the townsmen as well to be safe.
Insight: 24
Rhazor, Serzor, and Brue all look over in shock at the children being carried into the plaza. After Xarrut steps forward and promises to kill the offending humans, the look of shock changes to one of horror.
After a pause, Serzor steps forward and bows low before saying “Most wise King of the Swamp and all wet lands, we have no clue who these men are that use the docks to hunt your frogs. We remind the villagers regularly about our agreement with you. We can hunt mammals in the swamp, we can fish in the river, and within 20 leaps of the river. We can hunt reptiles within come onto our side of the river, or are present within 20 leaps of the river, but, we cannot hunt amphibians on this side of the river. We have honored this agreement. We do not know who these men are that do not honor the agreement.”
The king spits on the ground before using his tongue to capture a fly that was buzzing around his head. “You lie. We have followed these men back to a boat at the landing. The boat went downriver, and headed south of the town to the let the hunters off before returning to your docks. Why do you bring people into our swamps to hunt our frogs? We found Rex’s brother (at this point, the king pats one of the giant frogs on the head), killed and cut open with some of his organs taken from him. That is barbaric and we will not allow that practice to continue.”
At this point, the two children are set down in front of the king, who then motions for two of the bullywug guards standing near the throne to come forward.
Bayard has a difficult time reading the bullywug’s body language, but, near as he can tell, all the individuals involved are telling the truth, or what they believe is the truth.
Bayard looks to the men from the village, "What is south of the river? Any other settlements? And, your majesty, could you identify the specific boats you've seen so that we may bring the individual involved to justice rather than spark a war between your people?" As he speaks, he looks to Allorian for cues on his opinion of what to do, holding himself ready for combat if necessary.
Insight: 18
Allorian makes a calming gesture with his hands. Not wanting to engage in combat while on their home turf. Nodding to Bayard that he is on the right track.
"Yes, your Majesty, we need more information if we are to solve this and figure out who is poaching on your land. Harming the children will not solve this problem but only increase the feud between your people and the people of the village. Rhazor and his men have not authorized this illegal hunting...have you Rhazor (this last said with emphasis). You have had many years of peace dealing with Rhazor so please do not be rash, and those children certainly did nothing. Now, describe these men and their boats, or show me where I may catch them in the act of poaching."
Turning to face Rhazor with his back to the bullywugs Allorian gets in his face, and with an intense stare and a calm voice asks, "Do you know of these poachers?" Insight- 8
Uldran Sporebringer | Lvl 2 Dwarf Druid | Stonebound
Allorian Silverfin | Lvl 1 Rogue | Gillesburg
The king responds “humph, your boats all look the same from under the water. But, we’ve followed them from the old docks to the empty beach south of town and then back north to your docks. That is where you can find the poachers. If Rhasor and his people were serious about stopping poaching, they would have brought those men to me by now!”
Rhasor stutters out a response “No, no, we would never authorize this poaching. The agreement has been good for us.”
When Allorian turns to face Rhasor, the man goes pale, before softly saying “About a month ago, several men, dressed in fine clothes, came into the Mermaid, looking for people to take them on hunting expeditions into the swamp. They were vague about their prey, but, we turned them away. I suspect they may have found some of our villagers to help them. But, I don’t know who they are.”
He appears to be telling the truth.
The king did not hear Rhasor’s softly spoken statement. He is concentrating upon the two bullywugs slowly approaching the cages with their spears pointed at the children inside.
Allorian turns back to face the king, then fixes his gaze on those pointing the spears at the children and takes a step forward, "One drop of blood spills from those kids and you die first (addressing a spearholder). Your Majesty, harming those children will cause you more issues not less. I will find these men, but only if those children are unharmed. Final offer."
Allorian signals the others to be ready and on guard, but he isnt drawing any weapons yet.
Uldran Sporebringer | Lvl 2 Dwarf Druid | Stonebound
Allorian Silverfin | Lvl 1 Rogue | Gillesburg
((OOC - Sorry guys I have been out for a bit. I have a lot going on. Found out my mom has cancer and I have decided to move to be closer to family. So it has been a whirlwind around here. I think I am in a position where I can get back to posting daily))
Caliban grips the head of the Warhammer tightly and a wry grin comes across his face as he looks upon the bullywugs ready to bring his wrath to bear if they harm a child.
Caliban Dune | Lvl 1 Barbarian | Gillesburg
Family first. No need to apologize. I’m sure it means a lot to your mom to have you closer.
Uldran Sporebringer | Lvl 2 Dwarf Druid | Stonebound
Allorian Silverfin | Lvl 1 Rogue | Gillesburg
Bayard frowns at the king, "If they had known about the poachers, they would have. And the only way they would have known was if you'd told them sooner." He moves brings up his shield and keeps his hand on his warhammer, but doesn't yet draw it.
OOC Sorry to hear that MrNivloc. I wish her the best in her treatment.
IC
The king responds to Allorian “Yes, find me these men.” The bullywug then turns to Rhazor and adds “You will make sure that no more killings happen here before this knight brings me the men. I will keep your children safe in the meantime.”
Finally, turning to Bayard, the king says “We thought they were the poachers, and, there was no need to tell them what they were doing.”
With a wave of his hand, the children are picked up and carried out of sight, with the ranks of bullywug guards closing behind them, so that the party can’t follow them without coming to blows.
“It is time for you to leave.” The king gets up and, in a single bound, leaps over to the nearest hut, walking around behind it.
The bullywug guards who escorted you here point there spears back in the direction you came, and, will escort you to where they originally confronted you, before diving down into pools in the area and disappearing from site.
Bayard turns to Rhasor, “All right, so where are these strangers?”
Caliban relaxes a little as the tension in the air subsides. "I don't know but their actions have brought danger upon this village. We will find them. They will pay for their actions." He thinks for a minute "we can watch the waters keep an eye out for these strange sailed ships with multiple hauls but how will we reach them?"
Caliban Dune | Lvl 1 Barbarian | Gillesburg
Bayard hesitates, "I don't know that they're necessarily the same people. As a matter of fact, they're probably not the same. After all, the townsfolk said the strange ships don't come to port and wouldn't need to hire boats from the townsfolk."