Exploring the Hase-Suna Complex (Manzanita judging) [Concluded]

[LiL'Hauptman]

damn it still wrong account

Zurd ignores Payne's threat thinking to himself instead - <shaking his head>

I took out my 3 and scared off the other 3 with but a threat.

What a dumb wench, reminding me how deadly "she is" are when she just got her ass kicked by an unarmed orc.

I guess I'll take my chances....if you are such a bad ass wench then you'd be able to handle the one friggin unarmed orc I guess...

Responding to Lokin and the immediate concerns Zurd responds in soft and thought out tones...

Regarding your plan Lokin, I have only a few spells left for today so local security is a concern as always, I do have some arcane power left, however.

We can also light this cave up like the face of a thousand suns with fires and torches making any approach they try less than stealthy. I think that Kurg's keen senses will be an asset with regards to early warning.

I think that unless there are significantly more of them than we originally thought, I seriously doubt they come back to make trouble for us. However, where are their children and young? We need to find them and most likely, thanks to Kol's Hasty actions we will eventually have to find some way to provide for their care or kill them outright.

As for the doors...pehaps we can find some kind of spikes or braces we can jam into the doors to make them hard to open, giving us warning of any approaching enemies.

Now just for the record Lokin,

We are missing the Chief: He was the key to my plan...I was going to work him for more information on the location of traps, and perhaps places they would not go because of other nasties in the complex, now that will never happen. Do any of you know where he went when he left?

You know that when he left...He left to go get a gift for us, which leads me to believe that there is another stash of goods here to be had.

Zurd then walks over to talk to Lokin...not in a whisper but in a low deliberate voice full of care and genuine concern for his words... he tries to make it clear in his manner of speech that he is asking for Lokin to consider carefully what he is about to say...

Lokin, Orcs or not; we have violated an honorable truce...what does that make us my freind?

We may now have to hunt the survivors of our dishonor and slay them, perhaps even the young and babies...Unless we do so, those that remain, the escapees from this battle and their Chief to rally them will make it their life's work to punish the local settlements for our actions. We only have one person to thank for that...

It may not happen this week or even next year but this clan will put out their story to other clans and they colectively even, might let loose a storm of horror on the locals more terrible than any hunting party or raid ever will be - they will be out for vengeance.

I know orcs, Lokin, while not smart or well organized they have a long memory for any betrayal. They may not hold themselves to he same standard of honesty but they will for sure hold any future bands of travelers, caravans or settlements in the local area accountable for our actions on this day.

How many people will die in the countryside around here because of our <thumbing generally in Kols direction > hasty actions. I think before we make any long term plans we should think about that.

I know that we spoke of this before; genocide is not pretty but unless we kill every remaining orc in this place we may indeed see genocide it come to pass on those settelments around here.

After he talks to Lokin he quickly turns to make a proposal to the group...

Oh, Listen to me a moment Ladies and Gents...I have a suggestion...

I think that we have a lot of wealth now at our disposal...perhaps more than we realize.


We have the coins in the storage pantry, the gold in the pools in here, the items on the dead orcs and the items the chief is sure to be hiding aways somewhere in the reast of the complex...

Not to mention the complex itself, which is perhaps the most important part.

<he points around to the cavern walls> Look at all the gems in here alone, how far do they go into the walls, are they superficial, is there more, could this place pan out to be a gold mine or something other than a hideout and base of operations?

We should have it surveyed and we should lay claim to it and the surrounding woods in our names. Perhaps sell the rights to mine it to some dwarves or something if we intend to abandon it outright.

We certainly can not carry away all that we have here...I for one do not intend to loose a single copper piece if my share in route or just leave it laying about on the floor like some idiot!

We need some hired help...I say we send someone back to Ossirus with enough gold to hire some men at arms for protection on the road, some wagons, teams and some more porters to come back here and make a concerted effort to gather every last copper piece of it.

Kongu, you could easily do that for us while we clear out the remaining boggy men, you have the skills and with some of these gold pieces you have more than the means....

Men at arms work for 3-5 silvers a day, a team of horses a little less than that, porters work for coppers. We can do this and clear the place out in half a day!

I say that for less than 100 GP of what we have here now we can ensure that we get every single piece of this loot for us to spend in the future!

 

[Lot]

Lokin looks at Zurd as he speaks and frowns slightly when he mentions the broken truce.

"Forgive me if I am wrong, but you were planning at breaking the truce at some point, correct? I have traveled with you only a short time, but we have spoken of our future plans before and you've never revealed your ambition from me. I doubted you planned to keep this structure in the hands of that chief. I'm not judging you for it, but I feel like you're angry at Kol for the manner in which he broke the truce, not that he broke it, right?"

Lokin leans against the wall wearily.

"I wish we could have avoided the deception. I like my enemies to know they're my enemies and my allies the same. Why? Not because of some naive sense of right and wrong, I can tell you. It's because if I'm always doubting my allies and my allies are always doubting me, we'll both end up worse than if we worked together. Kol, for instance. I wished we he hadn't attacked when he did. It left us vunerable, it probably ruined whatever plan Zurd was hatching, and it broke a truce we had made on our honor. Despite that, Kol is my ally and the orcs are not, so I came to his aid. Just as I would come to any of your aid. For the time being, you are my comrades and I will fight for you. There may come a day, maybe some day soon if we continue like this, that we may part ways. On that day, all bets are off in the allegiance department. Until that day, we are allies and I will not betray you. Nor will I change my behavior to expect betrayal from you."

Lokin once again looks at Zurd.

"As mad as I am about how Kol reacted, the blame for this breakdown falls on you as well. You created this plan on the fly, creating the illusion that you were a great orc chieftain and that we were your slaves. By misrepresenting yourself, any honorable truce made in these terms is already deceitful and, therefore, invalid. Also, you made the agreement without checking with any of your allies, including the impulsive and unpredictable barbarian."

Lokin looks to the raging barbarian.

"No offense, Kol, but you're too aggressive for deceptive diplomacy or protracted peace with people whom have acted as enemies in the past. Asking you to not be yourself is like asking a fish to stop swimming or a bird to stop flying."

Lokin, his grim face becoming even sadder, sighs heavily.

"After this engagement, when the wealth has been split, there may be splits in the group. No offense intended, but I operate in a specific way and I feel that some of your adventuring styles may not mesh with mine. For the time being, though, let's get on with it."

 

[DerHauptman]

Zurd stands open mouthed at Lokins little lecture - he thought he'd be more logical about it all...

The bottom line is that no one trusts each other in this group...

Everyone thinks they know best....

However, only a couple are willing to speak up, making plans and taking action...that is leadership, few have the capacity for it.

There is no shortage of talk in the group, oh no, but usually after the fact...

Thats not helpful at all, anyone can sit there and find fault with actions after they are taken...

<points at Lokin> I'm not talking about you either you are helpful...

Now, I had a plan, yea and I think it was a good one...I made it up as I went sure they are all like that. The situation was complicated.

Did I misrepresent myself? Hell yea, perhaps I should have instead said - "Hi, me and the humans here (your mortal enemies and favorite meal) are here to kill you and take your gold - perhaps you could lead us to it?

How the hell did my subterfuge and deception cost us anything?

The clever use of that deception got us all the way into their treasure chamber without a scratch and an invitation to a gift of enough value that the chief himself went to fetch it?

It got us a head count of the clan, the name and history of their lines, information that given the benefit of a doubt and some trust could have turned us into the defacto leaders of the tribe and local rulers without so much as a sword stroke - I cause this how?

As for passing it on...I didn't know if they spoke common or not so I passed the information on to the party member I thought I could have a plausible reason to whisper to - Payne. Whispering to each other all the time and just blurting it out would have been the same as just yelling charge, did they speak out language. They are orcs not idiots they are warriors - they would have known something was up with all the talking and whispering.

She knew what the plan was - and given the trust I needed to ge it carried out it would have worked like a charm. We intended to kill them - sure we did but "after" we found out where everything was!

Was it comfortable for her to act like my mate - no it wasn't and I appreciate her going to that extreme for the plan. I know it was uncomfortable for her. , She's a professional - a part of the team working to accomplish the goal smartly.

Now what did I ask anyone else to do that was so distasteful that you'd risk all our lives to not have to endure it any further - nothing! What could be that horrible to endure for you all?

All you had to do was drink some ale and eat a dead lizardmen - and Kyle, who was using his head obviously, got you all out of that one... Good job Kyle, made me smile when he got you out of that - I felt bad but thought that surely some poor food and ale was worth not having to risk your lives for the treasure we'd have.

Eat a dead lizardmen, drink some stale beer, act like you could tolerate some orcs and we'd all be rich with no risk at all to life and limb.

Payne almost died because of this BS - why? Because they oogled her - big frigging deal, they were not gonna do anything... She was dealing with it, why Kol couldn't deal with it is for him to explain - we'd have gotten our revenge and laughed all the Way to the bank.

We were their guests - ignorance and lack of trust....almost almost Payne her life....

I asked no one to do anything they would find distasteful - Payne and I would do the killing in their sleep, you'd all have a guilt free conscience.

Actually, I thought I considered everyone's feelings about their roles, limitations and desires pretty well when I made the plan. We all got the reward in the end but those who found the method distasteful could sleep well knowing they had little to do with it.

Also, I asked Payne to include Kol into the plan for killing the orcs in their sleep if she thought he could handle it. Would have been more plausible for her to be talking to him latter than me to continue to coordinate with you all.

Again, given trust and the benefit of the doubt I think it was a good plan and given some time to develop the situation we could have passed all the information out but impatience almost killed Payne and may - considering there may be more orcs out there, have killed us all. Who knows.

As for me helping after my plan was blown - I killed 3 orcs myself and I scared the other 3 off with a death threat...I think I did my part there.

Now, as you said, lets get on with it...

I'll fight beside you all out of honoring my word but if we are going to go walking into every situation with our pants down because we can't control our emotions leave me out of the planning.

Lets just run through the complex yelling ugh, ugh, ugh and killing everything.....

Seems to have worked so far...

 

[TwistedMindInc]

Zurd was crazy to think that this femme fatale wasn't dangerous. Sure, she couldn't take on a muscle bound oaf one on one by herself. But she'd sure as hell wait until you fell asleep and slit your throat. Picking a fight with one of the more honorable fighters in the group, was always a wiser decision because then you knew they'd throw down then and there. Not wait until your back was turned to bury their blade. By this point, Payne had moved over to inspect one of the pools. Was that drool at the corner of her mouth? Normally cruel and calculating orbs widened like a child being offered a delicious sugar coated cake. ``Look at all of that coin..`` Reaching forth with a gloved hand, debating on just diving into the water.. when her senses return and that hand is quickly recoiled. ``Huh. Why did the orcs avoid the pools with the loot? And why had one try to push Kol into the harmless pond?`` Her words are more spoken to herself, yet aloud for those to hear. Tongue run over her teeth as she debated these questions.. and then opted to test the waters. ``Seems odd to me that the orcs would keep all of their finds in the pools throughout the room, why hadn't they bothered to gather them up? Something is up..`` Pulling from her pack, a torch, she flipped it around so that the wooden shaft was now her impromptu poking stick.. and she dipped the tip of it into the water. If there's no reaction, she pulls it from the liquid and checks the end of it. ``Oh, and so it is not a surprise to any. I'm putting in my notice. Once this booty is recovered, if it can be, I'll be going my own way. I've had enough of the bickering and the contradicting of one another. Obviously I am of those that do not 'mesh' well with the others. I extend the invite to any of those that wish to travel back to town with me, and look for more work. Don't bother coming along if you don't like how I do things, cause its not goin' to change.`` Her tones were harsh, purposefully. Some of those in the party she got along with great, others.. not so much. This was her trying to be tactful, get her treasure, and cut her loses. If no one wished to come, that was fine. Rumor had it the sneaky types were good at working alone.

(Basically she things the loot is fake, or that the water is acid, or that some sort of monsters live in the water. Either way -- she's not very trusting of the pools. She's checking for acid or bubbling or.. anything really when she test the waters. )

 

[D20Dazza]

Kyle morosely troops over to the wall, puts his back against it and slides slowly down it until he is resting on the ground "Well I never" he says to himself shaking his head "Before the fun has really even started and already it looks like things are falling apart. What's a chef to do? Go back to the kitchens? Continue here with what could be a much smaller party, or throw my considerable weight behind Payne and her ventures?"

The fat dwarf continues to quietly mutter to himself, arguing the pros and cons of each decision.

 

[TwistedMindInc]

( ::Shakes her fist at derhauptman for editing his post after she did her little rant. Now it makes things a bit out of context, but.. oh well:: )

 

[hero4hire]

Kol remained silent after his scream. Letting Zurd talk and occasionally point a finger.
By the Gods you ARE in love with your own voice aren't you?
Finally after catching his breath, he walks up to Zurd and looks him in the eyes.
"I make no apologies for who I am. I told you all that I had a seething rage that would not...COULD NOT be tamed. To forget that makes you a fool. I went along this far thinking we would strike when thier numbers were at thier ebb...Not slay them in thier sleep like assassins. There is no glory in that. If I had known I woul've NOT gone along with the plan at all.
In your converation you say I broke an honorable truce that you had to admit that you, yourself was going to break...You speak of orcs endangering the countryside due to MY actions, but a short time ago you suggested to profit by shaking down the nearest village. When you speak, one never knows what face it will issue from.
And in the future if you want to talk about me...talk at me...or not at all! If you or ANYONE came here and thought thier would be no battle, no danger, then you may be twice the fool I am for embracing it. My passions has seen me this far!"

He then regard the pools. "Let us throw an orc in and see what happens."

 

[Lot]

Lokin looks over at Kyle, who is also leaning against the wall. He speaks relatively quietly.

"You probably think we're crazy, huh? Sorry to have dragged us into our drama but it's nice having you along. You see, I think had a thing for Payne and the feeling, I guess, wasn't mutual. So things are kinda awkward, because then Zurd started being sorta hostile to Payne and she reciprocated. Also, I think Kol is kinda interested in Payne too...who really knows. Anyway, let's see how the rest of the expedition goes and figure out the future after that."

Lokin hears the idea about the orc.

"That's a good idea Kol. Give me hand with this one. It's one of Zurd's so it's less gooey than mine and not split in half like yours."

 

[DerHauptman]

Dazed at Kol's intellectually unencumbered thought process Zurd shakes his head....

He thinks to himself a bit...

[sblock]
Well, never a dull moment with this group at least. I wonder if they are all that short sighted and intellectually challenged to not see that a truce made even in guise of a ruse is honorable until such time as the other person breaks it...
[/sblock]

Still thinking...Waxing philosophic for a moment....
[sblock]
Who has achieved the greater victory the single man who may fell a nation with a thousand words and a single dagger thrust at the right time or the man who, with his mighty army on the field of battle swings a thousand sword strokes that ends with the final blow much like unto the first?

The first one risks none but himself in his endeavor, should he fail none may even know it. The other may kill a thousand of his kinsmen and still fail, he and his line suffer humiliation, a thousand mothers weep and for what, the story of another battle that will be forgotten in time.

If either were to succeed, however the results would be vastly different.

The first will like the second man still be king but he will have risked none but his own life and fortune.

The second will also be a king but at the risk of the lives and fortunes of his fellows. One earns his end alone the other on the backs of others....

Who is the greater man? Would this group even know it.....?
[/sblock]

He responds to the group...

I make no pretense at morality for that is the sole jurisdiction of men and their kind - I make only one claim - that of survival and that one's right action extends only so far as his sword arm or spell can enforce it.

As for your claim of duplicity, I never claimed to be some form or moralist with you or anyone else in the group...I am many things but I am not a hypocrite.

Yea, I would have enslaved a town of humans, or killed them all just the same to achieve some desired end. Likewise, I would have killed a thousand orcs in their sleep to see our group's reward increase. I would also lay down my life for the fleeting touch of a woman's caress, the dignity of a dying man or the justice of some noble cause. I'd die for you Kol, I almost did - remember. That was the last time you "had your untamed...rage" and almost got us all killed. You cost me one of my best friends....

I guess the difference to me is that while you will risk all our lives because you have some warped sense of morality...it's fine to kill as long as they know they are your enemy...I will risk my own to ensure that we don't have to face them and risk all our collective lives.

To claim that standing toe to toe with some enemy is honorable in any way is comeplete and utter nonsense, it's how people rationalize killing as some glorious and noble pursuit. Death is the end, its messy and cruel and in the end regardless of which side one is on its painful. I do it to succeed and survive...nothing more nothing less!

I wonder why each of us is willing to kill for money but only if we can rationalize the process. I think its just the means to an end, neither noble nor savage, neither good nor evil -just a fact of life.

At that he goes over to one of the orc bodies nearest the pool where the battle took place. He grabs it by the arm and with a single sword stroke he removes the limb from the carcass with the same emotion a butcher does a leg of lamb. He holds it over his head and tosses it into the pool....

He watches the pool intently to see what happens...

 

[hero4hire]

"Aye...I am responsible for you training an innocent animal to follow you and to use it in battle. It must be good to be Zurd and to have others be responsible for his own mistakes.
And how quickly you forget that it was I who dragged your unconsious carcass and watched over it until you could move. I ask no one to follow me as I charge through life. You least of all...Do not ask me to follow you as you slither through yours...again that is!"