Q'Barra: Into the Emerald Forest

[Urko]

Morning at Steadfast Reach

The night passes uneventfully. Kolbek himself comes to wake the humans and call them to breakfast, which takes place on a veranda on the back of the house. The veranda overlooks a small walled garden with a fountain. Beyond it, you can see orderly fields, neatly laid out with lines of trees between them. Workers move slowly up and down the rows and in and out of the huts and sheds which are scattered at intervals throughout the grounds.

Your breakfast is a rice dish with vegetables and fish. It is sharply spiced, but tasty. Kolbek directs your attention to the assorted fruits at the center of the table, explaining that everything you’re eating was grown right here. ”We’re starting to produce enough food that we’re exporting the excess. I’ll have you know that Steadfast Reach’s koabas,” he indicates a basket of nearly cubical red fruits, ”have been served at the King’s table.“ His pride as he stares across the fields is evident. ”Of course, most of our business comes from non-food plants. Dyes and alchemical components, mostly. We’ve got buyers as far away as Aerenal.” He turns back to the table and takes his seat at the head.

”Ten years ago, this land was nothing – just trackless jungle. I’ve turned it into something more, something of value. We produce things that the world needs, and profit handsomely from it, I’m not ashamed to say. I’m proud of what I’ve done here, and I’m not about to be driven off, by savage reptiles or the machinations of a dragonmarked House. We were hit again last night. Not a big attack – no one was even hurt, but an entire patch of Xen’drik yellowsquash was plundered. That section was under guard by trained razorclaws, but they never saw a thing. The buggers are getting cleverer, I’ll grant them that. Must have magical resources of one sort or other. Shamans and such, I suppose.”

He unrolls a parchment map on the table, similar to the one Calabas showed you at your interview. ”Sorry we don’t have any better maps. I’ve been wanting to bring in a real cartographer here, do a detailed survey of the whole area, but that hasn’t happened yet – always seems to be something more pressing. Anyways, you can see here Steadfast Reach and the Tharashk place.” His face darkens in a scowl. ”And that jagged line is where we think the poison dusk live. About twenty miles from here. Of course, they probably have a camp of one sort or other closer by that they do their raiding from.” He rolls the map back up and tosses it into the center of the table for one of you to pick up. "But I’ve listened to myself yammer long enough. Tell me, what are you going to do to secure my plantation, and what do you need from me to do it?”

 

[Pebele]

Sanae listened carefully to Kolbek and reached for the map once he had finished speaking. She looked around at the rest of the group, but seeing that none of them moved to answer she took it upon herself.

Well, since you don't know the cause for these raids, I think that is the first question we must answer. There must be a reason for their behavior, and if we find that reason then it can be dealt with. Of course, if the reason is that they just want to make trouble, then I am sure that we are prepared to deal with that as well. But if there is a deeper reason, then we may be able to solve all this peacefully." She paused and studied the map again.

"So, my suggestion is that we approach the lizardfolk and try to speak with them. We will have to take it one step at a time after that; either they will react with violence or we will have to take what they say in to consideration and work with them to reach a final solution. As for what we need from you, I think we have what we need, but perhaps the others may have some thoughts about that."

She settled back in to her chair and finished her breakfast, passing the map around to any who request to see it.

 

[Yeoman]

After Sanae has finished speaking, Xavier takes some time to review the map of the area. After his quick review, he decides to say, "Sanae is right, a peaceful solution should be our first recourse. Most of the lizardfolk tribes are relatively peaceful, especially if not provoked. It does seem a bit odd that they would conduct such a stealthy raid simply to steal food. I could check the area they broke into, to see if I could track them back to their village, or we can simply head out in that general direction. What say the rest of you?" Xavier passes on the map to the next interested person, and awaits everyone's response.

 

[Harvey]

Erin listens to Kolbek's words with interest. Those with keen eyes will have noticed Erin wince when Kolbek mentioned dragonmarked houses. She lets Sanae and Xavier speak their peace, listening and absorbing their ideas.

Erin takes a look at the map next. She looks to Xavier, and to Sanae, not sure what he could add. "I agree that a peaceful solution is best. There are some things that we could prepare ahead of time, to aide in negotiaions, but all that can be handled en route."

"As for which course of action to begin with, I would recommending examining the scene of the crime, as it were. Perhaps we might find clues that others miss. Or perhaps we might simply find insight as to their actions. We might be able to gleam information from the razorclaws as well."

She turns to Kolbek. "In the meantime, can you tell us each time that you've been raided, the day and time of each attack, what was assaulted or taken, and who, or what, was on guard? Perhaps we can detect a pattern to these attacks."

Erin passed the map on as she waits for Kolbek's response.

 

[doghead]

he has no name, warforged warrior

ooc: Urko: Found the tattoo information. Thanks.

The nameless warforged accepts their host's invitation to browse the library, and spends a few hours looking for illumination on a few things. The first is the history of the land they are now in, Qbarra. The second is anything about the people and ways of Riedra. The third is psionics. The fourth is dog handling.

The size of the library, and the topics of choice suggest that he won't discover anything startling, but its passes the time.

* * *​

At the meeting the next day, the warforged is quiet as usual. The questions he has are asked by others, so he holds his peace. He takes the map for a while and studies it, trying to commit it to memory as much as possible.

Mention of the incident on the river reminds the warforged to talk to his companions about the little trick Kalajeketh pulled to get himself out of trouble. But here and now is not the time so he files it away for later.

 

[Guest 11456]

Eff Flat : Male Warforged Bard 4

Eff Flat spent the evening in the library as well. He was mainly interested in anything related to music or even sounds in general. In the morning he remained in the library as the others met for breakfast. He figured if they needed him they would come looking for him. So he continued looking through the books in the library.