Kestrel hangs back just a little, watching her companions, and most of all watching the elves. How they act will be very instructive on how she will approach the situation. Privately, she is rather grateful someone decided to take them on and force this confrontation. Her own solution to the conundrum was quieter...but this would be at the least, much more entertaining.
Everything D&D Ever - Chapter 1: Temple of the Frog
sithramir
First Post
Taranis laughs inwardly to himself "Ah resistance to such a simple thing as a blind-fold". How little it really impedes me but for some, he understands, such things can be a detriment.
"They aren't binding our hands or taking our weapons. They are simply trying to ensure their hide-out or home isn't easily found while they guide us. It can be easily removed if danger presents itself. We will not be helpless. But as I've said we have little experience in the ways of the forest and would likely be unable to trace our way anyways."
"Perhaps you can take us the "long" way to ensure we cannot find your home. Would this allow us to continue? I grow tired of bumbling through the forest as it is" he mentions to the elves in their native tongue.
"They aren't binding our hands or taking our weapons. They are simply trying to ensure their hide-out or home isn't easily found while they guide us. It can be easily removed if danger presents itself. We will not be helpless. But as I've said we have little experience in the ways of the forest and would likely be unable to trace our way anyways."
"Perhaps you can take us the "long" way to ensure we cannot find your home. Would this allow us to continue? I grow tired of bumbling through the forest as it is" he mentions to the elves in their native tongue.
KirayaTiDrekan
Adventurer
OOC: [MENTION=56746]mudbunny[/MENTION], [MENTION=36150]Herobizkit[/MENTION] are you still with us?
The mustached half-elf smirks at the gnome and her protestations, "War is upon us, little one. At any moment, some poor fool will draw first blood, make the first kill. In the meantime, our base here, so close to the Blackmoor capital, must remain hidden at all costs to ensure a tactical advantage. Its not about trust at all. If you are captured by Blackmoor, how long would you last under interrogation? Under magical truth spells? Do you even care enough about the elves to give your life for us? I doubt it."
He holds out a blindfold, "So, either accept this...or wait here for the others to return. I'll ask two of my brethren to stay with you should you choose to wait." To the rest of the group, he says, "We will be gone two hours at most. We intercepted a goblin raiding party a couple of weeks ago and liberated them of their loot and their lives. The supplies and weapons that we have no use for are yours to do with as you please. There should be enough rations and water to get you to where you are going, I wager."
The mustached half-elf smirks at the gnome and her protestations, "War is upon us, little one. At any moment, some poor fool will draw first blood, make the first kill. In the meantime, our base here, so close to the Blackmoor capital, must remain hidden at all costs to ensure a tactical advantage. Its not about trust at all. If you are captured by Blackmoor, how long would you last under interrogation? Under magical truth spells? Do you even care enough about the elves to give your life for us? I doubt it."
He holds out a blindfold, "So, either accept this...or wait here for the others to return. I'll ask two of my brethren to stay with you should you choose to wait." To the rest of the group, he says, "We will be gone two hours at most. We intercepted a goblin raiding party a couple of weeks ago and liberated them of their loot and their lives. The supplies and weapons that we have no use for are yours to do with as you please. There should be enough rations and water to get you to where you are going, I wager."
sithramir
First Post
"We are glad to oblige and thank you for help on the rations. The country is in turmoil and I hope we can find a way to provide assistance."
Taranis looks around to see if he has ever met any of the elves.
Taranis looks around to see if he has ever met any of the elves.
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Lillily takes a decision. She looks at the half-elf to see if he is bound in this course, our if there will be any compromising from him.
(INSIGHT 1d20+3=22.)
She believes she knows whether or not her persistence will work. She continues for the last time regardless.
"I do not need your half brethren to watch over me. I have been summoned to your service, and I have come honestly, ready to risk my life for your cause. Elves are not petty creatures, and you know this. You understand that creatures of the fey like myself are not to be bound. I am needed or I am not -- it seems that choice is yours. Leave none of your half-brethren here. You take me now or you receive my service never."
(INSIGHT 1d20+3=22.)
She believes she knows whether or not her persistence will work. She continues for the last time regardless.
"I do not need your half brethren to watch over me. I have been summoned to your service, and I have come honestly, ready to risk my life for your cause. Elves are not petty creatures, and you know this. You understand that creatures of the fey like myself are not to be bound. I am needed or I am not -- it seems that choice is yours. Leave none of your half-brethren here. You take me now or you receive my service never."
Kestrel decides the time is right, and glides up to stand beside Lillily.
"Trust is difficult in these times," she says quietly, "but it has to start somewhere. Surely if Arunshee saw fit to trust us with this work, so can you?"
In the end, she didn't really care about the blindfolds, but if she didn't have to wear one that would make things simpler. It was worth a shot.
"Trust is difficult in these times," she says quietly, "but it has to start somewhere. Surely if Arunshee saw fit to trust us with this work, so can you?"
In the end, she didn't really care about the blindfolds, but if she didn't have to wear one that would make things simpler. It was worth a shot.
Lillily does not understand these requests at all, since the village location can't be secret to her when she can simply ask the small animals nearby where it is. Nevertheless, she does accept the blindfold offered but he moustached half-elf, since it seems so important to these distrustful elves.
Perhaps surprisingly, she bites her tongue and says nothing.
Perhaps surprisingly, she bites her tongue and says nothing.
Kestrel glances at Lillily in surprise, then shrugs. "Or, we can just wear the blindfolds too. That's fine."
She allows the impediment to be put on.
(OOC - Kestrel would like to sneakily adjust the blindfold or even give it a quick cut, when the elves aren't looking, so she can see out through it even if only poorly. What sort of roll would you say that'd be?)
She allows the impediment to be put on.
(OOC - Kestrel would like to sneakily adjust the blindfold or even give it a quick cut, when the elves aren't looking, so she can see out through it even if only poorly. What sort of roll would you say that'd be?)
Brother Dave
First Post
Bran stands idly by waiting for the argument to resolve. He had slipped the blindfold off when it was clear Lilily was going to make an issue of it - if it came to a fight, he did not want to be at a disadvantage. Several times he resisted the urge to step in - what would be the point, after all? The gnome lass would either trust the half elf or not. How could he step in and offer reassurance, or argue in favor of her accepting the blindfold, when all he had to rely on himself was his own shaky belief - nay, hope - that the Lady would not send them all the way out here just to get them killed by her supposed allies? It was a momentous and highly personal decision, and one he could not in good conscience attempt to influence further.
However, when Lilily finally acquiesces after much back and forth, Bran breathes a silent sigh of relief. He had a feeling she would make a staunch ally, and is glad they will not be moving on without her. He settles his pack and his lute firmly on his back - it would not do to distract himself and the others from the sounds around him when they would be travelling blind - then reties the blindfold over his eyes with a flourish and raises his chin. He decides that a show of confidence is in order, both to reassure his friends and to remind the half elves that they were more than mere intruders, but rather invited guests, allies, and not to be trifled with. He summons a bit of bravado, smiles broadly, and declares in a loud voice, "All settled? Come then, my friends. Adventure awaits! Lead on, Master Jackdaw."
However, when Lilily finally acquiesces after much back and forth, Bran breathes a silent sigh of relief. He had a feeling she would make a staunch ally, and is glad they will not be moving on without her. He settles his pack and his lute firmly on his back - it would not do to distract himself and the others from the sounds around him when they would be travelling blind - then reties the blindfold over his eyes with a flourish and raises his chin. He decides that a show of confidence is in order, both to reassure his friends and to remind the half elves that they were more than mere intruders, but rather invited guests, allies, and not to be trifled with. He summons a bit of bravado, smiles broadly, and declares in a loud voice, "All settled? Come then, my friends. Adventure awaits! Lead on, Master Jackdaw."
KirayaTiDrekan
Adventurer
Alara and Samara refuse the blindfolds and head back to the city. OOC: Should mudbunny and Herobizkit ever choose to return, we can bring their characters back in at any time.
The group is led further into the forest by Jackdaw and his companions. At one point there is an odd sensation of vertigo and Lillily and Taranis feel something speak to their partially fey natures ever so briefly and realize that the feeling was a planar shift of some sort. Bran feels something different - a racial memory of his draconic ancestors - the elves know the magics the humans used in the first war against the dragons in a time before not only the Shattering, but before the world was closed off to magic, many thousands of years ago. Xana feels wrenched and pulled, pain nearly overwhelming her - but not a physical pain, one of the spirit; when it clears she realizes that Odum is gone, left behind as if not welcome in whatever this new place is.
When the blindfolds are removed, their eyes are greeted to not just a scouting encampment but a full army camp - thousands of elven soldiers, winged beasts of various sorts (pegasi, hippogriffs, and the occasional griffon), blacksmiths, bowyers, camp cooks, and everything else one would expect for a full invasion force.
The terrain here is vastly different, more colorful, with an ephemeral quality that could only be called magical - this is another plane of existence - Taranis knows this place as a pocket of the fey realm, isolated from the rest of the plane by elven magics. His memories are clear here - he remembers everything about his past, but also knows that those memories will become indistinct once more if he returns to the material world.
Jackdaw appears uncomfortable here, as if this place reminds him of something he'd rather forget. His smile seems forced as he welcomes the group, "As you can see, Blackmoor is going to have quite the fight on their hands when this war gets started. I and a few others are still hoping it won't come to that, but, that hope wanes with each passing day. Now, about those supplies."
He points to the edge of the army camp where a large wagon rests, guarded by a pair of elven warriors. The wagon is obviously that of a wealthy Blackmoor merchant, part of a caravan most likely. Jackdaw continues, "In addition to whatever you can find of use from the wagon, I might be able to convince our weapon and armor smiths to part with some of their surplus, though it would help if I had something to offer them in exchange."
The group is led further into the forest by Jackdaw and his companions. At one point there is an odd sensation of vertigo and Lillily and Taranis feel something speak to their partially fey natures ever so briefly and realize that the feeling was a planar shift of some sort. Bran feels something different - a racial memory of his draconic ancestors - the elves know the magics the humans used in the first war against the dragons in a time before not only the Shattering, but before the world was closed off to magic, many thousands of years ago. Xana feels wrenched and pulled, pain nearly overwhelming her - but not a physical pain, one of the spirit; when it clears she realizes that Odum is gone, left behind as if not welcome in whatever this new place is.
When the blindfolds are removed, their eyes are greeted to not just a scouting encampment but a full army camp - thousands of elven soldiers, winged beasts of various sorts (pegasi, hippogriffs, and the occasional griffon), blacksmiths, bowyers, camp cooks, and everything else one would expect for a full invasion force.
The terrain here is vastly different, more colorful, with an ephemeral quality that could only be called magical - this is another plane of existence - Taranis knows this place as a pocket of the fey realm, isolated from the rest of the plane by elven magics. His memories are clear here - he remembers everything about his past, but also knows that those memories will become indistinct once more if he returns to the material world.
Jackdaw appears uncomfortable here, as if this place reminds him of something he'd rather forget. His smile seems forced as he welcomes the group, "As you can see, Blackmoor is going to have quite the fight on their hands when this war gets started. I and a few others are still hoping it won't come to that, but, that hope wanes with each passing day. Now, about those supplies."
He points to the edge of the army camp where a large wagon rests, guarded by a pair of elven warriors. The wagon is obviously that of a wealthy Blackmoor merchant, part of a caravan most likely. Jackdaw continues, "In addition to whatever you can find of use from the wagon, I might be able to convince our weapon and armor smiths to part with some of their surplus, though it would help if I had something to offer them in exchange."
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