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Heritage of Dragonsreach (UPDATED September 4, 2007)
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<blockquote data-quote="sniffles" data-source="post: 3899376" data-attributes="member: 30035"><p><strong>Friends and Allies</strong></p><p></p><p>It’s such a pleasure to study with someone who knows the ancient draconic tongue! I knew that my individual studies weren’t providing me with all of the details necessary to truly comprehend the language, but I never realized how limiting it was to study on my own. With Xiao Lu I can practice saying the words aloud and discover how far off base my attempts often are. </p><p></p><p>I’m afraid my studies are rather dull for Istanil. Naturally she isn’t as fascinated by the spoken word as I am.</p><p></p><p>It was a long, difficult day of study, however. I haven’t spent that much time at practice of something since my training in oratory back at Heritage. But the work inspired me. In the evening, finding myself without the company of my friends, I decided to occupy myself by giving a performance. The villagers have all taken to communal dinners since our arrival. Once dinner had concluded I recited a portion of Jaedrig’s Tale for them, since they have little opportunity to experience wandering minstrels or bards. </p><p></p><p>Following our second day of lessons, we received word that Roland had returned. Xiao Lu immediately called a halt to our work to go and greet him. He arrived with new guests, representatives of the Trihorn tribe of goblins. One of the new arrivals was an aged shaman, one we had perhaps encountered before our arrival at the village. He was borne on a litter by several other goblins. </p><p>[sblock]</p><p>Zora: “Litter-bearers…”</p><p>Hedrin: “Litter…” (<em>throws some wadded-up paper on the table</em>). “You, litter-bearer, put some there!”</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p>“How goes it?” Xiao Lu asked as we approached. Roland gestured to the diminutive and wizened elder. “I’d like to introduce you to Elder Olidant, and his companions Narg and Begrew,” he replied. Olidant mumbled something unintelligible that nevertheless appeared to be perfectly understood by Xiao Lu. She nodded politely. “Good to see you,” she responded to the elder’s incomprehensible comment. </p><p></p><p>“I have a commitment from Oogra, their leader, to give us their assistance when the time is right,” Roland then explained. “Olidant and his company will camp just outside the village’s protective shield to maintain communications with the rest of their tribe.” </p><p></p><p>“Very well, said Xiao Lu approvingly. “I’ll arrange for some trolls to patrol the area to protect them.”</p><p></p><p>“There is a longer version of the tale, if you’d like to hear it now,” said Roland. “Wherever you prefer is fine,” Xiao Lu answered. Then she added, “But perhaps it should wait until she’s finished her training for today,” glancing at me as she spoke. I nodded obediently. Roland also nodded in agreement. “Very well. I’ll introduce these three to the village and speak with you later.”</p><p></p><p>“I hope dear Hedrin is all right,” Xiao Lu remarked as they parted. “I heard some sounds from the mountain last night.” </p><p></p><p>“I’m sure he’s fine,” Roland said. “He’s a strong soul.”</p><p></p><p>“He was chosen wisely,” Xiao Lu concurred. Roland then turned and said to the goblins, “Come this way, please. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”</p><p>[sblock]</p><p>Zora: “Goblin leaders don’t have to walk anywhere.”</p><p>Devo: “Age penalties have taken their speed down to zero.”</p><p>Zora: “But their wisdom has increased to an amazing… nine!”</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p>Late that afternoon both Latan and Hedrin returned to the village. Hedrin also arrived with a guest, one of the wolfen from the mountain. Until then I hadn’t realized that the wolfen are so large. I didn’t see what followed, but Roland told me of it later.</p><p></p><p>Hedrin came to the center of the village followed by a creature that appeared like a huge wolf walking on two legs, standing a good two heads taller than Hedrin himself. Both of them carried haunches of venison with them, which only added to the creature’s intimidating appearance.</p><p></p><p>When Roland’s charges caught sight of the wolfen they reacted with consternation. The wolfen also began to emit a low rumbling growl. Roland turned to the goblins and told them, “You will meet no enemies in the village.”</p><p>[sblock]</p><p>Zora: “The goblins take you at your word. After all, you’re their chieftain’s favorite. There’s a reason there’s an extra ‘oo’ in Oogra.”</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p>Hedrin said to the wolfen, “Grizzen, behave,” which did not please the wolfen. Hedrin realized this and added, “Grizzen, they are our allies.” Then he turned to Roland and said, “Roland, this is Grizzen, representative of Killyox’s village.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m honored to meet you, a fine warrior like yourself. I look forward to seeing what you can do,” Roland greeted Grizzen with his usual diplomacy. The wolfen grunted in response. </p><p></p><p>“The rest of his village will be here in about two weeks,” Hedrin explained. Hedrin looked a mess. His clothes were torn and bloodstained. The wolfen value strength and warrior prowess, it seems. Praise the Lady that they are our allies and not our enemies.</p><p></p><p>Latan then arrived. At Roland’s questioning she described how she’d made an impression on a family of raptors, ridden upon a megaraptor, and even made the acquaintance of a tyrannosaurus after nearly being swallowed! I must persuade her to repeat the tale to me at length so I can record all the details. The hunters who accompanied her certainly seem impressed by her deeds.</p><p></p><p>Grizzen was apparently quite respectful of Latan when introduced to her. But Latan, as is her way, was most concerned with reuniting herself with her small dinosaur Sapphire, who had been in the care of Beast Boy in her absence.</p><p></p><p>When Latan arrived at the chapel, Xiao Lu called her inside and conducted her into the secret chamber where Latan’s parents are planted. That’s such a curious thing to say, but no less than the truth. Mellon has been staying with them almost continuously since our arrival in the village. It is the only place the thornmaiden seems comfortable. </p><p></p><p>Once Latan was ensconced in privacy with her parents, Xiao Lu and I resumed my lessons. Istanil began pacing around us as one might expect to see a teacher pacing around a student. I had difficulty restraining myself from laughing at her, but I don’t think Xiao Lu would have appreciated such a distraction.</p><p></p><p>Later Hedrin came to the chapel and introduced Grizzen to Xiao Lu. When the wolfen was presented, he seemed very deferential to Xiao Lu, though she greeted him courteously. </p><p></p><p>“Grizzen has expressed the wish to stay outside the dome, but Roland has told me that the goblins will be staying outside the dome as well,” Hedrin said. “Who can tell me where the wolfen can stay to keep out of the way of the goblins?”</p><p></p><p>“Biddenwald the quartermaster can tell you where they can stay,” Xiao Lu replied. “But it would be best if everyone can get along.” I felt then the power of her words, directed at Grizzen, and I could see that the wolfen felt their power too. </p><p></p><p>“Find him a place, and then return and tell me of what concessions you’ve agreed to,” Xiao Lu told Hedrin. “Not as good as I’d hoped, but not as bad as I’d feared,” he answered. She smiled. “You’ve done well.” I think her praise heartened him. Hedrin is no diplomat, but he took on the mission she assigned him with admirable determination.</p><p></p><p>While Hedrin was in the chapel, Roland had a curious experience with his guests. They came upon one of the local goblins and reacted very oddly. He said the bearers nearly dropped Olidant’s litter when they caught sight of the village goblin known as Pox. Roland quickly stepped forward and reminded the goblins, “There are no enemies in this village.” </p><p></p><p>The goblins began gabbling excitedly, “That’s the Chosen One! We must get it! It would make a great trophy.” Roland told me they spoke so rapidly he could scarcely understand them. </p><p></p><p>Pox reacted just as dramatically to Olidant’s people as they had to him: he emitted a high-pitched whistling sound, assumed the form of a raptor and fled! Roland called for someone to follow and help him. According to Roland, his raptor form had a silvery sheen, as if each scale was outlined in silver. No doubt that is his Blessing. </p><p></p><p>“You had no right to draw your weapons. What you have done is wrong and will never be done again,” Roland admonished the goblins. His words appeared to affect them. Olidant even mumbled something that might have been an apology, and his bearers offered to hand over their bows. Roland refused them, but asked them to retire to their shelter outside the village until the feast in the evening. </p><p></p><p>The feast that evening was an interesting affair. Beast Boy sat next to Grizzen and chattered incessantly at the wolfen warrior, which the wolfen didn’t quite know how to react to. The goblins had a little difficulty adapting to local table manners, but managed to acquit themselves well enough. Pox didn’t put in an appearance, and the other village goblins only watched from a distance.</p><p></p><p>While conversing with the villagers, I overheard several folk discussing what had happened to Pox. They seem to think his fright had something to do with his upbringing. Roland later told me that he’d heard Pox might have come from the Raptor tribe. He suspects that perhaps Pox’s ability to change his form might have led to some difficulties with his tribe.</p><p></p><p>It was a fascinating evening. I listened eagerly to my friend’s stories of their adventures. Latan isn’t an ideal storyteller, but she certainly described her adventures with enthusiasm. It was made even more entertaining by the behavior of the hunters who’d gone with her, who gave their own perspective on her actions. Latan downplayed her danger when dealing with the tyrannosaurus, but according to the hunters she was very nearly devoured by the creature!</p><p>[sblock]</p><p>Jubilee: “Next time I’m going to <em>benign transposition</em> with one of them. It’ll be fine. That’s why it’s called benign.”</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p>Grizzen then offered his own contribution to the storytelling, describing how the wolfen champion had been defeated by Hedrin. Hedrin seemed to find this a bit embarrassing – not the storytelling, but the tale itself. </p><p></p><p>I had the impression that the wolfen champion, whom Grizzen called Ravage, had behaved less than honorably in defeat, which caused Grizzen some embarrassment. He described Ravage as using some type of long daggers strapped to his arms in addition to his own natural weaponry of claws and fangs. Hedrin was able to defeat Ravage by use of his own weapon, the silver energy the Lady has blessed him with. </p><p></p><p>Grizzen was obviously quite impressed by the presence of Fangrim, for his people had never seen a true wolf before, though they evidently are aware of the existence of wolves and think of them as their ancestors. </p><p></p><p>Roland then described his experience among the Trihorn tribe. “It went very well,” he said. “We met their patrols and were taken to their village. Their leader is Oogra, the shamaness we saw in the jungle riding a trihorn.” </p><p></p><p>“Did she hold that against you?” Hedrin asked. “No, not at all,” Roland replied. “I convinced the guards to let us talk to her, and found that some of the spider-riders had joined the Trihorn clan. I later found the Spiders had been defeated by the Trihorns and had become part of their tribe. Which shows that we went to the right place to seek goblin allies.”</p><p></p><p>“We held our negotiations inside a zone of truth,” he continued. “It turned out that a bit of fortune turned the talk, for Oogra had an amulet that had been stolen by one of the Spider-riders and she very much wanted it back. If you recall, we found an amulet of twisted silver among the fallen goblins. She asked for return of the amulet, a gift of goodwill among friends.”</p><p></p><p>“In the spirit of friendship it would only seem right to return it to her,” I agreed. I didn’t bother to add that we had been unable to determine the purpose of the amulet.</p><p></p><p>Roland nodded in agreement and continued his story. “She then stepped outside the tent and used the amulet to transform herself into what is apparently the totem of their tribe, a creature that resembles both a trihorn and a tyrannosaurs.” </p><p></p><p>Latan then became very interested in this, and for a moment the conversation turned toward how a trihorn and a tyrannosaurus could interbreed. Roland brought the discussion back to his negotiations quickly. “Once we resumed our discussion, she was very open to working together against our common enemy.”</p><p></p><p>“What did she want?” asked Latan.</p><p></p><p>“Nothing,” he answered. “Let me remand that. She wanted peace. She wanted an end to hostilities. She’s very open to a new era of cooperation between our two peoples.”</p><p></p><p>Latan frowned. “Then why did they attack us when we first got here?”</p><p></p><p>“Perhaps merely because we were strangers in their territory,” I suggested.</p><p></p><p>“It will take them a couple of weeks to meet us here,” Roland continued. Then Latan exclaimed, “Do you think we can trust them not to turn on us?” </p><p></p><p>Roland looked slightly perturbed by this remark, for the goblins were still at the table with us, but he said confidently, “Yes, we can.” </p><p></p><p>He went on, “They are 112 goblins fighting strong, and they have trained five trihorns, eight spiders, and three rather unique dinosaurs that are crossbred between trihorns and some type of small raptor. The goblins are good people, fierce. Their chief dinosaur trainer let me ride one their trihorns, riding behind the horns.” He winked at Hedrin, for his comment referred to Hedrin’s unintentional ride on the brow of a trihorn during our previous encounter with their tribe. Hedrin flushed slightly in embarrassment.</p><p></p><p>“It’s very impressive that you had such success at these negotiations in such a short time,” I told my friends, looking at them admiringly. </p><p></p><p>“Well, I didn’t get eaten, anyway,” Latan said off-handedly. “But I only made half a circuit of the village. Tomorrow I should go out and work my way around the other half.”</p><p></p><p>Hedrin then went on to describe the stone ruins amongst which the wolfen live, and Roland remarked that the goblins, too, are surrounded by ancient ruins. He feels that the ruins didn’t appear to be of goblin craft, though the goblins claimed some statuary as those of “ancestor spirits”. </p><p></p><p>I wonder what ancient civilization once occupied this land. When I have an opportunity I must talk to Grizzen to learn more of the lore of his people. </p><p></p><p>After that our conversation wandered off to other topics. It occurred to me that I haven’t yet spent much time with Mellon. I should really speak more with her and learn of the place she came from. Latan remarked that Mellon seems uncomfortable in the jungle, to which Hedrin commented that he also finds the jungles of Chult strange. Latan likes it here. Roland says he hardly notices the jungle – he is more interested in the people.</p><p>[sblock]</p><p>sniffles: “So he can’t see the trees for the people?”</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p>Praise the Lady, we have allies now. The goblins are 112 strong, and there are some 60 or 70 wolfen pledged to our cause. If only I could complete my studies more quickly. I know there are words in the draconic tongue that are of tremendous power, but whether I can learn any of them in the time I have available to me is another matter.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="sniffles, post: 3899376, member: 30035"] [b]Friends and Allies[/b] It’s such a pleasure to study with someone who knows the ancient draconic tongue! I knew that my individual studies weren’t providing me with all of the details necessary to truly comprehend the language, but I never realized how limiting it was to study on my own. With Xiao Lu I can practice saying the words aloud and discover how far off base my attempts often are. I’m afraid my studies are rather dull for Istanil. Naturally she isn’t as fascinated by the spoken word as I am. It was a long, difficult day of study, however. I haven’t spent that much time at practice of something since my training in oratory back at Heritage. But the work inspired me. In the evening, finding myself without the company of my friends, I decided to occupy myself by giving a performance. The villagers have all taken to communal dinners since our arrival. Once dinner had concluded I recited a portion of Jaedrig’s Tale for them, since they have little opportunity to experience wandering minstrels or bards. Following our second day of lessons, we received word that Roland had returned. Xiao Lu immediately called a halt to our work to go and greet him. He arrived with new guests, representatives of the Trihorn tribe of goblins. One of the new arrivals was an aged shaman, one we had perhaps encountered before our arrival at the village. He was borne on a litter by several other goblins. [sblock] Zora: “Litter-bearers…” Hedrin: “Litter…” ([I]throws some wadded-up paper on the table[/I]). “You, litter-bearer, put some there!” [/sblock] “How goes it?” Xiao Lu asked as we approached. Roland gestured to the diminutive and wizened elder. “I’d like to introduce you to Elder Olidant, and his companions Narg and Begrew,” he replied. Olidant mumbled something unintelligible that nevertheless appeared to be perfectly understood by Xiao Lu. She nodded politely. “Good to see you,” she responded to the elder’s incomprehensible comment. “I have a commitment from Oogra, their leader, to give us their assistance when the time is right,” Roland then explained. “Olidant and his company will camp just outside the village’s protective shield to maintain communications with the rest of their tribe.” “Very well, said Xiao Lu approvingly. “I’ll arrange for some trolls to patrol the area to protect them.” “There is a longer version of the tale, if you’d like to hear it now,” said Roland. “Wherever you prefer is fine,” Xiao Lu answered. Then she added, “But perhaps it should wait until she’s finished her training for today,” glancing at me as she spoke. I nodded obediently. Roland also nodded in agreement. “Very well. I’ll introduce these three to the village and speak with you later.” “I hope dear Hedrin is all right,” Xiao Lu remarked as they parted. “I heard some sounds from the mountain last night.” “I’m sure he’s fine,” Roland said. “He’s a strong soul.” “He was chosen wisely,” Xiao Lu concurred. Roland then turned and said to the goblins, “Come this way, please. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” [sblock] Zora: “Goblin leaders don’t have to walk anywhere.” Devo: “Age penalties have taken their speed down to zero.” Zora: “But their wisdom has increased to an amazing… nine!” [/sblock] Late that afternoon both Latan and Hedrin returned to the village. Hedrin also arrived with a guest, one of the wolfen from the mountain. Until then I hadn’t realized that the wolfen are so large. I didn’t see what followed, but Roland told me of it later. Hedrin came to the center of the village followed by a creature that appeared like a huge wolf walking on two legs, standing a good two heads taller than Hedrin himself. Both of them carried haunches of venison with them, which only added to the creature’s intimidating appearance. When Roland’s charges caught sight of the wolfen they reacted with consternation. The wolfen also began to emit a low rumbling growl. Roland turned to the goblins and told them, “You will meet no enemies in the village.” [sblock] Zora: “The goblins take you at your word. After all, you’re their chieftain’s favorite. There’s a reason there’s an extra ‘oo’ in Oogra.” [/sblock] Hedrin said to the wolfen, “Grizzen, behave,” which did not please the wolfen. Hedrin realized this and added, “Grizzen, they are our allies.” Then he turned to Roland and said, “Roland, this is Grizzen, representative of Killyox’s village.” “I’m honored to meet you, a fine warrior like yourself. I look forward to seeing what you can do,” Roland greeted Grizzen with his usual diplomacy. The wolfen grunted in response. “The rest of his village will be here in about two weeks,” Hedrin explained. Hedrin looked a mess. His clothes were torn and bloodstained. The wolfen value strength and warrior prowess, it seems. Praise the Lady that they are our allies and not our enemies. Latan then arrived. At Roland’s questioning she described how she’d made an impression on a family of raptors, ridden upon a megaraptor, and even made the acquaintance of a tyrannosaurus after nearly being swallowed! I must persuade her to repeat the tale to me at length so I can record all the details. The hunters who accompanied her certainly seem impressed by her deeds. Grizzen was apparently quite respectful of Latan when introduced to her. But Latan, as is her way, was most concerned with reuniting herself with her small dinosaur Sapphire, who had been in the care of Beast Boy in her absence. When Latan arrived at the chapel, Xiao Lu called her inside and conducted her into the secret chamber where Latan’s parents are planted. That’s such a curious thing to say, but no less than the truth. Mellon has been staying with them almost continuously since our arrival in the village. It is the only place the thornmaiden seems comfortable. Once Latan was ensconced in privacy with her parents, Xiao Lu and I resumed my lessons. Istanil began pacing around us as one might expect to see a teacher pacing around a student. I had difficulty restraining myself from laughing at her, but I don’t think Xiao Lu would have appreciated such a distraction. Later Hedrin came to the chapel and introduced Grizzen to Xiao Lu. When the wolfen was presented, he seemed very deferential to Xiao Lu, though she greeted him courteously. “Grizzen has expressed the wish to stay outside the dome, but Roland has told me that the goblins will be staying outside the dome as well,” Hedrin said. “Who can tell me where the wolfen can stay to keep out of the way of the goblins?” “Biddenwald the quartermaster can tell you where they can stay,” Xiao Lu replied. “But it would be best if everyone can get along.” I felt then the power of her words, directed at Grizzen, and I could see that the wolfen felt their power too. “Find him a place, and then return and tell me of what concessions you’ve agreed to,” Xiao Lu told Hedrin. “Not as good as I’d hoped, but not as bad as I’d feared,” he answered. She smiled. “You’ve done well.” I think her praise heartened him. Hedrin is no diplomat, but he took on the mission she assigned him with admirable determination. While Hedrin was in the chapel, Roland had a curious experience with his guests. They came upon one of the local goblins and reacted very oddly. He said the bearers nearly dropped Olidant’s litter when they caught sight of the village goblin known as Pox. Roland quickly stepped forward and reminded the goblins, “There are no enemies in this village.” The goblins began gabbling excitedly, “That’s the Chosen One! We must get it! It would make a great trophy.” Roland told me they spoke so rapidly he could scarcely understand them. Pox reacted just as dramatically to Olidant’s people as they had to him: he emitted a high-pitched whistling sound, assumed the form of a raptor and fled! Roland called for someone to follow and help him. According to Roland, his raptor form had a silvery sheen, as if each scale was outlined in silver. No doubt that is his Blessing. “You had no right to draw your weapons. What you have done is wrong and will never be done again,” Roland admonished the goblins. His words appeared to affect them. Olidant even mumbled something that might have been an apology, and his bearers offered to hand over their bows. Roland refused them, but asked them to retire to their shelter outside the village until the feast in the evening. The feast that evening was an interesting affair. Beast Boy sat next to Grizzen and chattered incessantly at the wolfen warrior, which the wolfen didn’t quite know how to react to. The goblins had a little difficulty adapting to local table manners, but managed to acquit themselves well enough. Pox didn’t put in an appearance, and the other village goblins only watched from a distance. While conversing with the villagers, I overheard several folk discussing what had happened to Pox. They seem to think his fright had something to do with his upbringing. Roland later told me that he’d heard Pox might have come from the Raptor tribe. He suspects that perhaps Pox’s ability to change his form might have led to some difficulties with his tribe. It was a fascinating evening. I listened eagerly to my friend’s stories of their adventures. Latan isn’t an ideal storyteller, but she certainly described her adventures with enthusiasm. It was made even more entertaining by the behavior of the hunters who’d gone with her, who gave their own perspective on her actions. Latan downplayed her danger when dealing with the tyrannosaurus, but according to the hunters she was very nearly devoured by the creature! [sblock] Jubilee: “Next time I’m going to [I]benign transposition[/I] with one of them. It’ll be fine. That’s why it’s called benign.” [/sblock] Grizzen then offered his own contribution to the storytelling, describing how the wolfen champion had been defeated by Hedrin. Hedrin seemed to find this a bit embarrassing – not the storytelling, but the tale itself. I had the impression that the wolfen champion, whom Grizzen called Ravage, had behaved less than honorably in defeat, which caused Grizzen some embarrassment. He described Ravage as using some type of long daggers strapped to his arms in addition to his own natural weaponry of claws and fangs. Hedrin was able to defeat Ravage by use of his own weapon, the silver energy the Lady has blessed him with. Grizzen was obviously quite impressed by the presence of Fangrim, for his people had never seen a true wolf before, though they evidently are aware of the existence of wolves and think of them as their ancestors. Roland then described his experience among the Trihorn tribe. “It went very well,” he said. “We met their patrols and were taken to their village. Their leader is Oogra, the shamaness we saw in the jungle riding a trihorn.” “Did she hold that against you?” Hedrin asked. “No, not at all,” Roland replied. “I convinced the guards to let us talk to her, and found that some of the spider-riders had joined the Trihorn clan. I later found the Spiders had been defeated by the Trihorns and had become part of their tribe. Which shows that we went to the right place to seek goblin allies.” “We held our negotiations inside a zone of truth,” he continued. “It turned out that a bit of fortune turned the talk, for Oogra had an amulet that had been stolen by one of the Spider-riders and she very much wanted it back. If you recall, we found an amulet of twisted silver among the fallen goblins. She asked for return of the amulet, a gift of goodwill among friends.” “In the spirit of friendship it would only seem right to return it to her,” I agreed. I didn’t bother to add that we had been unable to determine the purpose of the amulet. Roland nodded in agreement and continued his story. “She then stepped outside the tent and used the amulet to transform herself into what is apparently the totem of their tribe, a creature that resembles both a trihorn and a tyrannosaurs.” Latan then became very interested in this, and for a moment the conversation turned toward how a trihorn and a tyrannosaurus could interbreed. Roland brought the discussion back to his negotiations quickly. “Once we resumed our discussion, she was very open to working together against our common enemy.” “What did she want?” asked Latan. “Nothing,” he answered. “Let me remand that. She wanted peace. She wanted an end to hostilities. She’s very open to a new era of cooperation between our two peoples.” Latan frowned. “Then why did they attack us when we first got here?” “Perhaps merely because we were strangers in their territory,” I suggested. “It will take them a couple of weeks to meet us here,” Roland continued. Then Latan exclaimed, “Do you think we can trust them not to turn on us?” Roland looked slightly perturbed by this remark, for the goblins were still at the table with us, but he said confidently, “Yes, we can.” He went on, “They are 112 goblins fighting strong, and they have trained five trihorns, eight spiders, and three rather unique dinosaurs that are crossbred between trihorns and some type of small raptor. The goblins are good people, fierce. Their chief dinosaur trainer let me ride one their trihorns, riding behind the horns.” He winked at Hedrin, for his comment referred to Hedrin’s unintentional ride on the brow of a trihorn during our previous encounter with their tribe. Hedrin flushed slightly in embarrassment. “It’s very impressive that you had such success at these negotiations in such a short time,” I told my friends, looking at them admiringly. “Well, I didn’t get eaten, anyway,” Latan said off-handedly. “But I only made half a circuit of the village. Tomorrow I should go out and work my way around the other half.” Hedrin then went on to describe the stone ruins amongst which the wolfen live, and Roland remarked that the goblins, too, are surrounded by ancient ruins. He feels that the ruins didn’t appear to be of goblin craft, though the goblins claimed some statuary as those of “ancestor spirits”. I wonder what ancient civilization once occupied this land. When I have an opportunity I must talk to Grizzen to learn more of the lore of his people. After that our conversation wandered off to other topics. It occurred to me that I haven’t yet spent much time with Mellon. I should really speak more with her and learn of the place she came from. Latan remarked that Mellon seems uncomfortable in the jungle, to which Hedrin commented that he also finds the jungles of Chult strange. Latan likes it here. Roland says he hardly notices the jungle – he is more interested in the people. [sblock] sniffles: “So he can’t see the trees for the people?” [/sblock] Praise the Lady, we have allies now. The goblins are 112 strong, and there are some 60 or 70 wolfen pledged to our cause. If only I could complete my studies more quickly. I know there are words in the draconic tongue that are of tremendous power, but whether I can learn any of them in the time I have available to me is another matter. [/QUOTE]
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Heritage of Dragonsreach (UPDATED September 4, 2007)
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