[IC] Underdogs [a core dnd game]

[covaithe]

What do rest of us speak besides Grell?

"I get by in Dornish and Trader," Assaq volunteers.

"Assaq... you said to approach one of guards or sentries by themselves and speak our intentions and request a meeting. Do you still think this? I would be all right with this plan, provided we can speak a common tongue."

"Yes. It still involves risk, but I cannot think of any plan involving less risk that might succeed at our goals. Of course, there is no way to know if we share a common tongue with any sentry we meet except speaking to him."

 

[Zadam]

Adokul listens to the Shaman, and everyones responses. "Why must these fools always push for doing things the hard way?" he wonders to himself but keeps silent about these thoughts.

"OK, so the plan is, we try and find some random Gnoll, approach him and hope he doesn't call for backup straight away, attack us, or run away, and then try and talk to him even though we have no idea if we will even be able to talk to him, then hope that if we do manage to get a dialog happening that he actually tells us the truth. I'm sure that if they are planning on attacking us he will just come right out and tell us that. Wonderful plan, when do we leave?" He asks.

"I think my chances of survival are pretty slim if I keep letting these fools keep making the decisions" he thinks to himself bitterly, wondering why he couldn't have just been given this task to do alone...

 

[Autumn]

"It's unfortunate that you find the idea of even attempting to open a peaceful and honest negotiation to be a foolish one, Adokul. But I don't believe that anybody is forcing you to come. Stay here if you want, and if we fail in our task then I'm sure that you'll have plenty of opportunities to indulge in kidnapping and torture."

Ershe's voice remains flat and level throughout the speech, his eyes fixed expressionlessly on the young lackey of Kharad-Fall. He gives a sigh.

"We know that gnolls tend to savagery and malice," he says patiently. "But we also know that these particular ones have so far given us good reason to consider carefully whether they are the same as the ones we've dealt with before. I don't think we should endanger ourselves more than we have to to do that, but I also don't think we should start things off by kidnapping one of their number before we've given negotiations a chance."

He remains silent for a moment, thinking. "I'm not against some scouting before we make contact, though," he says after a moment. "Would that go some way to satisfying you, Adokul? If we find that they seem to show all the same cruelty as usual in their kind then we have our answer and we can come back and inform the krel that war seems our only option. If not, then we attempt Assaq's plan."

 

[Zadam]

"I am against a peaceful and honest negotiation in this case in the same way I would be against a peaceful and honest negotiation against a pack of starving wolves. If we at least knew that we might be able to talk to the Gnolls then I would agree that it might work. However just look at our situation! We have never seen anything from the Gnolls to make us think they are capable of anything other than violence, and our chances of even being able to talk to them are practically none. Ershe you misunderstand me. I am not against peaceful and honest negotiations, what I AM against is us all risking our lives on a one in a thousand chance. I am glad however you do see some reason. Scouting the Gnolls first before even attempting to make our presence known is a good idea, at the very least we might get a better feel of what their intentions and maybe we can make a more reasonable decision about making contact." Replied Adokul, realizing that sometimes a more restrained and diplomatic approach is more effective. He finishes talking, looks at the rest of the group and hopes that they will be in agreement.

 

[DEFCON 1]

"Then it looks like it is agreed. We will go find them and stay at a safe distance. We scout them, try to figure out their actions, and if we feel it is okay to proceed, try to find one or more we can talk to. We then set up a meeting to discuss why they are here and what they want." He looks at Adokul. "Those of us who think we are dealing with a pack of starving wolves will stay back out of range of attack... ready to come back here to Fall to get support if gnolls prove unfriendly. Others of us try and set up dialogue."

He looks to the shaman to see if he has anything else to say, otherwise Mogro stands up and prepares to leave.

 

[Zadam]

Adokul shrugs and laughs at Morgo's suggestion that he stay back out of range of attack. "I have no intention of attacking anyone, this mission is about gathering information and that is what I plan on doing. However you would be a fool to stop me from getting close to them, I would be far more likely to get close, find out information, and get out without being detected than any of you."

Adokul can feel the tension between the group in the air as they all stand and prepare to leave, and decides he better say something.

"Know this friends" he speaks to them all. "Although our opinions on how this situation should be handled are different, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that once we are out there we all have to trust each other, our lives may depend on it. I plan on following the plan we make regardless of if I agree or disagree with it, and I expect the same from all of you. We cannot afford to hesitate, or to prevent a team member from acting because of mistrust. While we are out there I expect all personal feelings about each other to be set aside. If any of you is planning on preventing me from acting or getting close to the Gnolls because you think I will act against the plan, let me know now so I can withdraw from the mission, since such an action would put all of us into even greater jeopardy than we already will be in." He looks each of them in the eye, especially Mogro and Ershe and assesses their reaction.

[sblock]
Haha... The tension is intense! I don't know about you guys but I'm really enjoying being in a party of characters who do not get along... It is much more refreshing than most other characters I have played, where everyone was a close-knit family... Like the Brady Bunch... gets a bit boring sometimes...
[/sblock]

 

[Autumn]

"Of course," Ershe says simply, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Whatever our differences, I know that Urdan puts enough faith in you to have you come with us. I intend to give you the benefit of the doubt."

 

[doghead]

ic - Underdogs

The old shaman stirs. He looks around, blinking slowly.

"Ah, you are all still here. That is good."

He pauses, frowning for a moment.

"Yes. You are ready to set off then." He leavers himself up to a more upright position. With the tip of a stick he scratches out some lines in the dirt of the floor. As his stick scrapes this way and that, the characters begin to see the outline of the local geography appearing.

"This is the krel. Hussik puts the gnolls somewhere around here." He jabs a point somewhere in the higher foothills of the mountains. "It is about a third part of a day's journey away. The easiest way would be across the Horgi ridge and up the Anandi river valley." The shaman's stick swings in a circular route from the krel to the gnoll location. "The ridge is a little rugged, but the forests are lighter in the valley. The fastest way there would be ..." he drags his stick from where it rests across the map and to the krel. "Difficult going. You could waste more time backtracking than you save if you take the wrong route. And the forests are wild that way. I would not recommend it if you are not familiar with it."

The shaman glances up from his map and at Assaq.

[sblock=ooc]I don't have a map. By which I mean, I don't have a map. I'm just going to work with terrain types and a few rolls.

covaithe, Assaq can take a +2 circumstance bonus to the check below due to his extensive time out hunting.

BTW, lovely work everyone. Like Zadam, I too am enjoying the inter-character interaction. So far everyone seems comfortable with it. But if not, or things get a little too intense down the track, please speak up.[/sblock]

[sblock=Knowledge Geography or Local DC 10]The direct route is mostly rugged hills/mountains and medium forest. The circular route starts with rugged hills and medium forest followed by gentle hills with sparse forest. Having a river to work from will lower the getting lost DC, but its about 1/3 longer in terms of distance travelled.[/sblock]

 

[covaithe]

Assaq, mighty hunter and experienced wanderer, squints at the shaman's crude drawing with complete incomprehension.

[sblock=ooc]kn(geo) and kn(local): 1d20+6=8 and 1d20+4=5, a 2 and a 1, ouch! Mighty hunter indeed.

In other news, this update caught me just as I'm leaving town for three days. I'll check back in on Monday night.[/sblock]

 

[Autumn]

Ershe studies the shaman's drawing absorbedly, slowly managing to match its details to his own knowledge of the surrounding area.

He glances up at Assaq as Urdan does the same, and sees complete lack of understanding written plain across his face.

"... maybe we'd be better off with the easier route?" he says hesitantly.


[sblock=OOC]I'm really enjoying the game too. Good to have you back doghead!

Knowledge (Geography) 1d20+1 = 2 *fail*
Knowledge (Local) 1d20+1 = 17 *pass*[/sblock]