Warriors Of The Coast

[stonegod]

"And unless you can match the lizardfolk footprints to tracks heading wherever Jango went, these dead bodies don't tell us much other than that they attacked Jina and couldn't take her."

Ari shakes his head. "Actually, they do. These lizards weren't armed for combat or for capture. Thus, it makes if very unlikely they---or their tribe---had anything to do with Jingo. Our culprits are still out there. They may be lizards still, but they aren't from this tribe."

Hoping his point is taken, Ari takes to asking/helping Taviss find any tracks.

 

[DEFCON 1]

OOC: This post will take care of Nelson's two "in-town" posts. I will wait a bit longer for the others of the group to discuss what is occuring out in the clearing before moving on. This might not occur until Monday, because I want to give all eight of you as much time to piece things together as you need.

**********

"Mistress Juja, do you have any ungents or salves, perhaps a potion you could spare to us for poor Jango if'n we find him hurt terrible?"

The elder halfling woman looked up at Nelson and smiled brightly. "Of course, dear. 50 gold." When Nelson looks at her questioningly about the charge she is asking, she smiles sweetly again. "This is my place of business, my dear. I'll use my gifts whenever there is urgent need..." she places her palm on the back of her neck where her dragonmark is... "but anything of substance that Belggin has to make..." she motions to the young halfling man, who in truth is Mistress Juja's house artificer... "costs a pretty copper if you want to buy. Would you like to buy any, dear?"

OOC: 50 GP to buy any Cure Light Potions. Feel free to combine gold from all party members if you want to get one or two.

**********

As Nelson leans back with one of those fragrant cigars that Auntie Berril Luttin let him have, the elders of the clan begin talking in earnest about the situation. The discussions are heated, a fistfight almost breaks out (but thankfully a couple of the youngers are able to calm Auntie Berril down), and many insults are hurled at each other and the other folks who live in town. All in all, Nelson learns some interesting little details. (Knowledge Local TN 15 / 4+6=10 *failed*) (Knowledge Geography TN 10 / 7+6=13 *success*) (Bardic Knowledge TN 20 / 16+7=23 *success*)

[sblock=Nelson: ] The elders tell you that they've heard of five seperate lizardfolk clans that have been encountered in this area of Q'barra. Piecing together what they know and what you know you get the following:

The first four clans are of the more common lizardfolk variety (no blackscales or poison dusk lizardfolk) and all are considered part of the Cold Sun Tribes. The last clan is a tribe of Poison Dusk Lizardfolk.

Three Claw Tribe - much further SW along the coast past the lighthouse, about 1/3 the way to the town of Pitchwall. Have not made forays up to Seawell recently.

Scaled Might - straight W from Seawell in the heart of the jungle. Most raids against Seawell's outlying areas recently have been by Scaled Might tribesmen. Their main colors and patterns of clothing are shades of dark green in scale patterns. They consider themselves prototypical lizardfolk.

Twilight Walkers - NW of Seawell along the path to the Xothkazzik Ruins. They have not made any forays against Seawell as far as they can recall. The one lizardman who works within Seawell as part of Jonnal Karl's fishing team is a Twilight Walker. Their symbol is the silouette of a lizardfolk against a bright white moon.

Dark Eye - A nomadic tribe usually on the move further NE from Seawell. Tend to be the biggest problem in Newthrone's side. Many raids over the past several years have been more of the hit 'n run variety, and some people believe it's mainly the young of the Dark Eye who do it (as practice and a learning exercise).

Deathbringer - The lone poison dusk lizardfolk tribe... the have not been seen or heard from in years. Some suspect that they were either driven away or killed off by the other tribes in the area. [/sblock]

 

[James Heard]

"The Scaled Might tribes r'n the ones been causin' the passel o'problems lately. They're from the west and they're Cold Sun. Dark Eyes cause some troubles too, but that's just because the Dark Eye elders don't abuse their kid Lizards of th'notion. Jonnal Karl's Lizard in town might be able to tell us more about what's goin' on here-" he nods at the medallion held out by Ari, "because he's a member o'the Twilight Walkers too. Might be our best bet, if'n he isn't some sort of exile or Lizard criminal hidin' out with us because he's got a price on his head. The Three Claws up'n around past the lighthouse though, they've been quiet."

His blue eyes narrowed in consideration.

"If any of you scrutinizin' sorts find any sorts of poison, you holler though. 'Cuz there's one tribe out here that's the devil's tooth an' should be lonely ghosts out here. If they're still around, an' still around here then, what we might be lookin' at ain't involvin' Seawell in particular at all. It might be the war everyone's been unwrappin' swords about after all, but it would be a Lizard sort of war where'n Seawell's jus' in th'way. Because all the first were Cold Sun, and the Deathrbringers ain't Cold Sun t'all. That'd make them comin' round here...bad. Bad like bad breath while insultin' a dragon - heaps o'problems more on top of the heap we're on now."

He paused, again stroking a still non-existant beard much as his Pa did before tearing the guts out an animal before properly mounting it on the wall.

"Maybe Karl's Lizard is a criminal sort though. Which would make sense if the Twilight Walkers pulled Jango here as an...opportunity. Then they'd have somethin' to trade for Karl's Lizard that Master Silversun'd be likely to consider fer."

"Which I realize still don't make an awful lot of sense how Jina and her brother knocked themselves out in the first place. What were you two doin' out here again?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Maybe all o'you hotfire fer the ruins found somethin' important enough that the Deathbringers done gathered spears to come fetch it regardless o'blood n'mercies? Or maybe somethin' else is goin' on. We should either head back to get Jennal's Lizard, or hope I, or someone else here, remembers the way back to the Twilight Walker's huts. Cuttin' straight across the swamp is dumbleggin' it, and I know someone has t'trade with them so there's bound to be a mule path that isn't flagged fer murder and locked with gators n'whatelse. Th'Walkers likely have Jango an'prayer else we don't know. Now we need to get to them without dyin', avoid anything that might make a whole tribe o'Lizards think that stealin' away the Watchmaster's son was an'interestin' diplomacy start, and figure out what they want so we can give it to them fer Jango."

"Unless that's too much like ransom for some o'you bent more cuttin' and bleedin'. At which point I'll jus' remind you that Lizard claws are about yay long," he made the gesture with his hands, "an' theys born with 'em all the way up until they're a hight more'n taller than any o'us. An' they could be out there rit now too, bubblin' around in th'water watchin' us too, an' likely will certain by the time we get there. Lizards don't like sweets. Does anyone have any beads?"

The lopsided grin returned to Nelson's face, and his whole body relaxed as he straightened up again.

 

[stonegod]

Ari listens to Nelson as he continues his search for trails by Taviss. At the boy's last comment, he offers, "Except we don't know if they had anything to do with Jango... yet. First we find out where Jango and Jina had their 'accident.'" Without turning away from his work, he addresses Jina. "Though Nelson has a good point. Would be useful to know what you were out here for exactly."

 

[Ringmereth]

The ranger stands and returns to his companions, hands dirtied from crawling after tracks and clearing aside brush at the clearing's edge. "Jango was never here," he says simply. "Th' girl passed through here 'n hit in'ta 'em lizards." he kicks one of the corpses with his boot. "An' you can see how it finished. Now these 'uns came from the north." he says, pointing. "Yer ruins, Zan. But Jina was a'ready on th' run, comin' here from th' west. That's where we wanna be."

 

[Rayex]

Jina - Elven Swashbuckler

When Nelson asked her what she was doing, Jina shot him an angry glare. However when Ari did the same, she sombered and looked down at her feet. "Umm.. We didn't do anything, really. Exploring, hunting for hidden treasures and things. You know, getting away from the boring day in town..." Her voice trails of and she smiles sadly. "Look how far that took us, eh..."

[sblock]Bluff +6. They were out looking for any lizards, and were planning to spy on them.[/sblock]

 

[James Heard]

"Aight, then what were ya doin' out there, an' it in perticular would be interestin' if anyone had any good ideas how you got here, where y'were in the first place, n'if'n anyone has a notion besides fairy packbeasts on how Jina got here...an'why Jango fer whatever reason didn't," Nelson mused out loud.

"Are you sure that Jango's not just miffed at you fer some reason? Maybe he hit y'overth'head because you starched his drawers overmuch on washday? I mean, I know from personal experience he's not above hittin' a man right across the jaw for the tiniest things. Besides, I was goin' to apologize and Leena really wasn't keen on him in the first place. I never knew that bedwettin' was such a ticklish issue with yer kind..." he trailed off seeing that he was obviously, again, overexplaining things.

Oh well, back to square one. If Jango's gone wilder on us though, he's gonna be the devil to turn out. I hate rescuin' people who don't think they need to be rescued, it's worsin' educatin' people who don't think they earned learnin'. @#$%

It sure is pretty out here today. I wonder if Khalia's drawers are as fancy as the rest of her stuff. They've probably got diamonds stuffed in itchy places. Fancy people are funny.

Note to self: Check Khalia's underwear drawer for diamonds. Ain't no one need riches on their drawers...An since we're sharin' miseries, I suppose it's only fair we share riches. Maybe I can just talk her into givin' me a pair, so I can buy my pirate ship? I probably shouldn't tell her it's fer a pirate ship. Orphans. That's who it'll be for, orphans and fallen women. I'd look pretty good with a pegged' leg, only I don't know if I care to go about gettin' one. HAH! Everyone here is so serious. It's such a pretty day. I think those flowers over there are the kind that Pa puts inta his beer. I should ask him when I get home. I wonder what Ma is cooking? This sure is boring.

"An' everyone watch out fer yer hair too. There's spiders out here yer hand's sized and horse-sized, an' they like to lay eggs in yer hair. That's what happened to my cousin Amica, she went straight out inta the jungle one night to meet a feller and came home her eyes all ate out from the insides from them hungry spiders."

Maybe we can get home before dark.

OOC: Crosswised post, I was making it while Rayex was posting apparently so any weirdness in the dialogue is from responding to the wrong people I guess.

 

[drothgery]

OOC: Sorry for the silent Archivist, but Khalia's a bit out of her element here.

"If these," Khalia indicates the fallen lizardfolk, "are not of the tribes that have normally been troubling your town, then what were they doing here at all? I wonder..."

... and she tried to find anything of significance near the bodies (Search +7; take 10 = 17).

 

[Bront]

"Perhaps they were driven here by something else. I'm curious to know where their tribes normaly are, though I'd bet it'd be to the west of us," Zan says. "Either way, we should head that way to see what we can find. Keep your eyes out for anything odd along the way."

 

[stonegod]

Ari isn't sure he believes Jina, but realizes there are more pressing issues anyway. The Luttin boy was saying something again, but he was apparently trying to get on Jina's nerves this time.

The hexer carefully put the amulet around the lizard's neck, stood, and adjusted his armor spikes. Never could be too careful. "Looks like west it is. Let's try to solve this mystery before Jango regrets it."