The Journey North

[flyingmouse]

"I don't remember - I mean, when did...why is that our objective? How is this...relevant to our, err...our initial goals?"

[at]

Callo noted the words of the pixie and her companion as she circled the bird around to listen in on the conversations of the larger dragons near the castle, finding a suitable building to perch on.

"We have no objective here. It's a simple raid, murder, theft, slavery and the like." Poking her dagger into the sand near Brienne she marked the major roads onto the map, "Perhaps there is something we can do for these people, or perhaps we should just hope there is nobody in there that we know or care about..."

Rubbing the side of her temple with the daggers pommel she muttered, "now where would they put an orc warlord if they had one..."

[glassofsand]

Glass' arms quake. "I care about them all! Will you, any of you," he says turning from Callo to the Pixie and Sky Watcher, "sit here and watch this? Your mission can wait, just as mine can wait. These people cannot. I thought you had already agreed!" Glass pauses and considers a moment. "But if you need a reason other than the plight of these people; I would be in your debt. Not to mention there is a cities ransom there. I'm sure that would come in handy in, getting whatever it is you want."

There were certainly more dragons than he had expected. One battle was not enough to measure the skill of everyone here. "A fair fight might mean disaster but these people are not dead yet. If we sent the word, they might be able to help. I could call them out then jump away when they get close. That would give one or more of us time to get in."

I'm going to go ahead and make knowledge arcane to try know about dragons. Arcana (ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, cryptic phrases, constructs, dragons, magical beasts) is what the book says falls under that category. If you are changing dragons to knowledge nature, please let me know.

[dice=20] +23 knowledge Arcana[rand=20031012594699868263908682856709499545340891927548837780649773777]

[at]

Dec 30, 2012 8:33:13 GMT -5 glassofsand said:

Glass' arms quake. "I care about them all! Will you, any of you," he says turning from Callo to the Pixie and Sky Watcher

(Glass would be able to tell from Callos tone that she was chiding the pixie, though her normally playful tone had been replaced by something more serious as she split her concentration between the map and the bird)

"Getting in would be simple enough, but I see nothing that would make more than a snack for the dragons in an uprising, unless you know someone here?"

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

dragons have magical powers ( as in spells ) Arcana in this case is to find out what spell lv they could be at, and/or the kind of spells they may know and have. The 28 should be high enough to know.

in 4.0 i got so use to K ( nature ) to determine monsters. It is hard for me to go back and forth remembering which to use. So yes i will say it is nature to find out about the habits,etc of dragons, but the party has no reason to hide info on the dragons from you. yet that is up to them if they tell you not me.

[flyingmouse]

Skywatcher shakes his head, sighing at the reprimands of the two smaller people.

"The original mission - I mean, you don't know, err...if it, if it can wait. You just, err...don't, I mean, you're just...justifying your rage."

He pauses, fidgeting a great deal, reluctant to speak so much in front of new acquaintances. Eventually, he looks up at Brienne, then nods, continuing.

"If you want to - I mean, should it, err..."

Skywatcher trails off, looking down at his feet.

"Sorry. This is hard."

Deep breath. Eyes ahead.

"Consider a few things...please. Why have the Sand Dragons, err...why did they come here? There might be - I mean, I...I...they might have as much a plight as, as...the people in - I...from the city. If they are, err...if they do have such troubles, we...we could perhaps - I mean, we could help both groups and not be in...have to have violence. Safer for all...all...all involved especially the den, err...I, uh...people you want to...to protect."

He heaves a huge sigh when he finishes, visibly relieved to be done.

[at]

"Sand dragons want is best for themselves, they take from the weak and bow to the strong... they have most likely taken the city because they can, for them it is enough."

Looking through the birds eyes, "still, it's a sizable force, an organised army of dragons and their kin. It is curious behaviour."

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

The bird does hear a few things: it does hear the dragons complaining about having to leave their homeland do to the red dragons betting them.

[harknail]

"There is something going on here," agreed Nokomis, "This many dragons working together is most unusual. They are solitary creatures by nature."

"As for loot, it appears that that is being removed out of our reach rapidly."

[at]

"They are an established group, perhaps an extended family", Callo sketches the dragonhead over firewave emblem in the sand, "driven from their last nest by the reds."

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

Crudge being rather silent now gives his input:

" Then they may hate the reds as much as we do. the only info glass and myself got was part the resistance him and I belong to was in there. that is why he is so set to save them and there may be a way without us getting killed. yet we have no way of knowing if they are alive or dead. we don't even know if they fled and got away or still hiding inside. At first the only way I saw to save them was sneak in to find them and sneak them out, yet now we have another option. we could try and get the sand dragons on our side for we do have a diplomat after all. It both will not kill us for trying to free them, and it may gain an ally vs the reds. do you wish to try and talk with them?"

[glassofsand]

Glass looked at Crudge. His eyes spoke decades. His mouth said, "No." The word was colder than night. Blacker, too.

[at]

Callo let out a cold, humourless chuckle at the suggestion, "I believe the point of a resistance is to die saving the city, not for the city to die while saving the resistance"

Glancing around, knowing the fog concealing them would soon clear, "the sand dragon are vermin, parasites, they will slowly consume this place and its people with no concern but for themselves. You might, perhaps, stay their hand for a time with a promise or threat of enough power, but unless you can strike awe into the hearts of an army of dragons I would consider your bargaining posture highly dubious."


Callo knew that she could enter the city undetected, but could not hope to overcome the dragons within alone. Without an army or powerful magic it seemed that these people would remain slaves, though if another alliance of dragons considered this land theirs a new and terrible war could soon descend on the city.

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

"we don't have much time and must do something, attack is out, sneaking in is not out but very dangerous, and i know glass will not let this one go. turning to glass: my friend i have always tried to fight at your side but what you are thinking will get all of us killed and that i can't do. I can only think what they did to you but now is not the time for a personal vendetta. turning to Callo you shoot down options but we have no real idea of what to do. you both hate them so much and i understand but ether of you have yet to come up with something without people getting killed. we are not going to just sit here and talk and talk cause they may find us, and capture us or kill us, and form the sound of it, they would just kill us. we need to do something."

[glassofsand]

Glass could not hear the words. Sometimes he found he needed to tune Crudge out in order to think. "Wait. You mentioned something about the reds evicting them. Perhaps we can have them evicted again. A red dragon with an emissary? It would take work to conceal the magic and someone to pull them out if it got hot, but it is, possible." Glass stopped and smiled before adding, "Callo, how good are you at lying."

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

"Glass they may hate the reds very much for what they did. you don't know the way they left things and what terms it was under. also we don't know any names of red dragons but one an he most likely would not send the order himself. we don't have proper orders they would have or a seal or emblem of any kind. these are questions they may ask and wrong answer gets us killed. so lets change it a slight bit. lets try this slight alteration"

"What we need to do instead of a red turn them into ones they will be ok with. maybe like a brass or a metallic one like a gold or copper and say they want to help them get back the nesting ground in exchange for fighting the reds. we know the emblem of them cause we carry them, and their names. we have seals of theirs as well, so we can do documents. we both know our bosses would want us to do this cause if they thought the sand dragons would attack the reds with them. so they would be for it and we would be helping the rebellion. also pointing out they did say get other to fight along side us, so we are fallowing orders to the best we can. the rebellion in the city are freed and city saved. the two blues can try to go in as well with the "metallics" and say the two of them wish to help, and agree to talk with the other blue dragons to see if the blues will join the golds and brass. this way we all win and not die agreed?"

[at]

Callo shook her head at Glass' suggestion, "I doubt they would respond well to a red without the force to back it up. The blue perhaps but I am not familiar with this group or their enmities."

Turning then to Crudge, "I do not hate these dragons, I do not know them. I do know that they attacked and ransacked this city and that within a week every human to old, young, feeble, or stubborn to work as their slave will be dead."

"If we are to bargain with them for the lives of the city I suggest we do not waste time with petty deceit. Meet them head on, hear their terms, and be prepared for the likelihood of conflict."

Turning to Brienne, "you say you are a diplomat, what do you know of this symbol?"

[stickyfish]

Brienne studies the symbol. "That is the crest of the last great sand dragon clan, The Burning Dunes. They have been reduced this year, shoved from their homeland, as the result of a savage conflict with the red dragons that rule near this area."

She looks to the city speculating. "I would suspect that this is their last foothold. It sounds as though there is an extended family living in those walls." She pauses for a moment before addressing everyone, flying up to something akin to head height. "I would advise a more polite approach should we need to deal with them. As a dragon's diplomat I am capable of conversing with them unmolested. We could find out their circumstances and perhaps improve the lives of all those currently dwelling within the city."

[harknail]

"A diplomatic approach sounds much safer than attacking a clan of dragons," agreed Nokomis. "The hard part is coming up with something the Dragons want that they can't just take."

[flyingmouse]

"Their homeland."