[ We find Our Heroes walking along a road, through the shanty towns that house the working orcs and goblinoids. Since the workers are currently working, the only people in the shanty towns are, it seems, mothers and children too young to work. LOTS of children. You're getting near to the pillar-city, so you should probably decide now if you wanna shop around or just continue on. ] [ Session Start! ] * HKenji walks slowly down the road, doing his best not to look around. * Patrick glances around casually. He's smiling (what else is new). "So, what do you guys want to do?" ^_^ I want to get out of here and do what we came for. I see no reason to tarry here. Note that the place exists on the map and let us leave. * Seylin follows Kenji, taking the occasional curious look at her surroundings. Her wings are tightly folded against her back. "We could look around, if you guys wanted. Or we could keep going. Either way's fine with me!" * Seylin reaches back and rummages in her haversack for her pen and parchment. "I've been noting it. Have to add a few more things, but it's on our map now." I think we could do well by checking out a few places in town, actually. Perhaps we could find a map of the kingdom or find out about major trade routes to other places down here. Especially routes to towns outside the kingdom. * Will nods. "A map would definately make life easier." * HKenji scowls. Yeah, it'd be nice if we could find out what else we might run into. I'm more worried about what the Prince didn't mention than what he did. Liiiiike? * Seylin folds her arms behind her head and stretches as they continue walking along. * Patrick puts his hands in his pockets and smiles. "What didn't he mention? That he's harboring the biggest mass driver on this side of the planet?" ^_^ Like the complete lack of a mention of drow, for one. He has a war with Duergar on one side of his kingdom, but where are the drow I was born a slave to? Could they have gone somewhere else? Possible, but not without a fight. They were likely supplanted by the Duergar, at least in this area. * Istvan breaks his silence. "Info's good, but all else being equal, I'd rather be out of this place." * Seylin looks back at him and smiles. "He speaks! Anyhow, that's two votes for out, one for staying, two I-don't-cares, and what do you think, Will?" She turns and looks at the cleric as she finishes talking. * Will scratches his head. "How about we just buy a map and leave this place. We can do more talking and planning after we get out of here." I'll go for that. * Istvan shrugs at Seylin. "I didn't have anything useful to say." * Patrick smirks. * Seylin smiles at him again. "Don't worry. Just teasing you a little." She then looks to the rest of the group. "Okay! So, now we find a likely-looking place to get a map." Well, there's always the corner general store. How about a cartography shop? ^_^ * Vall looks around for the nearest one. * HKenji carefully avoids sighing. "Very well. So long as finding it is done quickly." Can't we just ask somebody if they know where to buy a map in this place? Could. * HKenji walks over to some random woman herding a bunch of kids. [ There are no general stores per se; there are warehouses for sundries such as food and soap... that these trolls clearly keep soap around sets them far apart from the norm. The warehouses can be bought from, and presumably haggled with. ] [ There are actual shops for other things; lots for weapons and armor, a few for clothing and the like, and one for jewelry and trinkets. ] * Vall heads for one of the jewelry shops, then, and asks about some place to purchase a map of the kingdom * Tia prances in circles. * Istvan eyes Tia, making sure to stay out of range of her tail. * HKenji walks over to some random woman herding a bunch of kids. * Vall heads for one of the jewelry shops, then, and asks about some place to purchase a map of the kingdom. * Patrick carefully, but not noticably, keeps enough distance from Tia so he can stop her if she does something (stupid), but still avoid her tail and prancing. [ The woman, an orc, eyes Kenji uncertainly. She seems afraid of something as he draws near. ] * HKenji looks up at the woman. "Where can I find a good map of this kingdom?" * Tia grins down, over Kenji's shoulder, at the orc. * Tia wags her tail. * Patrick stays near Seylin. He whispers to Seylin. [ The woman, odly enough, doesn't seem to be afraid of Tia. Weirded out? Sure. ] * Seylin whispers back. * Tia blinks a little and glances at Patrick and Seylin, wondering what they might be talking about. [ She also doesn't seem to understand the words coming out of Kenji's mouth. She frowns confusedly, as if trying to puzzle out the gyst of what he's saying. ] * Istvan repeats Kenji's question in Undercommon. * Will leans against a nearby wall, taking a breather while he can. [ She nods, holds up a finger in a 'one second' sort of way, and says something to one of the children she's attending to. ] [ The kid nods once and runs off to talk to someone else. ] * Tia 's stomach growls. * Istvan nods back to the woman, and waits. [ The kids (and goblins) all immediately hide behind the woman, who goes about assuring them that Tia won't eat them. Probably.] * Patrick chuckles. * Tia giggles somewhat abashedly. * Seylin idly plays with her hair, then looks up and smiles brightly at the orcs. ...Maybe the mushrooms weren't such bad eating after all... * Tia turns and glances back toward the mushroom field. I don't know what you're thinking, but... Ah, what the hell. Go for it. ^_^ (there goes the slaves' quota...) Don't eat the people's food. S'not nice. [ The kid comes back and recites something to the woman, who in turn recites back to Istvan. <"There is one who plays with maps here, master, on the fourth-and-fourth level. He may be able to help you, if he has not gone to help the Prince."> ] * Seylin giggles. "Guess you should at least ask first." * Tia was about to head for the mushrooms, but she hesitates and sits back instead after Istvan's words. [ The kids seem fascinated by Seylin. 'Specially her wings. ] It's okay. They weren't that good anyway. What did she say? * Tia wags her tail again. "Did she say anything about food?" * Seylin smiles more at the children, and waves her left wing slightly. * HKenji rolls his eyes and reaches into a pocket of his cloak. He pulls forth a ration and breaks off the part that contains your dried, overspiced beef and tosses it to Tia. * Istvan nods back at the woman. * Vall returns to the group. "No luck there. Anything here?" * Tia catches the ration, thanks Kenji, and munches on it noisily. * Istvan turns back to the party. "She says there's a mapmaker of sorts on the 4th-and-4th level." * HKenji nods. "Good." * Vall nods. "That's good." * Will looks perplexed. "And where might that be?" * HKenji reaches into a sleeve of his kimono and pulls forth a handful of gold, which he hands to the woman. * Istvan goes with Kenji's groove. (Oh boy, that's the WRONG thing to say.) (Espically in a society that practices slavery...) [ The woman blinks at the gold, then shakes her head, a fearful look on her face. <"No, but thank you. The masters would never permit it. I am not trained to go to the stores." ] I hope she doesn't take that to mean he wants to purchase the kids... * Istvan blinks, and turns to Kenji. "Don't. The trolls don't let them have gold." * HKenji blinks. Ask her if she has any tasks that need doing. * HKenji puts the gold away. * Patrick hmmms, out of nowhere, the theme to Morrowind. * Vall pulls out his hunk of meat jerky. "Offer her this, then." * Tia is skipping circles around the group. ( Patrick earns 50 exp. ) * Istvan eyes Vall like he's sprouted a second head out of his knee, then nods at Kenji and turns back to the woman. ( Kidding. ) * Vall puts it back, then... * Seylin continues to possibly fascinate the children. (offering food as compensation is often a good counterpart to gold in this type of society) [ The woman shakes her head. <"No, but thank you again. You couldn't topple the Prince, and nothing else would help. Just... do not speak with him any more, Master. His words will blacken your heart."> ] ( I was looking at you that way for the comment that she might misunderstand. =P ) (ah...) What's she saying? * Istvan nods. *turns back to Kenji* “She insists we don't try to repay her, but thanks us.” You don't want to know, Tia. * Seylin looks intrigued for a second, then goes back to smiling at the kids. I don't? * Patrick smirks and whispers again to Seylin. There's more, but I'll explain when we're outta here. * Vall nods. * Seylin whispers back. Well, okay. As long as she didn't say anything about there being nothing to eat around here. * Tia grins. Nope, it wasn't that. Fourth and fourth level... Hmmmm.... Very well. Let us find that mapmaker. * Patrick winks at Seylin, whispers a little more, then turns to the group. "Let's." What are we getting maps of? This kingdom, and surrounding tunnels. The surrounding area Tia Oh, okay. Do they have pizza here? Well, let's start with the eighth level, then. Sound about right? * Istvan nods. Eighth level? The fourth and fourth level. Fourth and fourth level. Chances are, she was never taught to count above four. Do they only have four fingers? I don't get it. Tia, she can't count. Perhaps it means the fourth street on the fourth level? * Will peers at an orc to try to count the number of fingers he has. [ The levels all appear roughly circular. ] Oh. I can count! Perhaps. Its on our way, want to check that first? No, the eighth level. I could tell by the way she said it. [ The number Will finds varies. Some have fingers plus stumps.] So be it. * HKenji heads for the eighth level, wherever that is. * Will appears confused. Up we go, then! One, two, three, four, five, six... * Patrick follows too. * Will shrugs and follows Patrick * Tia follows along. "...seven, eight, nine, ten!" Dammit, if I had more drow blood in me, I could levitate. If you had more drow blood in you, I'd be forced to kill you. Likewise. ^_^ * Istvan grunts. "Thirded." * Tia grins and pads along cheerfully. Why do the bad men levitate? If I had more drow blood in me, chances are I'd already be dead. Drow are like Scorpion, but thankfully easier to spot. [ And so they march up to the eighth level! On the way, most of the trolls ignore them. Any servants walking around very determinedly ignore them. A few trolls grin at the lot of you, or give a dark chuckle and a few words of thanks in Undercommon. ] I wish I could levitate. Flying is hard work. Nah, flying's fun! * Vall replies to the thanks with a "You're welcome" in Undercommon. * Tia nods. "Yeah, but I get tired after awhile." She grins. * Patrick GRINS back evily. ^_^ That's a scary grin, Patrick. [ Sadly, Patrick cannot match the grins of truly evil creatures, as he is merely mischievious. ] * Tia nods sagely. * Seylin giggles. "He's good at it." I want to look scary! * Tia twists her face into a grotesque grimace. How's this? [ One troll on the eighth floor agrees with Vall that yes, they are welcome. ] * Seylin mock-shudders. "Not bad." * Tia looks delighted. * Vall looks around for the map shop [ And then you reach the mapmaker! ] Can we eat soon? * HKenji enters without knocking. Soon. Soon, Tia. As soon as we get a map Tia. Okay. I don't think maps are good for eating. * Vall hands Tia a piece of his jerked meat. "Here, have some of this." Thanks, Vall! [ The guy is packing for a trip as you walk in. He looks up at you, and grins, showing lots of well-maintained and nasty teeth. "Ah, our new... friends, yes?" ] * Tia takes the meat and chews on it thoughtfully (or, as thoughtfully as Tia can). [ The mapmaking troll, rather. ] Hi, Mr. Troll! (Tia: Bite! Rip! Chew! Swallow! repeat... ? :) Yes. * Istvan restrains himself from making a comment. * Will nods in agreement, then looks around the cartography shop. * Tia explores the shop. * Seylin peeks around, humming idly. * Vall sticks close to Tia, to make sure she doesn't destroy anything. * Patrick glances around casually, looking at the varoius items and seemingly calculating something. [ "Ah, yes. The Prince said you might want something like that." He picks a scroll made from what might have once been an orc's hide off the wall. "I prepared this just for you. It is a complete map of the Empire, and also shows all that we know of surrounding lands. It isn't as detailed as a hand-made one would have been, but I havn't the time for hand-making a map just now." ] * Tia occasionally picks up something, glances at it curiously, then puts it back down. Her tail sweeps back and forth across the floor. [ Fortunately, nothing breakable is near Tia. ] * HKenji nods, withdraws a massive handful of gold from his sleeve and sets it down on nearest horizontal surface. The Prince knew we might want a map? * Tia holds up a map and looks at the troll. "What's this one a map of?" * Istvan nods. "Drow in the area?" * Seylin stops looking around and watches the transaction carefully. He probably overheard us as we were leaving. I assume this will be sufficient? * HKenji eyes the mapmaker carefully. * Will nods. "Trolls have good hearing I take it" [ The troll raises his hideous but well-groomed eyebrows. "Why, thank you, small sir. And no, the drow are here," he says, pointing to a few marks on the map. "On this side of the empire, the Duergar are between us and them. What I believe you'd be looking for, from what the Prince said, is this," and he points to a large spot with a question mark and a fire symbol. ] I suspect he has more arcane or divine means... I like your eyebrows, Mr. Troll. * Vall stops in mid-sentence to look at the spot. * Tia grins. [ "It is a sunlit realm, and we therefore avoid it, as do the drow and duergar." ] Wow, there's sun down here? * Seylin takes a closer look at the spot. * HKenji blinks, then considers, and brightens considerably. * Patrick shrugs. "You can always make sun." ^_^ Awesome!! More likely, Tia, its a break in the caves... another canyon, perhaps. I want to make sun! How do you do that? [ "As for the gold... it was not necessary, as you have already made me wealthy. But I shall accept it anyway, if you insist?"] New land, most likely unclaimed. This would certainly be an excellent place to explore. I'll show you later Tia. ^_^ Okay! * Tia gives Patrick a hug. * HKenji shrugs at the troll. "I care not." * Patrick is almost crushed. "That's nice. Maybe you can let go before you crush my vital organs?" * Seylin laughs. One question, if I may. How long ago was this kingdom forged, and how long have the trolls and duergar been at war? * Patrick smiles. * Will shakes at Tia. "Always ask before hugging anybody Tia." [ "The kingdom was forged some two hundered years ago. The wars have lasted much longer, of course, as they have never really stopped." ] Oh, sorry, Patrick! * Tia lets go immediately. [ He taps his chin. "Well, not yet. An undefended flank... heh." ] * Patrick is let go and breathes semi-heavily. That kid's tougher than he looks. "S'okay Tia. Just be careful next time." He smirks. * Tia nods. "Okay, I'll be careful!" She grins. * Istvan nods, his eyebrow twitching slightly, then turns to Kenji. "That all we wanna do here?" * Vall studies the map. "Thank you." * Tia walks in a circle, following the tip of her tail. Yes. * HKenji turns and exits, leaving the gold. Time to go, Tia! * Tia looks up. "Oh!" She runs off after Kenji. * Istvan walks out after Kenji. * Vall heads out as well. * Seylin laughs, then leaves the store. * Patrick smiles at the troll and follows Seylin. * Will walks out the shop too after saying thanks to the Troll shopkeeper. * Vall looks at the map again, and starts trying to find the fastest routes to the drow and to the 'sunlit realm'. * Seylin peeks over Vall's shoulder at the map. She's got a good ten inches on him, so she can manage it pretty easily. [ The fastest route to the 'sunlit realm' is an exit on the north side of this very cavern. You may have to fly or climb to reach it. ] Well, this is interesting. Head north from this cavern to get to the outside. Well, what are we waiting for? ^_^ * Will nods. "Lets get out of here as fast as possible." * Tia trots along right behind Kenji. Yep! Off we go! * HKenji strides forth into the great black yonder. * Patrick nods. He strides, and I mean *strides* to that exit. * Vall hands the map to Kenji, pointing out the exit cave on the map. [ So you all go up! Tia and Seylin prolly play elevators, if you wanna make things fast. The brave ones go with Tia, and just barely survive. ] (I'll ride the Tia Express) (I'm goin' with Seylin. Safer that way. :P) ( Wuss. ;) [ But now you're all there! Safely out of earshot of the Trolls. ] (I'm riding Tia!!) ( Cheh. I've got my slippers for a reason. ) * Patrick whispers to Seylin. * Seylin nods and whispers back. ... okay, that place just fucking creeps me out. Enraging, actually. All those people enslaved to those trolls.... * Tia blinks. "What was wrong with it? * Seylin holds up a finger. "They could still be watching us somehow, you know..." The Prince scared me, though. I mean, really scared me. We were nothing to him, and he knows it. * Patrick smirks. "Please please, don't talk ill of those who may still be listening." He scared you? But he was nice, and he had a pretty dress! Tia, enslaving people is not a nice thing. He liked us, Tia, but that doesn't make him a nice guy. We're outta earshot, guys. And that Prince guy... I don't need to be a freakin' paladin to sense evil runnin' offa him like sweat off a dwarven miner. Oh. I didn't know. Exactly. I'd place money on him being a wizard or a cleric in his own right. I didn't see any slaves. * Seylin sighs. Tia: All those orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears down there are slaves. * Patrick rolls his eyes. He whispers to Seylin. Oh. They are? * Tia looks a little blank. Yes. They're being forced to work for the troll overlords. * Seylin whispers back. * Patrick nods to Seylin, and starts walking off in the direction of the light! Oh. I didn't know. The prince also caused a lot of pain to one of his soldiers just for speaking remember? (Or wherever we were gonna go.) * Seylin gets up and follows him. Oh. Oh, yeah. Right. * Tia sees people leaving and quickly follows. "Wait for me!" * Vall follows as best he can, sticking to the rear. * Will walks between Tia and Vall. * Istvan mutters. "When we get back, we should probably let the powers- that-be know about that guy. He's bad news." Yes. My brother-in-law, the baron, will want to know about him. What's a baron? He's like that troll prince, only lower ranked. Low-level nobleman. Oh, okay. I wonder why he pointed this canyon out to us. Don't trust him. I thought he did it 'cause he was nice, but you guys seem to think he's not so nice... No noble is ever nice without a reason. * Tia nods. "I guess so. He didn't want a hug." Well, there's likely something there they don't want to deal with. So why not send a party of unaffiliated adventurers who got lucky the first time around over there? * Patrick walks for a good ten-fifteen minutes, then stops. "You know, if he was listening in, he would have been able to hear every word you said?" ^_^ * Tia glances around paranoidly. Your point? I don't see anyone... Patrick, unless he has Magic Ears, we're out of hearing range. He could be scrying on us. It's called a scrying spell. * Seylin shrugs. "He's a wizard or cleric of some sort. What makes you think he can't do things like scry?" Okay. Who cares? We don't like him very much. I think he could have figured that out without a scrying spell. * HKenji continues on his merry way. * Tia shrugs her wings, not quite understanding, and keeps on walking. * Patrick smirks. "It's what he knows for certain that he can use. If he doesn't know without a doubt, he's not likely to act on it." * Patrick continues. Yeah. No need to give him any more information than he's already got. * Istvan eyes Patrick. "You've gotta be the cheeriest paranoid I ever met." Doh! Too late now. The place still seems interesting enough to check out though. * Patrick smiles. "Why thank you." ^_^ * Seylin laughs. "That's a new one." So, what do you think we're running up against? ^_^ And yeah, there's a coupla reasons why he might've told us about this canyon. He could be genuinely thankful for our help, but I think that's about as likely as me taking up ballet. Definitely something fire-related. Nice call, genius. I have little doubt that he is genuinely happy that we removed those Duergar. What's ballet? I don't know, Istvan, you might look good in a tutu. * Vall snickers. But asking if he has ulterior motives is like asking if a Scorpion will stab you in the back. What's a tutu? It's a short puffy skirt-thing, Tia, that people wear when they do ballet, which is a type of dance. * Vall shakes his head, getting tired of answering Tia... Oh, I like to dance! * Istvan gives Patrick the ol' #1 sign, and continues. "He could want non-aggressive neighbors, figuring they'd make for good trade, allies against the duregar and drow, and that humans and such would leave him alone if he left them alone, but I doubt that's it either." So yeah. There's prolly something large, angry, and burny in that there canyon. Regardless of what's there, I smell a rat, guys. Stay on your toes. * Tia skips around in irregular circles, in what she evidently considers to be a dance. * Patrick laughs. * Istvan stays out of Tia's path. He's big, but not big enough to stand up to a dancing dracotaur. * Tia stops momentarily and sniffs tentatively. "I don't smell anything." It's an expression, Tia. Means something's suspicious. If there is something there, we will face it and defeat it. Therefore speculation is of no importance. Getting there is. Oh, I see. * Tia nods. "I can help with that!" As bland as Kenji is, he's right. ^_^ I like defeating things. It'll be good to see the sun again. Better to be the ones doing the defeating than the other way around... not that we'd lose, of course. Eh. All else being equal, I'd rather just be able to waltz in there and get this done without having to fight for my life. Lose? Hah! Only if I let them. ~_^ Don't get overconfident, Seylin. * Seylin shrugs. "We've got time to prepare, don't we?" As my real dad once said, anyone can get beat. Hell, no piece'a land's worth dyin' for. You like to dance too, Istvan? * Tia 's ears had perked up at the sound of the word "waltz." ... I dance like Kenji does comedy. In other words, not. * HKenji looks vaguely offended. I'll have you known that in my family, I am considered quite the funny one. I think you're funny, Kenji. * Tia smiles. If you like standup deadpan humor. * Seylin sighs and shakes her head. "Okay. Vall, how long is it gonna take us to get to that other canyon?" * Vall takes a look at the map again. (DM: Time estimate?) * Istvan glances at Tia. Then Kenji. Then Tia. Then Kenji. "... fair enough. I dance about as well as I do stealth." Of course Kenji, of course. ^_^ * Patrick speaks in a way to seem convincing, but it's really tough to tell one way or the other. [ Vall> Not much farther, really. ] * Seylin laughs. "Leave the stealth and the dancing to me!" * Tia grins at Istvan. "I think someone said that to me once about dancing, too. Does that mean I'm pretty sneaky?" [ Call it about about ten minues, if you keep walking at your current pace. The GM's exaggerating time right now, see, so it makes traveling quicker. ] Shouldn't be about too much longer. In fact, not more than fifteen minutes. * Istvan pauses for a moment as he attempts to figure out how to respond without insulting poor Tia. "... no, I just think they underestimated your dancing skills." Okay, so, when we're getting close to it, send me ahead and I'll scout it out for you. Sound good? * Will picks up his pace. "Good. We're almost there." * Vall puts the map in the map case, puts that in his haversack, and nocks an arrow, just in case. Oh, okay. I didn't think I was sneaky. Somehow, things keep falling down when I walk by them... * Istvan patpats Tia. "We big people usually aren't sneaky. We make up for it by beating things until they're unconcious, at which point everyone becomes sneaky." * Tia nods in emphatic agreement. "I'm much better at beating things." * Patrick smirks. "You may be, anyways." * Will laughs. "Not to mention helps out the small people who can't sneak too" * Vall sends his familiar out to scout ahead, just in case. [ Our Heroes see sunlight ahead! ] Mmm. Light good. * Tia blinks in the light. * Seylin peers ahead. * Patrick likes the light. ^_^ * HKenji smiles. "It will be good to be back in the light of Amaterasu again." The first light from the caves is always brightest... a bright light of hope, and a reminder of how I gained my freedom... Not always a good reminder. * Patrick chuckles, and whispers to Seylin. Amate--eh? * Seylin whispers back. [ Our Heroes head t'ward the light! And they see someone standing there! Someone... human? ] * Vall drops to one knee, and says a small prayer for his deceased brothers who didn't make it out. Who's there? * Patrick grins. * Vall stands up again quickly... * Seylin eyes the new figure. Hiya! * Will shields his eyes from the light to better see who's the stranger. * HKenji continues resolutely walking forward. * Tia waves, as she continues to walk forward. * Istvan squints to get over the light adjustment, and bounces the haft of his pick on his shoulder. [ An old man stands waiting for you, his heavily lined face cracking in a smile as he sees you. He has a very long but neatly cared for beard, and is dressed in, of all things, the vestments of a Cleric of Bahamut. ] * Vall approaches cautiously... * Tia is grinning cheerfully. * Will steps up forward. "Praise be Bahamut" * Seylin smiles back. Hiya, Mr. Grampa. I'm Tia! What's your name? [ The man smiles wider. "Praise indeed. I have waited long for you, children. And now you are here. That is well." ] [ Aaaaand I'm gonna End Session here. ]