Quest #25 “The Final Demise Of Captain Stewart Bing”

[Darklin2]

Darklin

Moves to the front of the line of carts and water barrels. Passing Keg and the spoils. Walking up behind Dexter.

Dexter you have had your shot now let me give it a try with a spell. Maybe it will end the negotiations and makes some allies in the long run.

Darklin moves up to the lead Phantaloon and extends his hand in greeting to the leader. (Casting Comprehend Languages) Will touch him in greeting with empty hand so I may understand him. Covering the Somantic portion with acting like I am trying to communicate.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"So," says the Halflng."You think there is some part of my communication that didn't get across? Have at it." Dexter stands back and makes room for Darklin to come forward, eager to see how the Phanaton react to obvious spell casting. (Pulling out components, hand waving, reaching out to touch them, etc.) He's not sure if they know about it, but he bets they've seen shamans of their group do something similar to their enemies. He walks back to the wagon and gets the extra daggers to make 5. "I wasn't trying to horse-trade him, Daisy. Many groups prefer to haggle. Although the Phanaton don't seem to be among those. Of course they're welcome to the extra two daggers."

[Karaunios]

Grimm just crosses his arms over his chest and waits.

[Paladin]

Cealwyn Blackthorn

The ranger struggles to suppress a grin. "You lads want to measure now, in front of all these?" He stifles his laughter and puts on a straight face. "Well, I ain't judging the contest."

[OGRE MAGE]

I’ll give Liam a bit more time here.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Continues to try to look nonthreatening, putting himself between the Phanatons and the women. Stay calm... be ready. Something about this group seems different.

[OGRE MAGE]

Returning To Town
Starday, 20th of Goodmonth
Late Afternoon, Sunny, Hot, Humid, Buggy

Liam warns the others to stay calm, definitely noting something different and less friendly about these particular creatures. Dexter and Darklin continue their needling of each other, causing their friends to take notice and speak their minds. The mage walks up to the negotiations and starts a spell.

The halfling steps back, but is certain Darklin is in over his head again. He goes to retrieve the other daggers, happy to put a quick end to the meeting, while Darklin starts shouting magical phrases and waving his hands, attempting to mask his spell as communication.

Six of the phanaton pull out sharpened javelins and point them at the spellsword as he finishes chanting, rubbing grains of salt entwined with a pinch of soot between his hands as he reaches out to touch the lead phanaton.

The tiny creature jumps back with lightning fast reflexes, avoiding the wizards touch completely. Instantly, the points of the sharpened sticks are thrust into the face of a Darklin, so close they are nearly poking into his eyeballs. Dexter casually walks up with the extra 2 daggers the phanaton asked for and hands them over. After a few tense seconds pass, the leader breaks a furry smile and takes the offered daggers. He sneers at Dexter, cawing something at him rapidly as he points to the diminutive thief. Then he points at Darklin and screeches something else that only the phanaton understand.

The soldiers all smirk and nod their little heads while they lower their spears and back away slowly. The leader continues chattering as both ranks slowly retreat, marching methodically and mockingly back into the thick jungle again.

Actions?

If anyone wants to take a stab at dividing this up a little more evenly, please do. Otherwise I will step in.
(* = Magical)

Cealwyn/Paul
200sp
25gp gem
*One plain golden ring (?)

Darklin
1 fine pearl 100gp
Set of 8 fancy colored pencils 20gp
20 sheets parchment paper 5gp
5 sheets high quality parchment 5gp
6 vellum sheets 20gp
* Hand Ax

16 broken bolts
2 broken arrows
1 longbow (broken string)
A large wooden trunk

Dexter
Ornate locking chest w/ key 25gp

Daisy
*One small polished yellow stone (?)

Grimm
Assorted small gemstones 350gp

Keg

Liam

800sp
One gold tooth 5gp

These items will obviously have some minor value, but only to the right buyer:
14 suits of heavily worn leather armor
2 suits of heavily worn studded leather armor
7 longswords/leather sheath
2 shortswords/leather sheath
8 daggers/leather sheath
5 hand axes
12 badly worn crossbows
178 bolts
21 arrows
9 clubs
7 saps
2 spears

21 hammocks
6 badly soiled folding cots
10 days of iron rations
Assorted cooking utensils
6 wooden foot lockers w/ latches
Heaps of heavily soiled clothing

Darklin F/M 3/8 DM,CL,RM 1/1 first
Grimm F/T 5/8
Daisy C 9/9 0/3 first
Sophie (war badger) 6/6
Cealwyn R 5/14
Keg F 0/13 (Semi-conscious)
Dexter T 4/8
Liam Civ/F 3/6

[Paladin]

Cealwyn Blackthorn

Cealwyn eyes the retreating treefolk with a carefully neutral gaze. He makes a mental note to try and learn more regarding the territories, habits, and dispositions of the various factions or tribes before his next venture into the jungle.

"Well." He sweeps a glance at the other members of the party. "Shall we?"

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Well, it could have went better... but it could have been worse.

[Karaunios]

Grimm

"Ha! The little buggers think they've ridiculed us. All they got is some rusty daggers. They don't appear as intelligent to me, huh, Dexter?" the dwarf chuckles mockingly. "Anyway, like Liam said, things could've been worse. It's good that we're all save and sound. Thanks to Dexter and Darklin for risking their hides on the front line.

Now, we should try to remember their... attire for next time. Not all the Phanatons seem to be the same."

He'll help carrying water.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter walks back to join the others. "Oh, well played, Darklin. Well played," says the Halfling, nodding. "You really showed me." He takes a bite to eat and a long drink of water from his personal gear, and then returns to the point position. When everyone is ready, he heads out again. Dexter continues to watch everything in front of them, from the trees to the sand to the sea. Anyone following the Halfling's gaze would note that he is paying a lot of attention to the sand. The lesson of the monster was well-learned.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Groans inwardly. Gentlemen, please. We should set a better example. We are all civilized folk here.

I also wonder if this isn't some other group of phanatons. I don't remember seeing any of Snarku's people wearing red cloth. I hope we didn't just arm a rival faction with steel, rusty or not. You say they are not smart, but think of how effective their tactics just now were with nothing but sharpened sticks. Now they have steel. And that dagger in their small hands is every bit a sword for them. Never underestimate and opponent or an ally. You never know what they can be capable of, plus they have home advantage. Do you know what lies beyond that treeline? I don't, and I would be you a gold piece to a breadcrust that you don't either. But I would also bet they know every twig and pebble. I have no desire for anything but the best of relations with any of the native folk on this island. We are at their mercy. And with all this Stonegut mess getting worse by the minute, we need all the friends we can get.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter nods along with Liam's words, quietly acknowledging that it is in accord with everything he has been saying about the Phanaton all along. He calls back to the man he has accepted as leader of this trip. "And we learned something new just now, Liam," he says. "Haggling for fun and sport does not seem to be something that Phanaton have developed. I have known Halflings and Dwarves that were absolute masters of the game. So if the Phanaton say they want something, the answer is going to be a yes or a no. Counter-proposals aren't their style. At least not this group."

[Urson]

Daisy
Daisy sighs and eyerolls at the whole affair. Men! They're all the same, no matter what they look like... she thinks.

[Karaunios]

Grimm

"They're of course well acquainted with the jungle they live in. They can jump from tree to tree, right? And use that to their advantage, as far as I've seen. You may have had more experience with them in the past and may know better how they do things... I haven't, so I'll take your word for it. But, here, their main advantage was in their numbers. They were about twenty and they surrounded us.

Those are all things to keep in mind for sure!

But, anyway, I agree with you, I prefer to collaborate with them and have them as allies, specially with those Stonegut brutes. I just feared they wanted to take all of the stuff we got to loot from the pirate camp and that we'll get to town empty handed."

[Darklin2]

Darklin

Resisting the urge to cast Sleep on Dexter and shave his feet for his little comments. Darklin walks back towards the rear of the caravan where he came from.

Talking under his beath.
Well, I have been educated. Those little guys are smarter than they act and appear, Won't make that mistake again.

Over hearing Liam:
I hope we didn't arm a rival band. The Phanatoon I carried away from the Mage the first time we went to the Pirate Village didn't have a Red Sash. So you may be right. I bet they are all different villages or tribes and live in different parts of the Jungle. This is all speculation of course. The only way to find out for sure is to speak with them, But that didn't work so well. Well, I for one am ready to get back to Beachtown and get this water to the town, armor and arm the militia, and get Keg to a bed. After that I am taking a long relaxing swim in the ocean.

He then continues to the back of the caravan.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Hearing Darklin, Dexter pulls up suddenly. He turns and walks back to the company. "About arming the militia...." he starts. He looks to both Liam and Marge to corroborate what he says. "Something has happened to the Constable. I suppose it could just be his wanting to be a big man in a small pond, but he was screaming orders, threatening Liam with death for daring to disagree with him and muttering something about taking over. We might want to hold off on arming his men until he is sorted out. This could be very bad if he wants to fight and his men go along with that." He lets that sink in, then adds, "Most of the folks I saw looked at him like he had two heads when he went really crazy. But I didn't see anyone trying to call him down, either."

[OGRE MAGE]

Returning To Town
Starday, 20th of Goodmonth
Late Afternoon, Sunny, Hot, Humid, Buggy

Avoiding hostilities from the strange treefolk, and without further conflict from the pair of feuding party members, the group resumes their course down the beach towards town. If they have learned anything from this encounter, it is that all phanaton should definitely not be considered identical to each other.

After more talk about dividing up the goods they’ve salvaged, Dexter fills the others in on an episode that he and Liam were involved in when they returned to town. Darklin and Grimm find the accusations to be a bit far fetched, but Marge nods along with the whole thing, agreeing that something has definitely changed about the constables attitude lately.

A couple more hours pass uneventfully when the caravan starts to approach the area where they encountered the dangerous sea monster earlier. Jack the ass becomes visibly shaken, snorting and shaking his head a lot, still smelling the blood in the hot sand ahead of them.

There are no heaps in the sand this time, but the disturbance left behind is still plainly visible. Jombo hangs his head at the thought of losing his buddy Greff, his horrifying last screams of pain as he was eaten alive still ringing in his mind. “Should we poke around in the sand to make sure the way is clear before trying to get the wagon past?”

Actions?

If anyone wants to take a stab at dividing this up a little more evenly, please do. Otherwise I will step in.
(* = Magical)

Cealwyn/Paul
200sp
25gp gem
*One plain golden ring (?)

Darklin
1 fine pearl 100gp
Set of 8 fancy colored pencils 20gp
20 sheets parchment paper 5gp
5 sheets high quality parchment 5gp
6 vellum sheets 20gp
* Hand Ax

16 broken bolts
2 broken arrows
1 longbow (broken string)
A large wooden trunk

Dexter
Ornate locking chest w/ key 25gp

Daisy
*One small polished yellow stone (?)

Grimm
Assorted small gemstones 350gp

Keg

Liam

800sp
One gold tooth 5gp

These items will obviously have some minor value, but only to the right buyer:
14 suits of heavily worn leather armor
2 suits of heavily worn studded leather armor
7 longswords/leather sheath
2 shortswords/leather sheath
8 daggers/leather sheath
5 hand axes
12 badly worn crossbows
178 bolts
21 arrows
9 clubs
7 saps
2 spears

21 hammocks
6 badly soiled folding cots
10 days of iron rations
Assorted cooking utensils
6 wooden foot lockers w/ latches
Heaps of heavily soiled clothing

Darklin F/M 3/8 DM,CL,RM 1/1 first
Grimm F/T 5/8
Daisy C 9/9 0/3 first
Sophie (war badger) 6/6
Cealwyn R 5/14
Keg F 0/13 (Semi-conscious)
Dexter T 4/8
Liam Civ/F 3/6

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Hearing Jumbo, decides he should put his money where his mouth is and without a word, nods, and walks forward, drawing his rapier and carefully begins prodding the sand with the thin sharp point, praying if there is something there he is able to move himself quick enough to get away.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter joins Liam in poking the disturbed area, sword in one hand, sling in the other. As always grateful for his wide feet, which don't slow him too much in the sand, Dexter is ready to stab or run.