Quest #16 "What's On The Other Side Of The River?"

[tomlowshang]

Gwethglersinwen Larendirina

Come on Wes, cast the spell. They are obviously ready.

[Jernau35]

Wes

Wes smiles at the phanaton, takes a deep breath and begins the spell that will allow him to speak to them. Once it is completed, he addresses them in a friendly manner.

"Hello good friends! It is nice to see you on this evening. My name is Wes, this is Gwen and this is Galanthas. What can we do for you today?"

[OGRE MAGE]

The biggest member of the monkoon bunch steps forward slightly on his branch once Wes starts his spell. They all seem a little frightened once the druid begins communicating in their own language. The others jump around excitedly as Wes speaks, but the largest one looks down from his branch and responds.

"How are you able to speak with us? Do you hold one of the magic sphere's as well?"

[tomlowshang]

Gwethglersinwen Larendirina

Unable the understand the conversation, Gwen instead observes the body language of Wes and the monkoon who replied.

Gwen remembers the first time she saw Speak With Animals used.

The spell had been cast on a creature of low intelligence. I asked the cleric, "What happens when you use the spell on animals with higher intelligence, like a person?"

The elderly cleric smiled and replied, "Sometimes, that can be a test of faith."

Then he chuckled and added, "But I suspect that answer is not enough you, my lady. Next time you are in the library, look up a paper entitled Speak With Animals And Highly Intelligent Beings, which will answer your question in greater detail."

Back in the present, Gwen wonders, Will this be a test of faith?

[Jernau35]

Wes

"No, I have no magic sphere. But I am a servant of the god Obad-Hai, who watches over forests and the creatures who live there. He gives me the magic to speak to creatures, so that I may help to keep a balance in the natural world."

Wes indicates the lizard on the sand. "My friends and I were on the beach earlier when this lizard attacked us. We were able to kill it, and now we are taking it back to the town to feed the people there. This should keep them fed for a while and stop them raiding the jungle around the town for food."

"This is why Obad Hai has sent me here. To keep the balance between the people, and the animals and plants of the jungle. We must teach the people to live here without destroying all around them."

"Now, as a servant of nature, I am eager to learn about you".

[OGRE MAGE]

"Our chieftain told us that there is value in learning about you groundlings, but all I have seen is destruction and killing from your kind."

He points to the dead lizard. "You kill the creatures of the jungle, even when they don't hurt you? It is dead, but none of you look injured. Is that the groundling way of balance and nature?"

"What is......god Obad-Hai?"

[Karaunios]

Galanthas

During the conversation, Galanthas takes a step back while putting the dried fruit back into his backpack and watching with a mix of caution and curiosity the reactions of the Phanaton and the way Wes and their chieftain speak.

[Jernau35]

Wes

Wes tries to think of an appropriate answer quickly. "It's sad that this animal is dead. But it attacked us. Unlike you, we cannot take shelter high in the trees, so we had to defend ourselves. If we had been slower, it would be eating us now. It is the way of the world: the old, the sick, the weak, and sometimes, yes, the unlucky are taken. You know this."

"Some animals eat plants, some eat meat and some eat both. Again, you know this. We...groundlings...eat both. Obad Hai sent me to restrain them. He wishes to preserve the jungle as much as possible."

"Obad Hai is...a great chieftain...he gives me the magic to do his wishes."

[OGRE MAGE]

"Your chieftain gives you magic power? Our chieftain also has magic. He uses a magic sphere to talk to other things......like you! He has other precious items too!"

As Gwen and Galanthas observe the druid chittering away with this strange creature, they notice that a few more of the phanaton are starting to assemble in the nearby trees. Their numbers have grown to around 20 so far, and more appear every few moments.

The monkoon continues in a non aggressive manner.

"When you groundlings first appeared here, you killed many of my kind. Why did you do that if you only want to preserve the jungle? Our chieftain says that you groundlings could prove beneficial to us.........but many of my kind don't agree with that. Most of us assembled here think that you groundlings will eventually put an end to us. What do you have to say about that, groundling?"

[Jernau35]

Wes

The druid responds. "The first people who came here knew very little about how to survive in this jungle. They were ignorant and afraid. Because of this they attacked your folk. Now that there are people like myself here, who can talk to you, we can learn to live together."

"As you can see, the groundlings can remove the most dangerous animals from the area, which will benefit your folk too.. And by learning to grow crops here, the groundlings will be able to feed themselves soon. So they won't have to pick lots of fruit and other foods that your folk live on".

"Eventually, we hope to move away from your territory, perhaps closer to the river".

[OGRE MAGE]

"There are already groundlings living near the river. Those dark skinned groundlings hunt us....and eat us! So we were worried about your kind since before you came here. And we still are. We aren't afraid of creatures like that lizard. We can climb and fly away from things like that. But one of your kind still hunts us, and kills us. The one deep in the jungle, at the ruined temple. He was one of the first pale skinned groundlings to come here with your group."

"If you plan on moving away from our area eventually anyway, why don't all groundlings live together near the river. Aren't there abundant farm lands there? Enough for all of you to survive?"

"If you want to help us, you could start by putting a stop to the evil one in the jungle. Our chieftain told us to stay away from that area all together, but some of us still go there to watch over him. He digs up the long dead groundlings and does terrible things to them."

A few more phanaton appear through the leafy branches above you, their numbers growing every minute. They continue to squawk and jump around, pointing at the huge lizard the whole time.

"Can we get some of your fresh kill? How about you leave us just the head and take the rest to your people?"

[Jernau35]

Wes

Wes tries to summarize the conversation to Gwen and Galanthas as quickly as possible before the spell expires. "They are reasonably friendly, though they've had problems with people hunting them in the past. They've told me about an evil man in the jungle who hunts them and raises the dead. They've asked for our help with him. They also would like us to give them the lizard's head, which I think would be a good idea, since there are quite a lot of them and three of us."

Wes addresses the phanaton again. "Thank you for telling us about the evil one who raises the dead. Our groundling town has had problems with his undead before. He is a problem we both share. The three of us alone cannot deal with him, but in the future, if we could find more groundling to work with us, your help to find him would be very valuable."

[OGRE MAGE]

"You give us the beasts head, and we will help you find the evil one."

[tomlowshang]

Gwethglersinwen Larendirina

Gwen shakes her head and warns Wes, "You've negotiated yourself into a corner."

She says to Wes, "Ask him if he knows a way past the Vegepygmies. If he doesn't, he can't help us."

"And tell him we must meet with their leader before taking any action."

[Karaunios]

Galanthas

Galanthas rubs his chin, thinking. "I don't know... Maybe we ought them something for trespassing into their territory. That'd be a good way to show them not all of us are evil. But the fact is also that we promised (or at least I promised) to bring this lizard for the starving people in town. Shouldn't we bring it back before we take any action concerning this evil man?"

He stops for a second, looking at Gwen, and asks "What are those Vegepygmies you mentioned, by the way?"

[Jernau35]

Wes

"I haven't negotiated myself into anything. I've said that at some point in the future a group of adventurers of unknown size and composition will attempt to deal with the evil man who is creating zombies out in the jungle and it would be mutually beneficial if we and the phanaton aided each other in this endeavor. If you ever get the chance to talk to Chauncey, you'll find this is something he agreed to undertake for Mr Nehru almost as soon as he arrived".

I agree that ideally we should take all the lizard back. But given the large size of the beast, and in the interest of being good neighbors with the vast number of these creatures that live throughout the jungle surrounding Beachtown, I thought that sharing the head with them would be a small sacrifice."

[OGRE MAGE]

While Gwen and Wes discuss semantics, the druid feels the magic of his spell begin to wane.

Since talking isn't the same thing as fighting, I will allow 1 more round of discussion with this creature if you want to use it.

[tomlowshang]

Gwethglersinwen Larendirina

Gwen sits down on a leg of the lizard, looking very tired and dejected.

"I agree with what you want to do. I disagree with the where, when, and with whom. Important matters affecting their tribe should be discussed with their leader, not some creepy character you met in a dark alley."

OOC: The monkoon dude clearly states that he is part of a faction which disagrees with the chieftain's policies, which raised a warning flag for me. The DM just dropped a banana skin in front of you. Tread carefully.

OOC: Vegepygmy horde is public knowledge but posting that IC was wrong. My bad. viewtopic.php?f=477&t=6363&start=200#p302456

[Karaunios]

Galanthas

Gwethglersinwen Larendirina
OOC: Vegepygmy horde is public knowledge but posting that IC was wrong. My bad. viewtopic.php?f=477&t=6363&start=200#p302456[/ooc]

OOC: Ok, thanks. No problem!

"Gwen is right. So if we just give them the lizard's head as a sign of good faith and leave for the town after promising them to come back and help them with their problem once there are more of us, I think that'll be enough for now..." Galanthas frowns and continues: "Now that I think of it... We give them the lizard's head, we help them with that evil man you're talking about. Or at least we assure them that we'll do it. What are we getting out of this? Just their gratitude?"

[Jernau35]

Wes

The druid addresses the spokes-phanaton again. "My friend, my magic is failing now. Perhaps we will speak again in the future. It seems my companions have agreed to share the lizard's head with you. Since I have no weapon to cut with, I must leave it to them to do so".

Wes then turns to Gwen and Galanthas. "Thank you for agreeing to share with them. I'd have rather taken the whole thing back for the hungry Beachtowners, but I think this was the right thing to do. Not least because there are three of us and more than twenty of them. They could surely have taken the whole thing if they had a mind to." He lowers his voice slightly, as if almost speaking half to himself. "One thing that concerns me: up until now I had believed that the phanaton's lived on fruits, nuts and berries of the treetops. Clearly not. And if they eat meat...where do they get it?"

"As for what we get out it",says Wes, addressing Galanthas' concern. "The zombies are a continuing threat to Beachtown. They will have to be dealt with either with or without the phanaton's help. Better to have the phanaton inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in, wouldn't you say?"

The monkoon said that he opposed the chieftain's belief that the "groundlings" were beneficial. If we share our kill with him, perhaps he will see that we are good guys after all. If we tell him that we are keeping the entire 300lb lizard to ourselves, it will confirm his beliefs that we are selfish and don't care about them. (Bear in mind also that just killing the lizard had already given him more belief that we were just interested in killing and destruction.) Maybe the former will strengthen/weaken some faction of phanaton politics, but the latter certainly will.