OGRE MAGE wrote:The very serious looking captain stares at Andron with a slight hint of confusion in his eyes.
"A dopple whatsit now?"
Andronichishche
Shifting almost imperceptibly as if eager to move, Andron folds his hands by his waist and releases a small breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly ... a doppel ... ganger. A sinister, devious monster that can mimic the form of virtually any humanoid it comes in contact with. It's possible that I am mistaken ... but given that only your first mate had the key to the cage and you so recently spoke with him suggests that he may be an impostor. We cannot risk allowing a doppelganger to freely infiltrate the town. Let us hope I am wrong.
Daisy
After leaving the Treehouse, Daisy settles for a thorough rinse in the sea.
Since she didn't make any arrangements for a hut, she pitches her improvised tent under a tree and beds down, Sophie lying beside her.
In the morning, she scrounges a bit of meat from the guys at the cooking fire. When Liam sprints for the TTreehouse, she follows him, expecting trouble. Her armor is at her tent,hanging from a pole- but she grabs her mace as she goes.
"Good gods! I have heard of such creatures before, but I thought they were only spoken of in myth. So, if Bing was the only survivor after his ship was attacked by the mist and sunk......"
The large sailor reaches through the bars to pull the body on the floor closer so he can flip it over for a better look. "Then who the hells is this?" The front half of the human lying on the cell floor is covered in a wet greyish ooze-like substance that none of you have ever seen before, making his features difficult to make out.
By the time Quark looks up again, the men he was talking to have already exited the room for the tavern, so the captain follows along, eager to get to the bottom of this oddity.
After descending from the Treehouse, Liam begins asking around for Constable Sourpuss. To the first townsperson he sees. Excuse me, have you seen Constable Glansandi?
"Sure toots! He is over by the loggers trail, right where it heads into the jungle. He's been spending a lot of time wandering round over there lately. Most of us think the grumpy bastard's lost his mind."
"Sure toots! He is over by the loggers trail, right where it heads into the jungle. He's been spending a lot of time wandering round over there lately. Most of us think the grumpy bastard's lost his mind."
Great......... Thank you, Ma'am... he hustles that way knowing he will be hard pressed to get the Constable and keep time with the Captain getting back to the brig.
Liam spots the taciturn elf right where the woman said he would be. It appears that he is studying a half built stone structure of some kind that is being built on the side of the trail.
"Well hello Liam! A few of us were wondering if we would ever see you again! I trust that you brought our town leader back all safe and sound as promised? He sure is missed around here once he is absent for a day or two!"
Winces visibly. We need to speak in private, and on top of that, there is a more immediate issue that needs your attention.
Captain Quark's brig is where we need to go now. I promise to answer all questions once we are there, things are... unraveling in a hurry and quickly entering your realm of duties.
In the center of town, Marge, Caleb, Raythan, and several others have gathered together, awaiting some special announcement from Liam. Marge tries to keep everyone calm and positive, wishing that their group wasn't attracting so much attention. But the longer they wait, the more people gather.
Before long, several of the townsfolk are standing around speculating on what exactly is about to happen. By the looks on Raythan and Calebs faces, they already know.
Constable Glansandi steps up to the group with a contingency of folks from the Hi-Lo store. The stoic elf clears his throat loudly before looking at Liam to start the proceedings off. Marge hangs her head as the man approaches, not wanting her emotions to be revealed in front of all these people.
Dammit... he thinks to himself. He takes a deep breath and walks up to what seems to be the center of the gathering. He makes sure to look at Marge and Caleb, then the others that seem to be of some official or head of family position. My name is Liam Meadstaff. I believe everyone here knows me by now. I'll get straight to it. You know that some days ago... I was with a group made up of myself, one known as Hrothgar, Bonnie the Elf Maid, and Mr. Nehru. This gathering... this trip, we would find, had not just been organized by Bonnie, but she told us all different reasons for that very trip. To me she said it was a simple mapping trip, up the trail, and then back again. To Hrothgar, it was protection duty at whatever price she had paid, to Nehru it was to meet with the dwarves. As we continued up the path, it became more and more clear, that we all had different ideas of what our objective was.
We did find the path that branches from the Logger's Trail. Nehru had no luck as it was made clear they want no visitors. In fact, we were attacked by a giant rampaging lizard of all things. But that is not the point. Bonnie revealed that we were heading farther, and against my better judgement, we followed. We went to the now seemingly long abandoned Logger's Cabin north of here. There were zombies there, and they had treed a dwarf. His name was Grimm, and though he came here with the Stoneguts we saw the other day, he was not associated with them, and had severed tied to try to strike it out on his own rather than suffer more abuse in their copper mine somewhere north of here...
He joined our company... Bonnie coaxed us further, promising help and rest from an unknown ally further north up a small path.
We found a ruined temple there.
Liam paused. Not for dramatic effect but to catch his breath and swallow to wet his throat as he considered his words carefully. Mr. Nehru met his end near a fountain we found and were going to see water from. A... beast... something like a giant slug or tentical reached down and swallowed the weakened man whole. By the time we noticed... it was already too late. We called to Bonnie for help, she had gone into the temple promising to bring back help. When we rushed to the door to plead for aid......
There was what I can only call a small army of undead who came out as if waiting for us. We gave a fast retreat. We fled back to the cabin. We were terrified and greatly outnumbered. We had expected a simple trip... one day to go out and come back again by dinner.
We were not equiped to fight such a horde.
We found the cabin, but in our panic and the encroaching night, we got turned around. We thought we were heading back here to town, but instead realized much too late that we were in fact heading east. We trudged through the night, accosted by bug and catching creeper vines across our path. Eventually we came across Sister Daisy and her small encampment. She aided us on the way back, joining our group.
The following day, with aid of the compass i took from my cartographers kit, we continued east knowing we could come across the river eventually. By mid day we did just that. We also happened upon some of the Natives. They call themselves the In-Di-Juns. Their leader was with them. His name was Powstap. They helped feed and equip us. They guided us south. They told us about how Captain Bing and his men have been taking their people as slaves and shipping them away along with whatever other contraband they take.
They port just east of the river where there is an outcropping of rocks. Furhter more... Some of their men are holding a position near the mouth of the river. This means we need to deal with that threat if we are going to keep a steady supply of fresh water here.
I also witnessed their attempt to bring down a Phanaton.... We did stop them. We tried to explain that they are sentient beings, despite their appearance. I know this is a lot to take in, but before we all parted ways, it was agreed that Grimm would stay back with Powstap, and that I would come here to pass news, and attempt to find adventurers who would help with Bings men... as well as someone that could communicate with the Phanatons... We wish to meet in 3 days at a spot near the mouth of the river, and organize a meeting of leaders and warriors as a three part aliance between us, the In-Di-Juns and the Phanatons to ride the island of Bing's threat to our collective well being.
He changed his tone. I do not plan to let a pirate decide the fate of our people here. You are strong. You are powerful as a town, as a community. Look at yourselves! We come from everywhere. Some of us gave up everything to come here.... to have a chance at something new. Something we could call our own. No matter what we say, we said that this spot... and Our people. Would become one! We wanted to make our mark on the map... so that our families back home and our children and their children to point to this island and say with pride, My people were there from the beginning. Our people were the first! We built it! We guarded it and protected what was ours! Look at what you have already overcome! How many people do you know back home who would have given up already and went home with their tails between their legs? How many people would willingly go through one day of the sweat and the toil that you have endured now for weeks... months... some of you years!
I know I have not been here long, but i look out at your faces. I look at your families. And I say this is a people that will endure.
We must more Mr. Nehru. This is true. But I believe he had a vision for this island just as you all had a vision, a hope, of what you could make for yourself and your loved ones. So we must press on. We cannot give up.
He took another breath. I propose we create an emergency counsil made up of the town leaders. The heads of households to organize our efforts. This is why I asked Marge to bring you all here. This concerns everyone, so everyone should have a say of some kind. But... before anyone does anything else. two things. I wanted to be up front with you, the respected people of this town to tell you what happened and how it happened. I want to quell any rumors before they can start. Please take the time you need to go to your families, your people, and tell them what I told you here. For the time being, Nelissa is running the Hi-Lo. But we have a more pressing emergency as you probably already figured out. To our knowledge, the water supply has already been cut off by Bings ment.
They have a blocade they are hold just north of the mouth of the river and we spotted at least two guards at the mouth itself. We may want to consider rationing water a bit. No unnessicary water usage. Save it for drinking and watering animals only. I know some of our people are able to call miricals from their gods, but we may want to consider finding alternative sources for the immediate future.
He looked around and let it all sink in. I......... I guess I should take questions.... he looked tired now. The strain of the past several days beginning to show once more on his furrowed brow.
Dexter turns to one of the townsfolk next to him and says quietly, "Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly feel very caught up on current events."
Daisy
Daisy listens quietly to Liam. Her face clearly shows the fury she feels towards Bonnie.
As she listens, she scans the crowd, looking for anyone who might need healing- or even just first aid.
One hand scratches Sophie's flat head.
Daisy, who didn’t stay in town for long when she first arrived on the island, notices that the townsfolk look a little healthier since she was last here. It seems that they must be getting a little better at acquiring food. She does see a few folks with minor injuries and a few others who look like they may have come down with some kind of jungle sickness. Her friend Sophie gets a lot of inquisitive looks, especially from the children.
The reaction from the crowd is as predictable as Liam assumes. Utter chaos. The beleaguered townsfolk assail the tired man with their many questions, several of them rhetorical in nature.
"Who will we look to for guidance now?"
"Did the poor man suffer much?"
"What are we supposed to do about this?"
"I don't believe it! I...... cant believe it."
"Pirates blocking our water? How will we all survive without drinking water?"
"We need to have a proper ceremony. Were you able to retrieve Mr. Nehru's body?"
"So......where is this Bonnie person now then?"
"Hrothgar? That guy is a drunken moron. And a mean one at that!"
"Where is Wes the druid? He will know what we should do next!"
"What about our failing crops? How will we continue to eat and drink without Mr. Nehru here?"
"Are you going to be our new leader then?"
"Zombies? Pirates? Dwarves? Oh my!"
"Are we going to remain safe if we stay here then? Mr. Nehru always kept us safe, somehow."
"What else was found at this ruined temple? Why have we never heard of this till now?"
"We have lots of adventurers around here. Cant they all join up against this pirate threat?"
"What about the orders I made through the Hi-Lo? Will our past business ventures with Nehru still be honored?"
"You made friends with the dwarves?"
"If Mr. Nehru is really gone, then I think some of us want to go back home! Can we still do that?"
"How many of these pirates are there?"
"Why would we want the monkoons to help us? I thought they were bad?"
"So, can we set up a church now?"
The questions keep coming and coming as long as the man stands there. He will need to pick and choose which ones he feels deserve an answer.
Did what he could to call out answers to the gathering. This was exactly the kind of commotion that he was hoping to avoid. Damn it all... He held out his hands as he tried to answer all the questions in turn but get people calmed down.
OGRE MAGE wrote:The reaction from the crowd is as predictable as Liam assumes. Utter chaos. The beleaguered townsfolk assail the tired man with their many questions, several of them rhetorical in nature.
"Who will we look to for guidance now?"
That is a good question. I hope we can take care of that here and now. I believe we should calmly work together and create a council of some sort so we may vote on what actions to take...
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Did the poor man suffer much?"
He chokes back his emotion on this one and answers flatly. He went very quietly
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"What are we supposed to do about this?"
Let us sit and talk calmly. Let us share ideas and resources. This is something that concerns all of us and we should talk first and act after we have a plan we can agree upon...
I feel your pain. I saw it all with my own eyes, and I still have trouble accepting it. But do not loose hope.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Pirates blocking our water? How will we all survive without drinking water?"
Please, this is one of the problems we are trying to bring you together to discuss and resolve...
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"We need to have a proper ceremony. Were you able to retrieve Mr. Nehru's body?"
I agree. I hear he was not a religious man, but certainly a respected one. I believe we should at least hold a memorial service in his memory and pray for his spirit to find peace... Reythan? What say you on this?
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"So......where is this Bonnie person now then?"
Liam feels like he is hit by this question more than any other... Remembering what Grimm said about Pro-Tek-Tor... Her whereabouts are unknown at this time. But I for one am very interested in knowing and seeing that she is brought to justice.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Hrothgar? That guy is a drunken moron. And a mean one at that!"
Liam finds a slight smile on his lips from that. Well, allow me to say for the record that without his help, we might well have met an early end more than a few times between undead and the beast of the jungle. He more than proved himself loyal and worthy of praise for how he handled every situation we came across.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Where is Wes the druid? He will know what we should do next!"
Yes. I would like for him to be brought here if anyone knows where he is. His aid would be very valuable right now. In fact, given that we need spiritual guidance and help that might be within their area of knowledge, I would welcome any and all druids here who are in town. Would someone please go or send runners to locate them?
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"What about our failing crops? How will we continue to eat and drink without Mr. Nehru here?"
Which crops are failing? Has something changed since I left? Our efforts so far had lead to increase production... Perhaps we can redirect some of our efforts to help. And so that you all know, for the time being, the Lady Nelissa is taking over the work in the Hi-Lo. So business there should continue as normal. Quark too will be working with us as before, and has already given a look over the logs and said everything was in order. For now, things are working as can be forseen going forward...
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Are you going to be our new leader then?"
Liam took a step back... or started to. To be honest I don't want to job... I proposed a council... I meant it... Any role I take at this precise moment is strictly temporary until a better option is figured out... hopefully soon if we can just. calm. down.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Are we going to remain safe if we stay here then? Mr. Nehru always kept us safe, somehow."
No matter what happens I am sure we are no less safe now than we ever have been. There are plenty of adventurers and hardy folk here. You are all stronger than you know.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"What else was found at this ruined temple? Why have we never heard of this till now?"
We were there for only a handful of moments before things went south. After that we were too busy running for our lives.
As to why no one knew about it, the only think I can say is that this Island hold many secrets we continue to uncover. This is all the more reason though, to make friends with the native that live here, the In-Di-Juns and Phanatons have called this place home for countless generations and know how to survive and flourish here. We could learn so much from both of these people. We need to make this alliance work and work together. We can all benefit. They can both help us find more sources of fresh water and food, and we all hold Bing and his men as enemies. Believe me... when you find someone who shares an enemy, you are already friends if you will listen and cooperate.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"We have lots of adventurers around here. Cant they all join up against this pirate threat?"
True! And I agree, completely, but we need to also be willing to defend ourselves as well as that which is our own. I am not saying every man woman and child rushing off to fight Bing's men... I am saying we first organize ourselves... adventurers and townsfolk alike. We converge, organize, and make a collective decision. this is why a council is so imperative right now.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"What about the orders I made through the Hi-Lo? Will our past business ventures with Nehru still be honored?"
I am unaware of your specific orders, but as I said before, Quark and Nelissa and going to work to keep business flowing as usual. he looks to Quark for official confirmation on this as well as to see what he has to say on the matter of shipping.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"You made friends with the dwarves?"
A dwarf. The Stoneguts are to be avoided for now. They are a brutal people, but not our most immediate concern right now. Though I have no doubt that it will need to be handled very soon. I have letters I had put in the care of Mr. Nehru as well as several from various people here that I plan to have send to the mainland with Captain Quark which will go to my various personal connections to bring much needed help here. I promise I am already working on getting goods and people of skill here to continue to both improve and secure our town against threats.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"If Mr. Nehru is really gone, then I think some of us want to go back home! Can we still do that?"
You would have to take that up with the good Captain here, but know you will be missed. I for one will not stand in your way should you choose to leave.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"How many of these pirates are there?"
My honest answer, I do not know. The natives have been keeping watch against them, and I am sure the Phanaton's have been spying on them as well from the treetops.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"Why would we want the monkoons to help us? I thought they were bad?"
Liam shakes his head. No, in fact, though quite animal-like, and speaking a different language, they are every bit a person and you and I. There has been news from more than a few adventurers that they have communicated with them and their chief. They have worked hard to establish the beginnings of a friendship between our peoples. Please, show no aggression towards them. They could be true and invaluable allies in the trials we are about to face. Their skills in scouting and spying on the dwarves and Bings men alone would be an amazing advantage.
OGRE MAGE wrote:
"So, can we set up a church now?"
Liam looks a little shocked by that. I... see no reason why now... was this an issue before?
OGRE MAGE wrote:
The questions keep coming and coming as long as the man stands there. He will need to pick and choose which ones he feels deserve an answer.
He looks like he is getting exhausted but he is working hard to try to restore and maintain order.
Seeing Liam tying himself in knots trying to answer everyone, Daisy finds something to stand on, so that she can be seen.
Alright, everybody hush! Most of ya'll don't know me- Ah'm Sister Daisy Broadfoot, Sister of the Crimson Rood.
Everyone's got question they wanna get answered, an' all of 'em will get answered. But nothin's gonna get done if ya'll stand around gabblin' like a bunch of geese! Some of the problems ya'll mentioned will fix themselves iffen you act like nothin's changed. Go about your lives, visit the Hi-Lo when ya need to, help your neighbors and friends!
We wanna call a town meeting to help decide where we're going from here. Ya'll need to do two things: make a list of questions you need answers for, an' decide who you want on a Council to run this community.
Dexter stays amid the crowd. He moves around to support everything Liam says with comments like:
"Well, that makes a lot of sense!"
"You can't say fairer than that."
"This guy seems to know what he's talking about!"
"I don't know where this guy came from, but I like what he's saying."
"Amen, brother Liam. Amen."
"Calm and council. Calm and council. They're right."
And more of this nature, with lots of nods of approval and looking around to inspire agreement. He doesn't indicate any connection with Liam or Daisy, but just generally promotes their words as being sensible and trustworthy. He covers as much of the crowd as he can.
Surprisingly, the crowd stays relatively calm throughout the discussion despite the bad news they have just been given. The positive attempts from Dexter seem to actually be helping. Once Daisy gets into the action, some of the crowd start to discuss their concerns and questions to each other instead of simply shouting them towards Liam.
A few more valid things are asked out loud though.
"Well, who will sit on this council of yours, master Liam? Will we all have a say in that? Can it be put to a vote of some kind?"
"I think Marge should be involved! Everybody trusts her opinion!"
"And what will a council be able to do about 500 unruly dwarves?"
"You want the monkoons to be on your council too?"
"My fields are as bare as a baby's ass! Crops just aint growing like they should round here. I know things are getting better, but I wasn't one of the lucky ones who had the druids help."
"I don't like the idea of an evil temple just up the trail a spell. Someone needs to go take a closer look into this."
"Indigins huh? That sounds weird. Almost insulting. Someone told me that they had vast fields of fertile farmland. Is that true?"
"Mr. Nehru wouldn't let us build a church here, but some of us still want to."
"I would like to be on your council! I have some pretty important ideas to share!"
Raythan nods his affirmative response about handling the memorial service for the fallen man, smiling at Liam and the good job he is doing keeping the peace with the townies. Glansandi continues to watch on in great interest, waiting for someone in the crowd to nominate him to this council.
