From the chatter at the tavern ...

(OOC:  Remember, the information in the link represents what would be easily available to the characters.  This adds a little. )

... the two learn that there are several sorts of Humans who work for the Huns.

There are the Blackguards.  Enforcers, spies, thugs, agents... they keep the rest of the Human population in line for the Huns.  But one does not merely walk in and ask to join them.  They are recruited.  Developed.  Evil is carefully sown and tended, until they are cruel enough to do anything... and malleable enough to be controlled.

But there are others.  The Huns appreciate the talents of some Humans.  Slaves work in the Magistrate's Court, the building the Huns now call the Maggot Court, used by Redscratch. They do the usual slave things, cleaning, fixing things, taking care of young Orcs, preparing food... and they deal with the abusive treatment of a tyrant.

Nozecrush, on the other hand, has Humans running the Amphitheater for them.  In addition to doing the menial work, they are his managers.  He's realized that Humans are pretty good at managing things... and making money, in ways other than the usual Orcish fashion.  But gold is gold, whether you get it through respectable plunder or whether your Human slaves provide it through this magic called "business", right?

They find out at the tavern- Nozecrush has been pretty successful with the Amphitheater, and has been looking for new ventures to get into.

"I'd think pursuing an in with this "Nozecrush" might be the easier option, but I have no idea what kind of gains we'd make on our goal by doing so.

Again, I defer to you. Cities, polities, business, let alone orc-dominated ones, are not my area of expertise."

"In a Human city this would not be a problem." Raz says. "I could always get a job there. But with Huns... I don't know. I've been through several of their towns, but there's so much misery there, I didn't pay as close attention as I should have.

I can do some basic alchemy. This might impress an orc, but then again, it's probably too alien for them to appreciate. So maybe we need a more roundabout way. The family who runs the amphitheater. We've heard that Nosecrush reduced them to little more than servants, but still... Befriending them should not be too difficult.

So lets try this for a plan. Assume bird-form and together with your hawk survey the eastern quarter. Lets learn as much as we can before we go there. Find out how their defense is organized and what escape routes we might use, but more importantly try and figure out the life routine for those who live in the Impresario's Home. Nosecrush, obviously, but also the humans. Once we know their routine we'll figure out how to intercept it."

"Alright. Tomorrow I'll do just that beginning at dawn, leaving from our room's window here. It may take two days to watch the people as well as survey the quarter."

Calatin half scratches/half knocks at the table in a distinct pattern. "That is how you will be able to recognize me when I return. If you are not in the room or I cannot come back without drawing odd suspicion, I'll fly someplace discrete and then walk back."

The druid then pointed at his loyal cohort, who was asleep while perched on the back of another chair at the table. "He won't be of much use until I can tell him something specific. While we can speak to animals, and they to us, it must be kept simple enough for them to fully understand."

If Raz has any ranks in Handle Animal at all, I'll gladly leave him with you while I'm out flying around tomorrow. He's just a trained hawk, not my animal companion. I can tell you the six or seven words in Sylvan you'll need to know to ask him to do things. If not, I'll tell him to go hunt for himself in the countryside.

I'll change into a vulture, which hopefully are fairly common in this city as they were in most at the time. If this is not the case, let me know, and I'll decide on something else.

I'll circle at various heights all over the quarter, taking note of guard patrols/stations, general traffic patterns, the layout of the city, and the various escape routes through the streets and potentially along the rooftops.

I have 16 intelligence, which is far, far more than anyone playing in or running this game, so I hopefully can simply remember all this without having to write it down.

After the first half of the first day and the entire second day, after having gotten a thorough handle on that part of the city, I'll try and follow (from a decent altitude, which most likely means simply circling about) people in and out of the Impresario's home.

I can wildshape for twelve hours a day at this point, so that's how long I'll be at it. The first day all 12 hours during the daylight, the second day six hours during the daylight and six hours just after the sun goes down.

I have a Spot check of +12, so I should be more good to go as long as nobody is actively trying to hide.

They begin a slow, sensible surveillance project, steadily observing an area to see what patterns emerge.

After two days of observations, they have learned some things.

1)  Calatin now knows Nosecrush and Redscratch by sight.  Even though he was concentrating on Nosecrush... Redscratch seems to be a frequent visitor.  Both are generally surrounded by retinues of warriors.  This appears to be for show, but also, to intimidate rivals.

2)  Although Redscratch is the Big Boss of the town, the two leaders seem much more on a same plane than Redscratch and any of the others he is observed talking to- and that is despite their very different styles.  Their relationship seems to have a deeper level than Big Boss-Little Boss.

3)  Nosecrush’s Humans, on the other hand, seem to be somewhere between employee, slave, and pet.  They seem to be a wealthy family of the old aristocracy, and they wear fine clothes and eat well.  But Nosecrush amuses himself by having them do strange things, and he gives them a lot of work, because lately the Amphitheater is being used very frequently for practice battles.

4) There appears to be a lot of interest in assembling a new military force.  Redscratch spends a lot of time watching Orcs practice in the Amphitheater.   One of the Amphitheater “support buildings” on the south side of it seems to have been a practice room for gladiators once upon a time.  It has various gladiator themed plaques, tiles, mosaics, and other décor.  The Orcs seem to have realized this is some sort of “prepare to fight” room, and they gather here before marching into the Amphitheater to fight and show off their skills, hoping to be selected for the Ardennes campaign.

5)  Orcs have some battle magic, of course.  They have their own spell casters, and their own spells and powers they use.  But Calatin sees a number of fights in Amphitheater, and they never, never use magic there.  Not even healing.  Straight old school combat, until one Orc gives in.  Sometimes they don't.  Calatin witnesses two fatalities.

6)  And finally, they learn that they can continue to learn.  But some things will require a closer investigation.

OOC:

@Ben -
What kind of strange things in (3)?

BTW, I've initially written that Raz is taking Acerbail with him, but then forgot about it... How do we want to play it?

@Calatin -
Raz is exceptionally bad at handling animals. Calatin might notice by now that his hawk prefers to stay away from Raz.



"Great job." Raz compliments Calatin. "We should keep this up. The more we know before we act, the better our chances of getting the lamp and getting away with it."

Following Calatin's description, Raz tries to come up with a role that will allow him to frequent the eastern quarter without raising attention, and to maybe even to speak with others there. He'll try to find out more about the connection between the two warlords, and about the aristocrats who are forced to serve Nosecrush. He will look for an opportunity to get a job with them.

In addition, assuming that there are rats in town, he will try to pull off the following - change into mink, and using either his illusion magic or alter-self spell, become a rat. He'll first practice in the privacy of their room, and if he feels that the results are acceptable, he'll scout the eastern quarter as a rat.

While all this was going on, I've had my hawk hunting for itself in the countryside or here in town on finches. At the mention of Raz attempting to turn into something that looks like a rat, I use Speak with Animals to tell him to avoid eating rats or other rodents and furry small things that crawl along the ground in town.

That situation would just be too hilarious.


I'll continue with 6 hours of vulture overhead observation per day, even keeping an eye on Raz's activities if possible. I will save the other wildshape in the event of an emergency.

I'd like to concentrate on Nozecrunch's humans if available.


And as Raz said, what kind of things in (3)?

Ben wrote: "But Nosecrush amuses himself by having them do strange things."

I'm wondering what kind of strange things...

The strange things...

How do Orcs amuse themselves?

Well, for most, it is sheer violence.  Kicking a defenseless victim lying helpless on the ground is enormously funny, if you happen to be an Orc.  But Nosecrush has slightly more bizarre habits.  His Amphitheater servants are the members of the wealthy, sophisticated family that used to be in charge.  He apparently enjoys mocking their former status.  They are forced to wear their finest formal clothes, party costumes, and even jewelry while performing the most menial tasks, including cleaning the amphitheater between battles.  They are forced to beg for food and drink on their knees, and kneel before other Orcs, guests of Nosecrush, when serving them.  They pick up after the Orcs... and Nozecrush just throws things like gnawed pig bones on the floor as he walks around.  And they are expected to pick it up immediately.  Through it all, Nozecrush speaks to them in formal names, calling them "noble lord" and "gracious lady", in a sneering, sarcastic tone.

And the Orcs laugh.

But when they are near other Humans, Nozecrush's "pets" try to maintain an appearance of pride and dignity.  Now and then the mask slips- Calatin gets the idea that most other people know, but out of pity, try not to let on that they know

Raz, a student of Acerbail, finds Nosecrush's notion of mockery an insult to the term. He wonders if among the demon lords who are leading the Huns such distinctions exist, and if they can utilized.

But this will have to wait. For now he goes on with the plan from msg #50.

Raz in Rat form finds that getting around the city is quite easy.  Most of the time.  One would think that the lack of dogs makes life very easy for the rats, as there is not a rathound in sight.  But there is a different problem for rats.  When Humans are desperate enough and hungry enough, they will eat rats, and when it’s between a desperate cornered rat and a desperate cornered Human, odds favor the Human.**  Raz has little to fear from a simple rat trap.  It’s the kids with slings he’s got to watch out for.

Strangely, he’s actually safer once he’s in the eastern quarter.  The Orcs don’t lower themselves to such indignities.  They have their food provided by Humans.  And they do not want their Human slaves learning potentially dangerous skills like aiming sling bullets, so this is a skill practiced by youths only when they are certain no Orcs are around- and that’s not often, in the east quarter, where so many of them live.

Raz can get around the eastern quarter in rat form safely, after some initial practice.



**The siege of Leningrad resulted in all the rats in the city being eaten.

Raz spends a couple of days surveying the eastern quarter. He is interested to learn more about Nosecrush and his operation, and also to familiarize himself with the streets and passages. Which are patrolled and which are not; which offer places to hide and which are dead ends.

In the evenings he meets up with Calatin at the inn, exchanging information about what they saw during the day. While at the inn, he also asks around about the lack of dogs. He wonders if Nosecrush might be interested in buying one.

No dogs? I happen to have one right here! And it can cast Call Lightning! Only 50 silver coins and he's yours today. Trained hawk included for only five silver more. Act now!

Every day that Raz is out looking around, Calatin is in the skies for six hours as described before.

edit-
grammar is hard
This message was last edited by the player at 21:11, Mon 09 July 2012.

Agendincum is not a very big town.  The current population, Orcs and all, is less than 5,000 people.  At its peak a century and a half ago it had over 8,000.  So there are some areas of the town, Raz discovers, which are under used.  The least inhabited area is the stretch of stables, storehouses and training buildings and other buildings south of the Amphitheater.  Though some are still used (for example, that Gladiator’s Hall), about half of the buildings here look thoroughly abandoned, with no current use.  Most of them look stripped as well.  Not only for valuables inside, but any useful architectural ornamentation as well.

But it's only usually empty.  Tomorrow, the area will probably be very crowded.

Watching over days, Raz on the ground and Calatin in the air, the two see that all these matches in the Amphitheater are part of the ongoing selection process for choosing the next force to march off to do battle with the wicked, sinister Elves and the pathetic Belgicans they have ensnared in their spells.  (That’s pretty much how the Huns describe it.)   It all leads up to a grand meeting and final choosing the Amphitheater, which is now the following day.  From what they have gleaned, all the important Huns of the city, a lot of their top warriors, and a lot of onlookers will gather in the Amphitheater, and then there is something that is described as something between a massive tournament, and a political rally.

Calatin has no interest in any of this apart from bringing up the fact that it might be a ripe time to go rooting through some orc's house since a lot of people will be distracted with the tournament.

Raz still tries to find out why there are no dogs in town. If the Huns have something against dogs, that's one thing. But if Nosecrush might actually appreciate a trained dog guard - or wolf - that might a be a way into his household.

With the attention on the amphitheater and the choosing therein, Raz gingerly starts scrying for the lamp. Choosing the locations for casting his spells carefully - hidden places, which are spread out throughout the city - he tries to find the lamp using Locate Object.

Why didn't you do that before? D:

Locate Object, barring a house-rule of which I am unaware, has no way to detect it, unless someone is staring at you while you're casting it. There's no magical sensor or will save or anything like that. It just works (outside of obvious precautions/distance/etc).

Raz's attempts to locate objects comes up empty.  No sign of the lamp, anywhere, according to his spell.

Calatin's overflight missions confirm an utter lack of canines, and he is also the first to get an explanation for this, talking with one of the "tavern maidens" at the riverside house later that day.

And she is very surprised that Calatin, who has a look of wisdom and experience about him, does not know.

"But they're illegal," she says.  "Didn't you hear?  The Emperor said they all had to be killed, but... a lot of people just let them go.  My grandmother said it was because dogs are... she said, the First Allies of Man.  Too loyal to us, too good for us, so they had to go."

"Orcs hate animals of all kinds," a man says, an old fishermen.  "Other than for eating.  That's why they make us do all the farming work.  They want meat but can't raise animals.  They get enraged, and just kill them when they don't behave.  Dogs they hate more than any other animal, because the protect people."

It may seem strange, but the coming Orcish "finals" in the Amphitheater is so important that even the Humans in the river house are talking about it.  They don't really know one Orc from the rest, but they know this is the Main Event of Orcish society this month.

They wonder if it will lead to easier times, if hundreds of top warriors are leaving.

Someone says it's cruel, how they don't even allow healing magic in the Amphitheater, and some Orcs have just bled to death, when a simple spell could have saved them.

"That's Orcs," the fisherman replies.

"Not always," another drinker says.  "I've seen them use healing potions.  They get all angry and violent but they don't want to die no more than you or I. They use healing magic, just not in the Amphitheater."

"What about wolves?" Raz asks the old fisherman. "Don't Orcs make use of them? Are there any in the city? Would the be kept in kennels, or like pets?"

Disappointed, though not really surprised, he reports to Calatin about the failing of his divinations. "Still, I'm sure it's within my power to locate it. Getting to the Orrery was too much of an ordeal for it to speak falsely.

Our working assumption for now is that Nosecrush knows where the lamp is. And if he does, then perhaps one or two of those close to him know as well. Lets figure out who he trusts the mosts, who is always near him, to whom he speaks or even listens."

In addition, Raz still has his merchant permit. While spying about, he looks for merchants, and tries to learn how they approach the Hun warlords.

  Raz, during his interlude with Acerbeil before the current mission, had some exposure to the levels to which Demonkind were reshaping Orcish society.  It’s a popular misconception that Demons are all about blood, killing, horror, disease, and things along that line.  While there are certainly plenty of Demons associated with ills of that kind, Acerbeil taught Raz that Demons were also fond of softer kinds of torment- every time someone feels a rush of pleasure after making someone else feel bad, every time someone successfully cheats in a deal, every time a leader skims some coins off the ‘general fund’ to fill his own purse, somewhere, a Demon is happy.  And while there are many Demons who are nothing more than violent savages, many understand how much greater the opportunity there is to act within “civilization”.

And to that end, they conspired to build the civilization of the Orcs. They took the primitive, warlike hordes and taught them to conquer instead of merely raiding and looting.  They taught the Orcs how, by maintaining an iron grip over the people they conquered, instead of looting a person just once, you could loot him over, and over, and over… and over.
They showed the Orcs the fine balance point, how to allow Humans just enough prosperity so they don’t give up, while taking most of what they produce.
Humans are so very, very productive.  Isn’t it only right that they contribute all that excess production to those that should have it?  The Orcs?

All of this meant that merchants, formally thought of by Orcs only as targets to be killed and robbed, must now be tolerated, so they could be robbed indefinitely.
This is why Raz has a “merchant’s permit”, a license granted to him to traffic a limited amount of goods through Hun controlled lands, and sell it.  This is also why there are still craftsmen and merchants in towns occupied by the Huns.

This is also the cause of another curious and unlikely seeming development.  Some Orcs have realized that given the current political situation, if you are not closely connected to one of the powerful clan leaders, and you want to be more wealthy than the average Orc… the Human way actually works!  And if you think about it, selling may not be as honorable as plundering, but if you can lie, cheat, and swindle your customers… it’s close, isn’t it?

And so, as Raz explores the commercial area of the town, he discovers that a few shops are actually run by Orcs!  These tend to be very generalized “trading” shops, or shops devoted to things Orcs really appreciate, like weapons and armor.  There are, for example, no Orcish tailors to be found.  (yet?)   But there are a few Orcs who trade the salvaged things other Orcs bring back from military campaigns.  One such is Rotten Shmagoo.

Raz wanders along this side street adjacent to the central plaza, and he notices that Rotten Shmagoo is not a very popular Orc at the moment.  (And Calatin, flying above, might observe the same scene.)  In fact, he’s being called out by another Orc, a tough looking warrior, with several nasty looking wounds and a broken shield.  The warrior must realize that with that kind of damage, he doesn’t look threatening enough.   So he brought along about a dozen friends.

“Rotten Shmagoo!  You thief!  You liar!  It didn’t work!”  the Orc thunders, striding towards a small shop.

Doors and shutters slam shut.  There is a voice from within.  “No refunds!”

“I’ll take refund in blood!” the Orc shouts.  “luck potion, bah!  Only luck I had in amphitheater was all bad!  Look at me!  Two fingers and three toes and part of ear is gone!”

Calatin, in vulture form, begins to descend in wide cirlces, looking for a place that's out of the way and obscured from easy vision in which to land and change if need be.

I'm following Raz's lead on this one.

Raz takes a few steps back, to the shadows of nearby store, and starts weaving an illusion spell.

There is a sound of someone jumping into the street from the ally perpendicular to the one the orcs are, on the corner of which Shmagoo's store is located. A second later Shamgoo appears to be turning into the street, running away, and disappearing into the crowd ahead.

Raz's illusion has a very strong effect on the mob of angry Orcs in front of the shop.

"There he goes!"

"Rotten Shmagoo's beatin' feet!  Coward!  Flower Licker!"

"Get him!"

The mob turns and hustles down the street after the image of Shmagoo.  Other Orcs follow, not because they have any stake in the outcome or feelings towards one side or another, but because a good, one sided fight is always fun to watch, and it looked like the Orc merchant was alone.

No one peaks out of Rotten Shmagoo's shop, otherwise known as "Shmagoo's House of Some Stuff We Got".  (There's no sign, as most of the customers are illiterate, so Shmagoo hangs a few assorted odds and ends from a pole above the door.  Today he's got a small hammer, a pair of boots, and a copper pan.)

The others on the street, deprived of the chance to see something entertaining, return to their previous tasks.

Raz comes out of hiding and knocks on the door.

"Mr. Shmagoo! It's safe to come out now. I'd like to discuss a business proposition."

Raz hears nothing at first...
and then, the sliding back of a heavy bolt.

Not for the door, of course.  For the little window built into the door, so that someone inside, worried about someone outside, could get a good peak before deciding whether or not to open the door.

It's just a.. just Raz?  The Orcish face that appears in the little window looks perplexed.

"Great Abbadon's Foot Fungus," the Orc grunts.  "It's one of you.  I don't know you, do I?  Haa... business is business and I need some now.  You're not from here.  Looking to sell off some junk scrounged from your travels, yes?"

The door opens and a tall Orc in a leather coat gestures for Raz to come in quickly.

The little shop is what some might call an "odds and ends" store, with a slight emphasis on odds.  There is a shelf with animal skulls, and a row of spice bins.  The place has a strong odor of.. well, of everything.