The girl widens her eyes and reaches out to glomp the puppy. "So cute!" she says in her watery voice. "I will come meet your friends..."

She lets go and swims down the waterfall.

Soon the girl manifests at the base of the waterfall, water constantly flowing around her to cover her otherwise completely naked form.

Like Neo getting mind-blown, Flert says, "....woah."

Mittens has sooo many teases for this Gikmoth's Water Lady's fashion nonsense.  But she's no villain (that she knows), so she'll keep them to herself.  Fluffy Puppy Mittens floats down toward the others.

"Hi again!  These are my friends, Joe, Flert, and Mittens.  Coincidentally, my name is Mittens too.  What's your name?"

  "It's nice to meet you." More words, but still about as generic as Flert's comment.  "Sorry for interrupting your song."

It is probably for the best not to tease the already shy water being who probably wouldn't even understand teases brought on by societal rules.

The water girl says, "My name is Aquarius. And it is no trouble... what brings you out to these falls?"

Flert says, "I... we... we're looking for my friend Gikmoth and a rainbow crystal." she manifests images of the two subjects. "Seen either of them?"

Aquarius nods. "Both. Your friend has been captured by a goblin tribe calling themselves the Waterwheel. They worship me as their goddess. The rainbow crystal is in the same cave they dwell, which is just past this curtain of water."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Tue 23 May 2017.

Mittens looks a little surprised, "Captured her?  What for?"

Fluffy tries to take a sneaky peek at the water curtain.

  "So, does it rate as quality worship?  Or just yelling how much they do your bidding while ignoring what you actually like."

  Okay, so it's goblins with good taste but terrible sense.  Unless this is a very pleasant 'it's neutral to let people sacrifice others in my glory' sort, but Aquarius does not seem nearly emo enough for that.

Mittens is able to see the other map on roll20: several wooden planks compose a passageway into the otherwise treacherous cave entrance. Standing on the pathway is a bored goblin guard, picking his nose.

Aquarius answers, "Quality. They do whatever I ask and then some. And their attempts to please me without my asking are usually quite pleasing. As for why they captured Gikmoth, it is because she came and tried to bargain for the rainbow jewel. When the waterwheel tribe refused to bargain, she tried to take the rainbow jewel secretly. They have been reserving judgement on her to see what I will say about the matter."

Flert says, "Well Gikmoth's no thief! If she tried to take it, I am sure she would have also left either an equally pretty thing, or tried to leave some kind of payment behind."

Mits is pretty sure that still qualifies as theft in most societies.

"What if she were to say she's really sorry?  Would you let her go?"

  Oh no, REASONABLE enemies!... Wait, should he be upset about this just being incredibly awkward instead of immediately violent?

  "Hmm, I wasn't really made aware that the gem already had a previous owner.  I assume you use the gem for some purpose then, if it's become such an issue."  Well yeah, Aquarius uses it to make sweet rainbows to bask in on demand.

Aquarius says, "To the waterwheel tribe, the gem is a focal point of worship. It is precious to them. To me, the gem is beautiful and I prize it for that alone. As for if she said sorry, I would let her go, yes. Why? Do you think she is sorry?"

Flert's face is turning red and steam shoots out her ears.

Fluffy nod-nods after returning to the group.  "I'm sure she is!  I know I would be if I were in her shoes."

Mits tries to fan Flert to help cool her off.  "Try and calm down, Flert.  Seems your friend isn't in any real danger."

  Joe would like to get paid and also some poptarts, but he expects neither of those things unless this is one of those quest to clear a quest situations or other such options not reliant on Joe being good at diplomacy.

  "Yeah, at this point your friend takes priority over shiny objects."

Aquarius says, "Then come on in... I will guide you."

She waves her arms and the water moves aside like drawn curtains. Aquarius walks forward. The guard immediately bows to her.

Flert calms some and gulps, watching the power display before her. Then follows...

Mits is astounded at how little violence has been a part of her adventures of late.  She follows along, giving a happy peace sign to the guard as she passes.  Fluffy follows along as well.

"So neat!  Water curtains!"

  Well, when a whole pile of goblins kill eachother that technically is less violence from the adventurers themselves.

  "It's alright Flert, though I do hope your friend isn't as tactless as I can be at times."

Flert sighs and nods. "I... wouldn't know. Haven't known you long enough to know what you consider tactful or untactful."

The group is led past multiple guards who all bow as Aquarius passes. Wherever they go, the PCs can see Aquarius giving off light to light up the cave. Finally, Aquarius enters the rear room of the cave, where the goblin tribe seems to be heavily debating in the goblin language. They stop upon seeing Aquarius and all bow.

Mits smiles and waves to Gikmoth.  "Hi there!  I'm Mittens, and this is Joe."

"Arf!" Fluffy adds.

"We're new friends of Flert."

  "Well if you are stopping to consider it, that's more tact than most people" And usually more than Joe has.

  He nods to Gikmoth, "Hello, we're hoping to get you home without things going poorly."

Gikmoth says, "Great! I can use all the help I can get here!"

Aquarius says, "Gikmoth, you are accused of trying to steal the rainbow crystal. What do you say?"

Gikmoth says, "This isn't the only waterfall and thus, there are probably other places I can get a rainbow crystal. I had every intention of searching the other falls first before asking my uncle how else we can get the crystal! So no. Accused or not, I did not try to steal it."

The goblin to her right says, "Liar!" and looks like he's going to punch her. Aquarius says, "Halt! If you punish someone before they are judged guilty, I will judge you guilty of the crime in her place!"

The goblin cowers and recoils his fist.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:12, Thu 25 May 2017.

Fluffy wimpers at the angry shout.

Mits smiles.  "Thanks, Aquarius!"

To Flert she points out, "See?  Already this is way better than a lot of places' trials."

  Rhagar would be amazed at nobody's brains being melted out of their skull yet (too funny to let go, sorry alternate angry ghost Mittens).

  "So is the gem under any protection outside of some random guards? Or did it at least get a display case?" We left our precious holy treasure on the floor!... Because it is too holy to touch?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:19, Thu 25 May 2017.

Flert is relieved the process is already going better.

The boss goblin says, "No. This cave is under protection by many guards. And the gem is deep inside the cave. Why?"

Hypothetical alternate angry ghost Mittens raspberrys the narrator.

Mits lets Gikmoth know, "Outside we were informed that before thing deteriorated to accusations of theft, you offered to buy the crystal.  That true?"

  As mittens fields her own fact checking, Joe clarifies "Because a closed case is harder to disturb even with a bunch of guards.  Though if there are that many guards, shouldn't you have a ton of people who saw the actual theft?  Everything's been a bit vague so far there. Is there anything beyond her being in the same cave as the gem that makes you so sure she tried to steal it?"

Gikmoth says, "Yes. I tried to buy it."

The goblin to Gikmoth's right says, "I saw her try to steal it! And Barl saw her too!"

The goblin to Gikmoth's left, in a durpy tone says, "...yeah."

The boss goblin says, "And when Chug told me he saw her steal it, we went out to catch her. The gem was in her pouch!"

Aquarius looks at the adventurers.

Flert says, "But Gikmoth says she didn't steal it! Therefor, she didn't!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:41, Thu 25 May 2017.