At Jubilost's response, Elena abruptly stopped pushing the wagon.  She turned to face the supposedly great cartographer, cold fury evident in her lance-straight posture and quiet tone.  "So that's a "no" to my question, then?  You're not going to contribute in any way to saving your own wagon?  Then as far as I'm concerned, it might as well stay in the river." She turned to the others:  "You can do as you wish, but I believe I've reached the limits of my charity.  We've handled the risky part, they can do the rest themselves."

"Or maybe they can't."  She added, making sure to keep her voice loud enough to reach the arrogant gnome over the noise of the river.  "Because we've known this man for all of two minutes, and in this time he's just about established himself as the most laughable excuse for an explorer that I've ever seen.  He drove his wagon into a river he wasn't prepared to cross, then sat on the bank watching it tip over.  He seems to have no social graces at all: If this is how he talks to the ruling party of Rivermarch while they're actively saving his ass, can you imagine him making friendly contact with any of the local creatures?  But worse than any of that is the confidence with which he just called most of us by the wrong names.  This dumb bastard-pardon my language-this idiot just looked at Dominique, a man covered head to toe in the symbols of Abadar with a golden key hanging from his neck, and declared without a doubt that he must be Elena Sazikova, the paladin of Shelyn.  How could we trust anything he puts on a map after something like that?"

With a visible effort to calm herself, Elena continued.  "Forgive me, Lord Boric.  And the rest of you.  I didn't mean to get so heated.  But in my honest opinion, we've wasted enough time dealing with this oaf.  Let's leave him to his river, and get back to the business of exploration."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Thu 07 Apr 2022.

For a moment Kael stops pulling the wagon as well. "Well, I may not have such strong feelings about this, but I do wonder why exactly are we doing this ourselves instead of having someone else do it for us. Somehow I doubt pulling wagons out of rivers is in any ruler's job description. You definitely need more peasants to order around, Lord Borric."

Caramip rolled her eyes, they were going to find ruling this land very hard if her friends did all the talking.

[Language unknown: "Ainni nere ain pe ionourtic p k k hiri anto terwershe sinaac, me korvorove illdayers for esseur ter lihitren iv allateday ouinfi whi here, ceive ss erpe di di u hasrat'ticoul os pandio,"] Caramip told Jubilost.

"Because we are here and they are in need, no one else is here and surely we would wish to have a good name for our kingdom. What reputation will we get if we allow merchants to lose their wares. No one will come here. He indicates he saw signs of troll along the southwest area of the lake, but like us has yet to fully investigate that area. He may have much more valuable information if we only be good servants and lend a helping hand.

"If memory serves doesn't Shelyn's code require 'I see beauty in others. As a rough stone hides a diamond, a drab face may hide the heart of a saint.' Furthermore does it not also require 'I will never destroy a work of art, nor allow one to come to harm unless greater art arises from its loss. I will only sacrifice art if doing so allows me to save a life, for untold beauty can arise from an awakened soul.'

"Therefore what art might be lost if you abandon the wagon?" Caramip posed to her companions.

Elena couldn't help but grin as Caramip brought up the oaths Elena bore as a Paladin of Shelyn.  It was a bit cheeky, and it was definitely a stretch to declare a wagon full of traveling supplies as "art", but it wasn't wholly unreasonable.  Besides, now the paladin felt honor-bound to at least give the argument proper thought.

"You're right about one thing."  Elena replied, before turning back to Jubilost.  She gave him a low bow, as formal and dignified as one could while knee deep in a river.  "I would like to apologize for my tone, Mr Narthropple.  My blood was pumping from my recent exertions, and the adrenaline led me to speak discourteously.  I am sure you have many good qualities, that would make themselves apparent were we to spend more time in each other's acquaintance."  And with that, she seemed to once again dismiss his presence from her mind.

Returning to Cara, she continued.  "As for the other tenet...well, who's to say I'm not saving a life by leaving this wagon in the river?  After all, if this expedition is competent and capable of traveling these dangerous lands, surely they can finish the job, now that we've already handled the hard and dangerous parts of the work.  And if they can't handle it...Well, surely that implies they're unfit to explore such difficult country?"  The paladin's tone was light, as if sharing a joke.  She was well aware she was stretching the definition of her oath just as much as Caramip had.  But that didn't mean what she was saying wasn't true.

"And here in the Stolen Lands, unfit explorers die.  If their expedition is to founder and fail, maybe it's for the best it does so here, so close to Rivermarch and safety.  I'm sure these brave gnomes could find use for their talents there, under more competent leadership."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:48, Sat 09 Apr 2022.

Borric was too busy trying to the wagon from falling back into the river. When Elena and Kael stopped helping. He took a strong breath and tightened his muscles. But even in his enlarged form, the weight of the wagon was taking its toll. Finally, when he felt his footing slip. "A little help here. How about we talk about manners... la.. later."

Dominique bows his head politely as Cara introduces him, but leaves the discussion, and drama, to the others. Knowing that he'd be of little help in moving the wagon, the 'high' priest stands dry on the shore as he considers the problem. Partly in response to Cara's suggestion of calling upon Abadar to provide them oxen and partly to guide their efforts he eventually speaks up, "We've no shortage of beasts of burden; what we really need is the rope to lash enough of them to the wagon, tackle to bear the weight, or planks to level the terrain. Did this 'expedition' pack the equipment they need to travel with a wagon? Lord Borric?" He tried to subtly intone a bit of criticism of the gnomes in support of Elena without overly exacerbating the situation, but directs his question to Borric to try to encourage him to take a look in the wagon and rest from his seemingly futile exertion.

After a bit of pause and debate the wagon was dragged out of the river. Funny enough despite Jubilost seemingly uninterested in the survival of the wagon, the rest of the gnomish expedition was more than happy to help out how they could, although being gnomes and this being mostly an act of physical strength and size their help wasn't the most helpful but the effort was there.

When Elena first started to make her criticisms, Jubilost's mouth had snapped open it was clear from the look in his eye that he was preparing a particularly cutting barb...but then nothing came out. Instead he slowly closed his mouth and maintained a stoic visage, the only display of emotions being his eyebrows that raised and lowered as Kael considered Elena's words even as Cara tried to add honey to the mix and Borric was focused on the task at hand.

Jubilost didn't reply, opening his book and jotting down a few things while the group figured out how to get the wagon out of the river. He didn't stir until Elena made her apology and Jubilost finally replied. He spoke at a much slower pace then before with every word carefully weighed and measured.

"I understand. Perhaps I too was just...how did you put it...worked up from the situation. As for your names, this may come as a surprise to you but outside of this local area not much is known about you. You should consider yourselves lucky that I was even able to identify your names, even if they were attached to the wrong person. Is it so outlandish that I would assume the person to take charge would be the ruler? That the person bedecked in holy symbols wouldn't be a holy warrior?

That is part of my reason for being here, to correct the record, so to speak. How can I put this...I'm here to make sure that people beyond the few miles of your kingdom here even realize that there is a paladin of Shelyn or a priest of Abadar here.

As for the river I wouldn't have had to risk fording it if your kingdom wasn't running rampant with trolls...no it doesn't matter. Come, I'm sure Mittens..."

The gnome next to him just shook her head and grumbled "...Mickens. It's Mickens."

Jubilost nodded and continued his thoughts.

"...Mickens here can set up a camp for us and we can partake in an information exchange. If you can help me fill in my map here I can help fill in your records there. I have traveled west of here while your kingdom is to the East. It seems a fair exchange, no? A way for both of us to demonstrate value to one another and a way to help sooth over...less than ideal...first impressions on both sides."

Once the gnomes started to put in at least a token effort towards helping out, Elena once again put her shoulder to the wagon and helped them move it back to safety.  Her mood improved measurably once her feet were back on stable, dry ground.  It improved even more once the diminutive explorer started making his own effort act civil.

As for the map exchange, that seemed reasonable enough as well, though she still had her misgivings about Jubilost's conscientiousness.  A man who didn't like blank spots on his map was a man who might just put down his best guess, and she had seen just how far this man was willing to trust his assumptions.  But an unreliable map was better than no map, and if the expedition had come this far, they couldn't be completely useless.

"You say you came from the West?"  She asked, doing her best to seem casual.  "That would be Lord Drelav's land, wouldn't it?  Or did you come all the way from Pitax?"

Kael is just happy to be out of the damned river, and is only looking forward to a campfire and a warm drink right now. But once he is no longer shivering he will take a look at those maps. Since he is in charge of the new nation's intelligence service (or the only person in it at the moment, really), something like that probably is in his job description.

Cara was happy to see that everyone seemed to be getting along now. "I think it would be great to exchange what information we can. Indeed more knowledge of the lands west would be helpful. How many trolls have you seen?" she asked.

Borric hesitated for a second but upon seeing the map, "Alright. Let's compare notes."

---

rolled 9 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 2.  Sense Motive

At the mention of Drelev, Jubilost huffed a bit and rolled his eyes.

"Somehow it is possible to find places in this area even more inhospitable than this one. Yes Lord Drelev and let me just say if you want to have any chance of dealing with the man you cannot forget it, not even once. As if anyone is expected to remember courtly titles while surrounded by muck and mud..."

He pulls out some notes he has to show how Drelev is building out his empire. It seems that Drelev is building out a rather large military-style fort on the west side of Lake Hooktongue. There is plenty of room between it and Rivermarch, with the lake, the Hooktongue Slough (a massive swamp) and then the western forests. It seems he is already building up a strong military and is looking at becoming a regional power through the might of his army instead of skills of diplomacy.

"Or....it could be because of the barbarians in the hills to the west that are constantly raiding his lands. Woe be to any savage that thinks they can win a fight over Drelev. That man would drag himself through the a dragon, end to end, just to remind a barbarian of his place.

Now then...about your side of the border...let's see here..."

Most of what Jubilost has to share is known geography. Even the expedition had basic maps of the area and since founding their Kingdom those have been greatly improved. There were three interesting locations of note that he pointed out.

The first was what looked to be an abandoned keep (G1).

"Elven architecture, clearly. I recognize the style as pre-fall so roughly....ten thousand years old...give a couple centuries or so. No idea when it was abandoned though and trust me, it is abandoned. Likely haunted by now. Most elven ruins still standing are just magnets for incorporeals. I did not investigate, just in case you were foolish enough to ask. I am a cartographer, not a grave robber so I noted it and moved on."

The second location of note was an island in the middle of Candlemere lake (H3). According to Jubilost it had a lone tower set atop the peak of the island.

"Now strange towers in the middle of lakes isn't particularly noteworth but we happened to make camp across the shore and I saw what looked to be lights on the distant shoreside. Most likely some kind of bandit operation, perhaps even a local hermit or wizard. But that place is inhabited by something with a lantern. Several of them actually, I think I recall...a half dozen lights or so in total but they were blinking in and out all over the island so who can really say. Perhaps it was just one wizard teleporting rapidly from place to place."

The last place of note was most unpleasant for the gnomish explorer: a tribe of lizardmen.

"We studied them from a distance for fear of being mistaken for food if we came any closer. It looked like they had a whole village set up, a society of lizards, can you believe it? Dozens of them pretending to be civilized. Ha, quite the sight to behold."

He smiles to himself and begins copying over the more detailed maps of the parts explored by the heroes. It seemed he felt he had satisfied his part of the bargain at least.

"This is...actually pretty useful information."  Elena remarked, as the party updated their maps using the information Jubilost presented.

"The old keep could be a useful stronghold, if Drelav or Pitax ever get it into their heads to launch a full-on invasion.  And one way or another, the Lizards could wind up being an important factor in the current invasion we have to deal with.  As for the lights on the lake...I dunno.  Smugglers?  Hanspur worshippers?  If Malchan Fillinolds is trying to set up shop in our territory, we might just have to make good on the promise I made at the ceremony."

Fair was fair, and Elena wasn't going to stop Jubilost from looking at their own maps unless somebody else spoke up.  There weren't any important secrets to hide in their territory, as far as she could remember.  At least, nothing that Rivermarch's enemies couldn't learn just as easily from any other traveling merchant.

Kael's makes notes of the explorer's discoveries on his own maps and nods in agreement to Elena's words. "A ruined keep is a half-build keep, and it is in an excellent position to guard our entire southwestern border. Lizards... well, we already have kobolds around, so maybe we can cut a deal with lizards as well? And as for the lights on the island, I'm not sure. I'd expect campfires it we are dealing with your run-of-the-mill bandits or smugglers. Lanterns... sound weird."

He turns back to Jubilost. "You did mention seeing trolls as well, right? At the moment that seems to be the most pressing threat to us."

Jubilost gave a shrug.

"Sounds like quite the problem. I don't believe in all my studies I have ever read about rulers having an easy time holding a country together."

"We have our work cut out for sure, but we'll manage. We always pull through even when it seemed darkest at times. We need to show the inhabitants that cooperation is better than fighting one another. With cooperation we can all prosper, from kobold to mite to troll to humans and beyond," Caramip says.

"With cooperation we can build bridges and roads, forts and colleges, It'll be the greatest land in all the River Kingdoms due to Lord D'Tor's wise decisions," she added.

"Well we lost the trail of those Trolls. We will need our scouts to remain on their guard." Borric scanned over their map with the additional notes from Jubilost. "But it seems that we have two places that we need to investigate. And I'll put some gold and wager that Caramip wants to talk with the lizard folk. Where shall we go first?"

"You know, now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind talking to the lizardfolk myself." Elena responded thoughtfully. "If they're living so close to where the trolls have set up, they must have had some kind of dealings with them.  Hopefully, they're not on the same side or anything like that."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:31, Tue 10 May 2022.

"It is likely that the lizardfolk know of the trolls and may know where the trolls live or at least their normal patrol patterns so as to avoid them themselves, thus I believe that would be a wise course of action for us to pursue first to talk to the lizardfolk as it could help us accomplish the second item," Caramip suggested.

"What do we know about lizardfolk?" Borric asked as it seemed that the lizard people may be their first destination. He turned to Jubilost, "You said that they were trying to build a settlement of some kind. Were they trying to farm or something?"

Dominique tends to the horses--both their own and the expedition's--while the others speak with the gnomish explorer. He is out of his element in their exchange, especially after spending a year dedicated to the role of placating the clergy of three churches who oscillate between jockeying to be the official state religion and trying to figure out what it even means to be co-state religions. It is good to get out from behind his desk and travel once again, but he is at a loss for what to do about the looming giant threat or which, if any, of the gnome's leads they should pursue first.

"Lizarfolk are carnivores, thus farming is not likely though perhaps they are farming animals. As carnivores and like most tribes the most appropriate gift would be a gift of food, meat. They are not cannibals though that is a common rumor. They resist and resent the encroachment of civilization though. So perhaps we should hunt some meat for them or give a gift of cattle?" Cara suggests.

"Sounds like some quality hunting weapons would be a very appropriate gift as well. Assuming they are not used on us, anyway." Kael offers his suggestion as well.

With the discussion of their next steps seeming to come to indecision and his tasks tending to the mounts complete, Dominique approaches the party and weighs in, "Claiming Elven fortifications, dealing with bandits on our lake, and dealing with this band of lizardfolk, one way or another, are all worthy tasks for us to undertake in cementing the lord's claim to these lands and protecting our people, but I can't say which should be our priority."