Ooohhhh.  That's good

The frogs frown, then look at each other.

"Just a moment," the one speaking says.

They take several steps back and then lean their heads together, murmuring to each other.

Finally they step back towards you.

"We serve Clan Mud!  Nothing grows without mud!  We are beautiful!"

He narrows his eyes at you.

"You do see the glory in mud, don't you?"

Tristan looks at him with infinite contempt.  "Of course I do.  How dare you ask me such a blasphemous question?  Now take me to your superiors before I lose patience."

In reply to Tristan (msg # 48):

They both blink at you.  Then turn their heads to each other and blink at each other.  Then turn back to you and blink at you some more.

Then they bow, motioning for you to follow, and lead you across the stream bed.

On the other side is what looks like an army of brown frogs with red spots.  They circle around small fires and grumble to each other about how much they miss their wives.  Several look sideways at you, but none of them approach you.

At the back of the army are several tents.  Large red ones flying flags that are a solid mass of brown.  Your two escorts take you to the largest one and motion you to go inside.

Three large toads are gathered around a table, studying what looks like a map.  They look up at you.

The second largest one quickly stands and hisses, "Salute you damn soldier!  You are in the presence of General Muck!  Glory is in the Mud!"

Looking infinitely bored as though carrying out a tedious formality, Tristan salutes, while managing to subtly sigh at the same time.  But then he immediately asks, "Where have you taken the man-creature who was captured recently?"

In reply to Tristan (msg # 50):

The three toads blink at you.

They then scurry back to a corner of the tent, where they huddle together and murmur to each other, occasionally peeking at you from the side.

They then all nod their heads and come back to the table, sitting themselves where they had been.

"We have none of Adam's sons as a captive. Well.  Besides you.  But anyway.  We have no captive like that.

"The cursed Weeds may have one.  But we don't.  You know.  Other than you."

You may use an ability here if you wish.  Your call which one you may want to use. Don't have to.  Just letting you know

“If they have him, we must free him before they discover his secrets.  So saith the Mud.  Or fail to heed his holy word and be destroyed.  It makes no difference to me.”

OOC: For now, I’ll hold off on using an ability.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 52):

The three Toads rush back to the corner and again confer, peeking at you from time to time.

They come back.

"Ahem.  You claim to speak for the Mud.  While we find you a bit of an apostate...and just a trifle of an apologist...we cannot disagree we seem to have common cause.

"It's a question of whether the cause is common enough.  What secrets does this man possess that we need to free him for?"

After snorting at the insolent terms of abuse being used to refer to him, Tristan’s eyes widen.  “What secrets does he possess?  Why, all the tools the enemy needs to destroy you!  Use the good froggy sense the Mud bestowed on you as tadpoles.  Why would they go to the trouble to capture him if he wasn’t of vital use to them in the war?  Even if you don’t trust me, it should be obvious to you that he is a major factor in their plans, and that getting him out of their control is a matter of the greatest urgency.  And of course, I am here to assist you in any way possible.”

Tristan has spent a lot of time this past year learning how to talk like a grown-up.  He knew it would be turn out to be important… but he hadn’t realized how soon.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Wed 21 June 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 54):

Well done.  I'm going to ask for an ability check here, but I'll give you a bonus.  Either Charm/Comm or a different ability if you feel there's one that would be better. Stress roll, but I will give you a +3 on it.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I have any abilities that apply…

22:54, Today: Tristan rolled 0 using 1d10-1.  Com roll.

Gulp…
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Fri 23 June 2023.

So you rolled a 1 which modified to a 0 right?  You didn't roll just a straight 0?

Let me know if that's not the case.

The frogs gather once more in the corner.  They come back, this time swaggering a little.

"You make a persuasive argument.  BUT.  How do we know there are magical powers?  Not all Children of Adam have powers.  Do you have powers?"

OOC: Correct.  I rolled a 1 that was modified to 0.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 58):

Okie doke.  Just wanted to be sure.  Then you got a critical success.  So you have to roll again and double the result.

So roll again.  Multiply the result times two.  If you get a 0 treat it like a 10 (or in this case 20).

Hold up answering my last post until we get this resolved.  I may need to change the frogs response.

Thanks

OOC: Do I use the -1 modifier before doubling the roll?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 60):

No.

So you roll, get your total, and then apply any modifiers to the results.  In this case, you roll a 1 first time.  So you roll again and...let's say you got a 3.  You'd get a 6-1 for a total of 5

16:59, Today: Tristan rolled 4 using 1d10.  Success roll.

Unless my math skills are even more feeble than expected, that’s a 7.

The Big Frog...the "General"...holds up a webbed hand to silence his subordinate.

He stares at you.  Hard.  He then croaks in a voice like a bull shouting.  "If we agree to help you, will you help us with our war?

"It's simple.  We will attack, bringing their attention to us.  You will sneak in from behind.  Locate your human.  And make your escape.

"But.

"I will also require you do something else.  You must find the tent of their general.  There will be a map on the table there, like this one." He taps a large sheet of parchment on the table before him.  "You will replace it with the one I give you.

"You will swear on your left foot that you will do this thing for us.  If you do it, you can take your human and go.

"Do you swear?"

Tristan swears solemnly on both feet that he would do exactly as the Big Frog has demanded, and acts a bit offended that his willingness to provide such aid would even be questioned.  Inside, however, his heart is thumping, and he has to fight down the feeling of excitement that is spilling everywhere inside him.  Could this crazy scheme really work?  But he carefully hides his emotions behind the mask he has constructed.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Sun 02 July 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 64):

Sorry.  Thought I answered this Sunday night.  Not sure how I missed that



So here is a map of the "Weeds" encampment.  You would be somewhere to the south/bottom of the map.  Didn't start you at any particular point as I wasn't sure how you'd want to go about things.


Basically you are at the bottom of a creek bed.  The dark brown is muddy areas.  The greener indicates more weedy kind of areas.

Note that most of the Weeds encampment is surrounded by a badly made wooden pallisade.  Really they are stacks of pointed sticks piled up on top of each other.  The pallisade stands about 4' tall in most places.

You do not know which of the tents your grog is in.

Questions?

No questions.  I’ll try to sneak across the mud at the point where it’s most narrow.  Then I’ll head west and observe that large red-colored tent.

You creep up closely to the barricade.  There's a small gap in it.  A sentry is seated by it, deeply asleep and snoring as you sneak up.

The Weeds camp seems filled with soldiers who aren't doing much of anything.  Many of them are seated around campfires...even though it's the middle of the day.  A warm spring day...and croaking at each other.  One of them plays a flute and others dance in a circle.

The large western red tent has two guards posted in front of it.  But as you watch, you don't see anyone coming in or going out.



Questions?

I’ll turn around and casually (but stealthily) make my way toward the other red tent on the other side.  If I’m caught, I’ll try to act naturally, as though I was supposed to be there.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 68):

Think I'll need a Stealth/Qik check please.

13:49, Today: Tristan rolled 5 using 1d10-2.  stealth/qik.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 70):

You scurry across the muddy part of the field and come to the other side of the encampment.

The eastern red tent seems to have more activity.  A frog stands guard at the front.  But other frogs are coming and going from it.

In front of the entrance hangs a banner.  A blue piece of fabric smeared with mud.