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[Niku]

"I'm just trying to figure out which one of these is the brake," she said with relative calm.  While Karvan struggled mightily, looking for all intents and purposes like he might as well have been attempting to wrestle the reins of bucking owlbear, Tikka surveyed everything in front of.

Boop!  She pressed a button that maybe looked right!

Dungeoneering
1d20 + 5
5 + 5 = 10

Tikka looked rather satisfied with herself for pushing a button, all told!

[Doom]

Tikka dynamically strikes a button that causes the guns to stop auto-firing. Well done!

Karvan seizes the wheel and wrestles against the ship's momentum to bring her up as it crashes onto the ground below, which is at least a bit willing to yield instead of being solid, unforgiving rock. The color=green]Short Holiday scrapes, bounces, slides and rumbles along the soil for a great distance before coming to a smoking, smoldering halt, though mostly intact.

In short order, the ship is surrounded by two dozen humanoids wearing thick blast coats and fiendish looking round, white masks with opaque black goggle-lenses for eyes. Each mask has a different hand-made drawing or in some cases carving of vicious, bladed teeth. Every humanoid is carrying brandishing a rifle, a bomb and a lighter, or a huge custom-made mining pick with fuses sticking out of the heads at various places. Orders are rapidly yelled back and forth in Orcish before one steps forward, brings his rifle up and demands in common, in a male's voice: "Identify yourselves, and make it fast, we've got eager fingers!"

Flick flick, spark spark. The bomb-holders are playing with their lighters impatiently.

[sentrygun]

Ilex stumbles out of the ship to find herself surrounded by a bunch of orcs, and with masks depicting 'Bladeteeth' nonetheless! Well, at least she got lucky and crashed into her destination.

"I'm Ilex Holsten, this is my crew, we're here on business with Rosco, and I supposedly have a Rite of Safe Passage through him. Sorry for leading the stirges along with us, but rather unsurprisingly my flak cannons are pretty much garbage."

Code: [Select]

Ilex Diplomacy

1d20 +21
9 + 21 = 30

[Malikial]

Karvan gives a happy grin to the orcish fellows and walks towards them, still unarmed seeing as he dropped his flail and shield before and growls out, in a chuckling voice, "That was a damn fine flame weapon you fellas unleashed. Took the bite right out of them!" He lets out a deep belly laugh and then smirks at Ilex's words, "I'm Karvan, just a pit-fighter." He walks over to his shield and flail and begins scooping them up, saying, "We're pretty damn lucky you fellas had that... whatever that was. I didn't feel like having my blood sucked out through various small puncture wounds today."

He then strides purposefully towards the male who spoke to him and thrusts his large hand out, "As I said before, Karvan, and damn boys do I owe you a drink." Karvan has re-assumed his role as HUGE LOUD GUY as he practically bellows his words at what most people would consider the top of their lungs, he doesn't seem to realize that currently, covered in blood and whatever else the stirges may have sprayed or splatted all over him in the last combat, he probably looks like shit and what's more, he seems downright happy to be slowly bleeding out of a few holes, covered in grime and the aftereffects of smashing stirges to death with his shield.

[Niku]

"Hello, I'm Tikka."

It felt almost anticlimactic to say after Karvan bounded out to greet the bundled up individuals with such boisterousness, so she added a tiny little wave to the process.  There, perfect.  She had never encountered .. well, anyone quite like the individuals in front of them before, and so her curiosity was immediately piqued.  Were she a creature of less self control, she likely would have asked one of them if they would remove their mask so she could see what they looked like, but some things were matters of decorum and that would have demonstrated a remarkable lack of the stuff.  Besides, there was something else winning out over her feelings of curiosity!  Nervousness was a fairly interesting reaction, and Tikka had seen it in a lot of humanoids before.  She never really understood it until she saw someone brandishing an explosive mining pick, though.

[Doom]

A lot of the gathered Orcs are staring at the ship, and the male who spoke shakes Karvan's hand enthusiastically. "If it was anybody else, we'd probably throw you in shackles, but Nailbrain wouldn't shut the Hells up about you lot for saving him." He yells out some orders in Orcish and they begin taking the Flame-Mortar back, along with prepping your ship for pick-up and examining it for broken bits. A wagon is already being drawn by a pair of angry looking elder owlbears, who very much lack the child-like innocence of Muscles T.(he) Owlbear.

"We'll smash this piece of shit for free if you want. Give you a thousand for the guns up front. Come on, let's head back before it gets any hotter out here." He signals to the others, than pulls his own mask up to show his face, and the majority of the others do as well, putting their weapons away and joining in on the ship scavenge. This fellow is definitely Orcish, but really, that's just a green-skinned human with pronounced canines, a bit thicker jaw, wild unruly black hair, and eyes that are wider than the normal. He's very young, but has a fair collection of studded piercings in both eyebrows, lower lip and ears. A lot of the others seem to have the same fondness for bits of metal on them and an eager, fervent joy about them for their work. Despite the name and the masks, only a few actually file their teeth into sharp points...

Argus follows along with you lot and seems unusually quiet, content to observe, but looking very wary and concerned. The lead male adjusts his rifle, shuts the safety off, and winds a fuse extending from the barrel as he quips, walking along with you all: "Yeah, Holsten huh. I hear you're the only one with a spine in that city." Three of the Bladefangs pick Tikka up by the wrists, ankles and mid-section respectively and move to swing her back and forth in preparation for a heave-ho toss onto the scrap wagon. At least six of the Bladefangs crowd around Karvan to shake his hand and heap praise upon him, having actually heard of him as "CHAMP!" Guy and gal alike want to seem him flex his biceps and test the iron feel of the muscles, murmuring in appreciation for such a strong dude. A few of the gals getting close to Karvan with their masks off suggests that long hair is a popular style, though one of them has a pony-tail that is abruptly burnt off halfway down with the ends singed.

[Malikial]

Karvan pats people on the shoulders, fists bumps a few orcs and the growls out, with a laughing spark in his eye, "Tikka's not scrap, she's one of our companions." He chuckles and then wraps his arms around two of the orcs shoulders, not seeming to have a care in the world as he growls out, "So, I heard some where orcs could fight like demon's and drink like dwarves, had a dwarf friend call you lot filthy tale-tellers!" he bends down low and looks around as if conspiring as he growls, "How about you guys see if you can go 3 rounds with the old liver." He lets out a mighty chuckle and says, "There's ale and food aplenty in the hold of that there ship, long as you didn't ruin it putting out the fire. ALWAYS LOVE ME A NICE DRINK AFTER A FIGHT! Gotta make sure I don't leak from all the holes they put in me." He chuckles and pats his chest, which is still lightly oozing blood from a couple of wounds but has mostly dried up.

[Niku]

Tikka tilts her head toward the orcs approaching her, first to the ones to the left, then the ones to the right.  She holds her ground rather than taking the discrete step back to politely, but firmly indicate that she probably should not be grabbed and then blown up, but she does have to protest once she is lifted off of her feet!

"Oh, there's no need to celebrate me.  It was really Karvan and Ilex who did the brunt of the work!"

Tikka had seen people hoisted up in victory before, after all!  She was flattered in a fashion, but really, it was wholly unnecessary!  Still, much preferable to pick-axes.

She'd never seen them start swinging them though.  Usually it was more of a, lifty-tossy sort of motion.  "Am I too heavy?" she worried aloud.  She did have a bit more bulk than she did when she was only solid so far as her infrastucture went.  Oh, the concerns of aesthetics!

[Doom]

The orcs reluctantly put Tikka down, muttering something or another about "choice parts" and "serviceable axis" and head to helping the others rig up the owlbears. You folks follow an awkwardly constructed and down-right dangerous comet-road, which seems to have been put together by acquiring space rocks by any means possible and lashing them together with chains, massive spiked metal rods and what appear to be lines of fused metal bent into runic letting and branded onto the sides, still searing red hot from some unknown heat source. Terraforming magic brute-forced by fire, apparently.

A village rests at the base of the inexplicable tower, itself a great mess of metal shards and unusual stone-work of a gray-black with a grim sheen that matches the void of space around you. The houses are solid blocks of metal jutting out of more fertile ground, most with personal effects for a self-sufficient society, whether small gardens or large stills. Priorities!

Argus and the Lead Orc seem to ask Ilex the same question at the same time. "What's your business here, Holsten/sprout?"

[sentrygun]

Ilex shrugs. "I sent a message out to see if Rosco had any work for us and I got a reply asking us to come by. No clue what he wants out of us."

[Malikial]

Karvan walks off, arms still around two of the orcs, growling, "You fellas know where a man can get a drink and some food around here?"

[Doom]

The guide shakes his head. "That's a good joke, Holsten. Come on." He leads you to a larger building with most of it's walls cut out, supported by pillars, a wide open tent-like array of scrap metal. Inside are great stretches of tables stacked with offerings from the villager's goings, ranging from random bits of loot and scrap to great baskets of fresh harvest, or just boxes of goods acquired at a great price(or the best price, found in some fool's wreck/corpse!) The community seems to operate on the honor system and no-good socialism/communism distributing goods for all. This provides ample opportunity for Karvan to sample a few different types of home-brews and to chomp into some fresh produce.

A good spectacle right outside the tent is a crowd of orcish children, all of them with tentative first steps into the sort of piercing heavy fashion the tribe favors and the older ones already carrying their own masks and wearing blast-suits, cheering as two 10-year-olds beat the snot out of each other. They frequently come together, grapple, and exchange blows to the torso(from the grabbed) and to the head(to the grabbed) and the fight seems to come to a decisive victory when the grappled boy throws the older girl off him for a moment, then seizes her shoulders and bites her ear! She screams in pain and pops him in the nose, producing a nice stream of blood.

Your guide chuckles and there are a good deal of adults in the area, some of which are watching appreciatively. The kids erupts in cheers as the boy signals that he's given up. The girl rubs her bleeding ear and runs over to you all, chatting excitedly with your guide in Orcish. He looks over his shoulder and states plainly to Karvan in common: "My daughter won the honor of sitting with you at the feast tonight, champ. Truly the envy of her friends." He rustles her hair and gives her a quick parenting in Orcish and she runs off, probably to get the ear patched up. The other kids are helping the defeated boy compose himself and get a rag for his nose and seem to clearly admire the effort he made.

Heading into the back of the communal tent you see your old, old pal, Rosco Nailbrain sifting through a pile of destroyed scrap, pulling out the occasional odd bits of what look like the purifying tech you saw in the Gateway sewers. He grins widely as he sees you all and hustles over, excitedly shaking Ilex's hand.

"Ilex! I knew you'd come, and I knew you'd be the first! We ain't got work for ya, that'd be a waste, but we're gonna have a big shindig tonight and you're sure to meet the Chief." He stops shaking Ilex's hand and moves to greet everybody else in the same way. An unmistakable jolt of childish glee at seeing a new toy shakes him for a moment when, after shaking Karvan's hand, he extends his own to Tikka. Then he composes himself and says really loudly and happily. "Oi, I knew you lot were good folk when I met ya! I'm really looking forward to our alliance with Holsten Holdings!"

The guide nods appreciatively, and Argus' jaw drops.

[Malikial]

Karvan sees the kids and then smiles, actually seeming happy as he moves over, dropping to one knee so he's more on their level and growls out, "Come here, come here you two." He motions to the boy, his face suddenly an animated frown, "First thing, when you fight someone you must remain calm. Don't go all throwing people off of you and then diving on them. That's a good way to land on a dagger." He pats his stomach once to effect, "Also, while biting her on the ear was effective in angering her, it did nothing to disable your opponent therefor gave you no advantage in the fight." He ruffles the little girl's hair and grumbles, "She's a tough one, hurting her in a manner that does not further your advantage in a fight will just anger her, which is not a bad idea if you know how to counter it. If you bit her with the thought of turning her response attack on her in a counter, then it would be proper strategy. You just bit her to cause pain because you had lost your temper. There is no need for that. When you fight someone you need to realize the only pain needed is the pain needed to disable, disarm or kill. NOT THAT I WANT YOU KIDS KILLING EACH OTHER. But if someone is trying to kill you... you... you kill them right back you here me?"

He stands and disarms himself, dropping all his weapons on a table as he drinks a large drink from a mug of ale before walking back over to where the kids are and falling into a fighting stance, he growls, "The problem with a fight is very simple, everyone has a plan until you've got a dagger in your shoulder. Pain clouds the mind, just like anger. You must never be angry in a fight. I act angry, growl, roar even but I am always calm despite my pretending to be other wise. You confuse your opponent, you give a loud roar," After he says the words he lets out an ear shattering roar and snarls, releasing a show mock rage and spittle into the air. Then he immediately returns from looking angry to looking happy and smirking,"If you can pretend to be angry your opponent will think you less apt to counter them and you must fight defensively, if you and your opponent are of equal stamina you can out defend them. Moving your hands the slight bit to turn a punch or, with a shield, parry a blow is a lot less tiring than swinging your full body into a blow." He does a few mock swings and mock parries to show the difference.

Then he pulls the little boy over and growls, "When you want to disable someone you strike them in one of three places. The joints." He taps the boy on his knee, elbow and wrist. "You can strike or twist these areas and the person will be in immense pain. You can't readily hit the elbow or wrist due to a person moving but if you are grappling and someone is putting their hands in and around your face you can get a good grip. The second place to strike is the soft parts of the body." He pats the boy's throat, lower back, and belly. "A blow here is not always instant pain, but it will build up, you hit someone in the kidneys enough and they will go down, no matter who they are and the final place, as shown by our little champion here." He ruffles the girl's hair again, "Is the sensory organs, your nose and eyes have so many nerves in them, getting hit in the nose or a thumb in the eye feels like swallowing fire, but something a lot of people don't realize is that an open palmed slap to the ears can also disorient and disable your enemy. Makes you see double if you do it right."

He smiles broadly, again, after he gives the quick lesson and then stands up. Yawning loudly as he says, "That ale is delicious." He goes back and takes another mug and one of the fresh pieces of produce and munches on it. Then he seems to get an idea and he turns to one of the adults. "Any of you want to spar with me? Give the kids a bit of a better lesson." He looks worriedly at the kids, "I'd hate for anything to happen to them, for them to be unprepared... first time I had to kill a man I was barely more than a whelpling, 13 years old..." He lets out a long sigh and shakes his head a bit, "Sorry, you know, the only opponent I've never been able to kill is my past."

(Dragonborn mature slower than humans I read, but I don't know how much slower. How old an adult dragonborn is)

[Niku]

At first, Tikka appeared mildly concerned upon approaching the scrapping children, though she may have also simply been staring off into space for all that outward appearances gave any worries away.  She was unsure which child was in the right, and so could not properly determine which one of them she should have attempted to help with a surreptitious trill or note!  Luckily, nobody else seemed to worry about who the victor was with any particular sense of urgency (though some seemed to be harboring a bit of excitement for the spectacle!), which saved her from ruining what was apparently a time-honored ritual for placement at a feasting table.

Tikka quite liked Karvan and Ilex already!  Why, if she had any need for food, she would have punched the orcish girl right then and there to claim her victory for herself!

"You are very knowledgeable, Karvan.  Have you ever given any manner of thought toward becoming a lecturer at the Academy?"  She paid attention to his lessons to the kid with about as much rapt interest as the kids themselves did.  Tikka could not recall a fight that she had been in that had not been short, brutal, and victorious prior to today, and the slight rattling of her senses upon the feeling of losing pieces of herself left her quite open to taking in any advice on how to improve her own skills in combat.  She simply did not feel as though she was quite up to par with her new body as she may have once been, and advantages like the ones he was explaining could come in quite handy!  During his demonstrations, Tikka pantomimed his actions behind his back, looking at Karvan and then at her hands before she mimicked a loose fighting stance and swirled the hands in her eyes to slanted, furious positions, lips going agape with a "Roar." that was lost entirely in the deafening sound of the actual roar.  Yes, she could do this the next time she felt threatened!

She'd have to talk to Karvan about this one on one, perhaps.  Maybe she would punch that little girl after all! In the kidneys, or the eyes, or the nose, right?  Tikka rotated her right arm a single time, limbering up the gears for maximum extension, only to be abruptly distracted from her plan by the realization that they were moving on and the girl was already scampering off to no doubt brutalize another child, perhaps for a bigger portion of the meal that awaited.  Oh, well, maybe next time. 

In the meantime, there was someone else entirely to meet, and she shook Rosco's hand mechanically -- ah, though of course, there weren't many other ways she could shake it.

Skull Joke

"Hello, I'm Tikka," she introduced herself, though now she was mildly concerned.  Ilex didn't seem like she had been intending to come all this way for a meal!  False pretenses rarely did anybody any favors in the end.

[sentrygun]

Ilex blinks at the news that Rosco in fact has no work for them!

"Uh... A celebration is great and all, but I'm still staring at a rather large debt, and I kind of wrote a bad contract that pits pretty much all of the debt on me. I already lost my ship coming here, and my current funding seems grim at best. I can't really afford to celebrate anything, nor do I really have the spirit anyways."

Twisting her wrist and looking more defeated than upset, Ilex asks if "there's some kind of work or something you guys need done, right?"

[Niku]

Tikka got the distinct feeling that Ilex was abruptly feeling quite down about this turn of events!  She tilted her head between Rosco and Ilex, thinking momentarily on how to perhaps put Ilex in something more of a celebratory mood.

"It would seem to me that anyone wealthy enough to throw a feast as extravagant as the one being thrown today would have many ways of repaying those who were allied with them, work offered or no, don't you Ms. Holsten?  In fact, I daresay that in any proper alliance .. oh, what's the term?  'What's mined is yours'?"

Tikka gave something like an expectant smile, placing her hands together.  Why, perhaps they wouldn't need to work at all to receive the payments that Ilex was hoping for!  "I'd say that getting a fair stake in an extensive operation as this seems to be would be far greater payment than any odd jobs done.  Why, it may even be a step in being seen as a great bridge-builder, like Millicent Tousk the Fifth!  Surely such prestige would be of value."  After all, money was money, but there was very little more valuable than to be writ in history.  And this was such a grand feast, and this alliance seemed to be of greater import than Tikka had first expected!  She was, daresay, a bit excited!

[Doom]

Rosco grins as he paws through the last of the scrap and bundles it all up under one huge arm. "Now look 'ere, Holsten, I'll fix yer ship before ya go. But ya can't spend yer days tackling grunt work forever, especially if ya wanna be 'igh class." He snorts, turns and hocks a loogie outside of the tent, then heads for the chow table. "Besides, we's got just enough 'splosives to sell a few."

Your guide shrugs his shoulders. "I figured that nobody in the Gate had enough sense to look past their corrupt little city. If you're here to give us a chance, maybe you're worth fighting for? What do you stand for...?" It seems you didn't give anybody your rank or title, if you have one, Ilex!

[Malikial]

Karvan saunters up and moves over to Ilex after hearing the exchange, he leans down and whispers into her ear. "You make money from a few jobs, you make wealth from alliances. If we agree to work with these people on even footing we both benefit. Think of it like this, every time we are successful in an endeavor we don't just expand our influence, we expand theirs and every time they are successful they expand ours. I LIKE these fellows. We need to expand beyond our current boundaries if we're going to make our debt back in time, and after we pay that debt we're going to need to expand still further if we wish to acquire and maintain influence. I mean, I'm just a pit-fighter, but even I know you need someone covering your back if you're fighting more than 3 enemies."

[Doom]

Guidey shrugs. "Well, you've got more going on for you than any of the others set up in the Gate. I'd back you, sure as my name's Wren." Subtle, the DM thought to himself over a sup of soda. Subtle. Wren continues. "Whatever you're standing for, you can tell the Chief later." As Karvan finishes his lesson(that the kids pay rapt attention to), they follow him like a little herd of excited, blood-thirsty green-skinned kids. It does not take long before they start climbing him, to hang off of or stand proudly on. One of them gives him a big smile and replies to the end of his lecture in beginners common: "13? I was fighting at 4..." The others chip in their approval and an age comparison begins.

Argus intercepts Ilex after her uncharacteristic bout of silence. "Now sprout, you've got the right idea of it. You can do work for them, but you can't really trust a Bladefang. It'll kill your standing with the other Council Heads, you know..." He gives a Father-Knows-Best sage nod and seems satisfied.

Later that night, the whole of the village seems to haev drifted back in and they help erect a second set of communal tent covers and drag over huge metal cases to pile logs in and start massive bonfires. The more discerning orcs are entrusted with searing and seasoning meat dishes, while those who are eager to help but not skilled at fleshcraft help with plantcraft instead, preparing the produce. And of course, a lot of those stills from earlier are being emptied and their stock is being brought up. It's a party in honor of you, Fools-Errant, distinguished guests who recognize the Bladefang's strengthh where others do not... or do not wish to!

Aside from you all, the head table is occupied by Rosco, Wren and his daughter sitting next to Karvan, a few other experienced and savvy looking orcs varying between the fine fields of explosives, fighting, hunting, and explosive fighting and explosive hunting, and then there's... the Chief! Ehrad Bladefang proudly bears the name and honor of his tribe and is cut of the same seven-foot tall stock that Rosco is, which seems to be a mild but popular abnormality across the otherwise pretty average height spread in the village. Ehrad wears his blast coat proudly and it bears many stitch marks and blast-tape coverings where it has seen battle, with several smaller matching ones on his face. Ehrad himself has a half-shaved head and a small mo-hawk going, thumb-sized gauges in his ear-lobes, and wears a bandolier of... rocket-powered hammers slung across his chest, each of the traditonal tool-sized hammers fitted with a fuse that leads into the elongated head. And another popping out of the handle, for reasons reserved for those who fight him. He leans back in a chair and kicks his feet up on the table, boots caked in mud but nobody giving a damn, as he picks at his teeth with a bit of bone.

Ehrad and Ilex are sitting next to each other and he's quite eager to talk to her and hammer out some details of allying, including a trade agreement... Bladefangs provide loot, Fools sell in the city, they get a cut and protect things on their end. Ehrad also wants to know where Ilex stands on the various figures in the city... Academy, Pelor, Wards and the Underbelly, which isn't that strange given the Orcs history of having revolted against the old Underbelly Cartel, having been their slaves. Ehrad would also love to hear any war stories Ilex has...

Karvan gets constant visitors from the whole of the village and everybody wants to know about his fights! Things may also rapidly move to arm-wrestling competitions, and frequent offers from excited harvesters and cooks to try this dish, try this booze, etc.

Tikka gets a number of boldly asked questions, as nobody seems to much mind her being, well, Tikka. Eventually Rosco stops staring out of the side of his head at her and just starts hammering her with questions about her construction, who made her, her schematics, etc etc. He reaches the conclusion that "A' course, the greatest minds would look ta' creatin' a lady once their science is ready fer it. Only makes sense."

[Malikial]

Karvan will answer any questions people ask him, try any dishes he's offered and wrestle any arms thrown in his direction. He'll tell Wren and his daughter that his previously mentioned fight at 13 was not when he started training to fight, but the first time he was put in a cage with another man and told that one of them would die and one would live, and made to fight to the death. He mentions that his mother was a slave among the pits and his father was a fighter so he's pretty much been training to fight since he was born because when the options are train to be a fighter or train to be a whore... well he chose fighter. After a bit of roughhousing and talking and arm wrestling Karvan stands to his own rather tall height of 6'5" and growl out, "A TOAST! TO MY NEW FRIENDS!" He jostles around a bit, ruffling orc hair and punching shoulders happily before downing another tankard of strong ale in a single long gulp.