With the look Sigmir and I shared upon hearing Giro’s request, we settled who would take point in the negotiation. Neither of us believed that the village truly needed us, but that Giro felt that he could conserve his people’s strength by using our strength. He may even hope to push any possible blame onto us, in case something went wrong or he got a chance to negotiate with the dryads.
“Yes, these are trying times for all, aren’t they. But I am sure that a prudent leader like you has already planned ahead for troubles like these and is not dependent on the good will of a small group of travellers, such as ours.” I threw out a bit of bait for Giro.
“There are some preparations, yes, but those require sacrifice, whereas a group as powerful as the three of you would not need to sacrifice anything. Helping us would be as easy as flipping your palms, no trouble at all, wouldn’t it? You are such great and powerful beings after all.” Giro baited back. Both of us trying to play on the other’s arrogance into making concessions.
We battled back and forth for quite some time, trying to gain a decisive advantage but neither of us could nail the other down, but we got closer to a compromise by the minute. Finally, after a far too long negotiation, we were done.
“So, we give you two small bags of holding, filled with provisions and two sets of leather armour - one studded, the other supple - and in return you will take care of the dryads for us. My son Rai will serve as your local guide for the task. Right?” By now, Giro’s luster and smile had worn off and he looked just as exhausted as I felt, not that you would see it on my face.
I agreed to his summary and a quest popped up.
We shook and the quest was accepted. Now, I could return to Sigmir’s embrace and simply relax a little. The negotiation had gone well for me and reading the quest at the end, everything fit right with my plans.
After a nice dinner with Grio and his family, Sigmir, Adra and I made camp in front of the hearth, there simply was no guest-room, and, in a soft voice, I told them about my idea.
“Sigmir, you asked me to think of a way to settle the problem with your tribe as peacefully as possible. I have an idea to that effect. At the end of the day, our objective is taking out the shaman who cursed you, the chieftain and his son. The rest, we don’t care about and you would rather not kill them, right?” I summed up our objectives.
“Right. I know that we probably will have to kill people I knew but that’s just how it is. Sadly.” Sigmir answered.
“Compared to Adernas here, how good is the defense of your tribe? Is there a wall, are there permanent guards?” I asked, gathering more information.
“There is no wall, for what would we need it? Hunters patrol the area and make sure that no animals get too close to the village but other than animals, nothing would attack the Jonari. There are many Jonari and they are well-known for avenging themselves.”
“So, if someone would kill their chief, Shaman and the chief’s heir, they would not take that kindly, would they? They would hunt down whoever killed them, taking their revenge, even if they would have to hunt the killers to the end of the earth, right?” I asked, hoping that I had interpreted the stories told by Sigmir correct.
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“Yes, no Jonari hunter would rest until vengeance is carried out. The only way they would not take revenge is if the chief died in an honourable duel. But there are rules concerning who can challenge the chief, what conditions need to be fulfilled and what the winner needs to do afterwards. It’s rather complicated. I think my father might have had the right to challenge, but one of the conditions is that the challenger needs to have an heir, ready to take their former place. I didn’t count.” Sigmir explained, sounding a little annoyed.
“Well, then I do have a plan. First, we search for a group of nymphs, capturing or killing them. I would love to capture one of them, but I doubt that it will be possible. But anyway, we just need their blood and a weapon or two.
Then, on the new moon, we sneak into the Jonari Village. If the defenses are no better than here, we can do it. The darkness will hide us and my darkness-magic is the most potent that night. At the same time, I can use my ice-magic to make our tracks look just like Adra’s track and add a few extra tracks on the way in.
During the night, I am sure that we can disable and kill the shaman and Jongarn, maybe even the chieftain himself. If I use blood-magic and Adra uses her magic, I think we can make it look like the dryads of Tegi did it. In addition, we make the scene look like the dryads did it, using the blood and weapons we procured before. That should stir the Jonari into action, right?” I laid out the beging of my plan.
Sigmir laughed a little at the understatement at the end. “You could say so. Killing the chief’s son in the middle of the village? That would be like a slap right in the face of everything they believe in. Most Jonari believe in honour, though sadly not all of them. Assassinating someone in their bed? That’s about as dishonourable as it gets.” Her expression showed that she was not happy with the idea of assassination but the fact that those we wanted to kill had discarded honour with their acts against her - and the fact that it would likely save a lot of lives - lessened her disapproval.
“So we have all the Jonari hunters after us, thinking that we are a group of nymphs from Tegi? And then? Lead them to the rest of the nymphs?” Adra asked, understanding the plan quite well.
“Yes. We need to be swift, but I believe we can make it work. I hope that Lenore can scout the area, letting us draw the Jonari hunters into a spot where they run into a group of nymphs. If we make it look like a Jonari uses Ice-Magic to get the drop on them, there should be enough confusion to spark a fight. And we can sneak away, using concealment magic. The only problem is Rai. His father was adamant in having him ‘guide’ us. We should leave him here, under a pretense and pick him up at a preplanned spot after we stirred up the Jonari. I don’t want him with us for the night-attack. Well, I don’t want him with us, period, but as I said, his father was insistent.” I concluded my plan.
I was not really happy with it, it relied on far too many things going right, with not enough room for errors, but I had no better idea. Sure, we could stay in the area, conducting a guerrilla-campaign against both, Jonari and dryads - but it would take ages, and be dangerous as all hell. A single mistake could lead to both Sigmir and Adra dying. My plan concentrated the risk into a brief period, and let us leave the area afterwards. I could see that Sigmir was not quite happy with my plan, but she went along with it, having no better idea as well. Adra looked a little happy with the plan and it took me a moment to understand. What I planned to visit upon the first group of nymphs was quite similar to what had happened to her at their hands and she was just evil enough to appreciate the reciprocity.
While trying to fall asleep in Sigmir’s arms, I was pondering possible ways to increase our chances when I did have an idea. I had become a lot better with my magic since I last tried it. Maybe, I could use some of my Shadeleaf-paste in combination with my Hard Ice to create a persistently cursed equipment.
Something similar to the normal, enchanted equipment, but with negative attributes. A collar, inscribed with runes of confusion, disorientation and torpor, suppressing almost all mental functions of the wearer, allowing us to make a nymph docile and using it as a scapegoat during the attack on the Jonari. If they found a recently dead nymph next to the chieftain’s corpse, they should not doubt the scene. Yes, there was potential in my idea.
With an evil smile, I fell asleep, dreaming of the havoc I could wreak with my new idea.
Spoiler: Firelight-Dinner
No, the fire was to allow Iceheart to cook for the small family. Ever since she had joined the family, the two leopards had gotten a taste for cooked meat, so when Mother White caught food, quite often it was left to Iceheart to cook it, as she had thumbs to make the process a lot easier.
“Say, Mother White, how do you handle meat-supply at home? In the spirit-dominion?” Iceheart asked, as she was idly stirring the pot.
“There are a few of us, who like to ranch. But mostly it is a cat eats dog world.” replied Mother White.
“You mean cattle-ranches? But what happens if the cattle gains sapience?”
“Yeah, sure. Those who gain sapience, that depends on the rancher. Some don’t care and just kill them, others set them free. Makes for interesting conversations, I reckon.” explained Mother White.
“Do you raise humans for food?” The question was laced with a small, frightened undertone.
“No, you are not the mobile larder, kept around for hard times.” was Mother White’s response, almost drowned out by her chuffing laughter. “But to answer your question, it has been tried, but humans are just not tasty enough, compared to the annoyance raising them represents. They need far too long to mature, they need extensive care due to their weak bodies and they need elaborate measures just to keep them fenced in. Stupid buggers can climb, you know. So you would have to cripple their arms early, or they simply climb your fencing, making them even harder to care for. In addition, humans gain sapience early, compared to their physical growth.”
During the explanation, Iceheart was tasting the stew, trying to think of the right spices to use. The meat was tasting interesting, a little sweet compared to the game Mother White normally brought back, almost like pork.
“Mh. Where did you get pork up here? Too bad, I don’t have the spices to make something truly amazing out of it.” Iceheart exclaimed, only to be met with chuffing laughter, strong enough to make the adult leopard stumble.
“Pork? Not quite. I just told you, raising humans is an annoyance, right? Well, catching them free-range is not, compared to most game, they are easily caught and even easier to prepare.” The words rung out amidst the laughter.
Iceheart had to swallow hard, knowing just what she was preparing. But at the end of the day, unless she managed to hunt on her own, she would have to eat what Mother White caught and brought back. What had her father liked to say ‘You’ll eat what’s put in front of you!’
