BEO's FUN FUN INTRO

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Wed May 09, 2012 12:01 am

Personally, I want to keep the use of spoiler tags by players to a minimum unless its something directly *about* another player or the party (IE you were planning to steal an item from another PC.), or something that another player couldn't see (IE when Petal talked to mini-chaos in her head) I will occasionally post stuff in spoiler tags such as the results of one persons spot, but I try to avoid it. I don't like long threads of black in posts.

Some players like to read the other PC's actions even if they aren't directly involved, and feel that it doesnt spoil the game or the char's actions to know about stuff beforehand, as they enjoy reading it even if they have to pretend they know nothing about the incident later. Some people don't like knowing about stuff they aren't directly involved in, and feel that it spoils the sense of discovery. So, lets keep spoiler tags to a minimum, and I will always make sure to let people know who the post is about either by using their name/description in the first sentence if everyones together, or if PCs are in two different areas, bolding the player's name above their section. That way if you want to read it, you can, if you dont, you dont have to, and there isnt huge black lines everywhere(which drives me nuts when im reading the story and have to go click on everything).

And goblins are known in Zaangaard as kind of a pest race. They are rare in the swamps compared to the human lands, but there are little bands of goblins here and there. I'm working on a brief post about DM goblins right now, since the subject came up. I'll post it soon, and the advancement of this thread

Post by **Ameena** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:16 am

Urrffrah can technically speak better in goblin form, yes, because her mouth is shaped better for forming the words - though her face is vaguely goblinoid when in her natural form, it's obviously got bigger teeth and stuff which get in the way. However, even if she were able to change into the most perfectly-formed elf, or something, this would have no effect on her vocabulary or pronunciation - however good her language skills are, that's how good they are. She can just shape the words (those that she knows) better when in goblin form.

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Thu May 10, 2012 6:42 am

Sorry for thje delay, super busy and got interrupted right at the end of finishing my post on the other thread.

Ameena, I need to ask you something based on mechanics, and however you choose it is fine with me. But just in case the issue ever comes up, I want to make sure that if I have to write your char changing I do it the way you see it. Ok, so, according to the barghest entry in SS, the shapechanging acts like polymorph self, but you can only change into your other forms. Now, the rules for polymorph self say that anything you are wearing/backpacks ect (but not carried in hand) changes with you. So if you had clothes on, they go with your form change, and reappear back when you shift to what was wearing them. The way I look at it, is since your forms are a part of you and not a spell, your clothes wouldnt change with you (but neither would you get stuck inthem if you shifted suddenly, youd just ruin em). And I like the way you dexcribed how your char doesnt understand why you have to put stuff on your body and all that. But, I'm just letting you know the other option is there, if youd rather do it that way.

Sssil reaches the wagon right after Thessan and Lissak. He sees the scarred warrior standing with his mate, Kalissa. The caravan has stopped briefly to load the large amount of meat the two have brought. The other wagon guards are also standing around admiring the amount of meat and the beautiful shell, although the last pair of outriders must be out in front of the wagons, as Sssil can't see them. Growlgr appears to have recovered somewhat, and he and Westian are standing on the opposite side from Kalissa.Obviously in the middle of telling about the hunt, Thessan mime a huge arc with his hands, and the other lizar hiss in mirth. Westian makes a peculiar gurgling noise, his face in the "smile" Sssil has seen before. Growlgra asks a question to the elf, and Westian says something in their own trade language. The bika makes a chuffing sound, much closer to a lizar's hiss of amusement than the gurgling noise of the elf, his lips pulled off his teeth. He points to Thessan, and then mimes the arc again, than points to the meat. Thessan nods, and points to a tree, and mimes it bending over then snapping upright. The dog man chuffs again, and shakes his head, obvioulsy amused.

As the tracker approaches sees Kass standing nearby, behind a wagon where the main group cant see her. She watches him approach, and motions him over after first checking no one else is paying attention.

"Thessan pulled me aside and told me and the elf about what happened." she tells Sssil when he meets her. She shakes her head and flares her nostrils to show her amusement. "That was amazing, what you thought of doing. This will be more than enough meat to feed us all for at least a day. And that shell is one of the biggest Ive seen. You earned it, although THessan told me that you wanted him to minimize your part in the hunt. Although I think you deserve recognition, I understand why you want to keep it quiet, if our plan is to work. I just wanted to tell you that since we wont be able to speak openly, that I appreciate you being willing to do this and help us catch the traitor, and the effort you went through to bring that much meat back. Now, we must act as enemies. I am asorry."

With that, she turns and steps around the wagon. "What is this?" she calls, sounding very annoyed. "That meat isn't going to load itself! Hurry up!" She pretends to just notice Sssil at the end of the wagon. If the tracker hadn't just spoken to her, he would swear she hated him. "And you! Running off in the woods and having to call Thessan and Lissak from their duties, for nothing! You are luckly they found this erlosss and turtle, or we would have been delayed just so they could dig you out of whatever trouble you found ypurself in! Get into your position, and lets get moving! We need to reach the camping area before sun's end!" Lissak looks like he is about to speak up to defend Sssil, but Thessan covertly nudges him and shakes his head imperceptibly.

The pathfinder glares at Sssil as the other guards slink off. The tracker sees that a few of the guards are giving him sympthetic looks, especially the fat, standoffish, dark green male with a yellow underbelly who appears to be friends with the brown and black speckled female with the bad eye currently on outrider duty and the shy female wearing the odd grey eveloping cloak who's face scales are almost bright enough to be a noble's.

Westian and Growlgra walk up. "Ahhhh Zzzheel. Iht izz goot zzzhat yoo arr bakk. Growlgra zhayz hee izz dooin mach bettturr, alzhou hee izzz zteel bharry wveek." The elf looks around, although the guards and drivers are absorbed with wrapping and loading the meat and aren't paying any attention to the three, and even if they were, it is doubtful they could understand Westisn's dreadful accent.

"Thezzzhan tohld Khazz ahnd I avhout vhat yoo deed, vhen hee ghot bakk. Zhat zhell izz ahmazzink. Ehvan eef Khazz haz two phreethend two hayt yoo, I no zhee ahpreecheeatezz iht." Westian smiles at the lizar, then lets his face fall before climbing on the wagon.

Growlgra gets excited about something and climmbs on the wagon, rummaging around before finding something and bringing it to Ssil. points to himself, then tp the object, a long leather roll which he unwraps. Inside are many tools made of wood and that green stone his knives are made out of. There are saws, picks, punches, hammers and the like, all of varying sizes. He then points to the shell and draws a pattern on Sssil's chest, as if outlining a breastplate. Could carve shell for you.

Finally the caravan is ready to move, and the drivers climb aboard and call to their grahhssk.

Ameena:

Urrfrah sees the wooden move-boxes in the distance, having aproached it from the front, or at least the side that was different from the one Sssil went to. She knows it is safe to walk on the clear track in the form she wears now. Well safer anyway, although she still doesn't like to be seen and so prefers to stay in the trees where hse feels safe. But Sssil is on the clear-track, so if she wants to see him, she must be there too. So she steps out into the clear area, feeling exposed, and makes her way toward the wooden things. As she walks, her raggy cloth rubs against her hairless and bare skin, an odd sensation she isnt used to taht she finds slightly distracting. A ways in front of the main group of cold no-fur people there is two cold no-furs. These are on the backs of strong-pull creatures, only these pull-creatures have bits of skin wrapped around them that the cold no-furs are sitting on, and have leather coming out of their mouths that the riders are holding. These strong-pulls are a bit smaller than the strong pullsthat pull the wooden moving boxes.

The cold ones see her and touch the sides of the strong-pulls with their feet. The creatures move forward, carrying the cold ones along. The cold ones watch her as she walks forward. She sees that they have long metal fangs strapped to their sides, and one carries a curved fang thrower as well, although the throwing fangs are still on its back and not near the thrower. Unlike her, the things their bodies are covered with appear to be taken from a big many-legsinsect shell. One of them looks at her, and Urrffrah notices taht one of its eye is a solid greyish white ball with a tiny vertical pupil, and there is a scar going from one corner of its face, across the eye, and down to the other corner. It has obviously survived a strong fight.

"Khhhar'slithila, sssilanadra? ", one of the cold-things says to her. It doesn't seem as if it wants to cause the red water to come, but neither does it want to let her near the wooden things and the other cold ones.

Post by **Ameena** » Thu May 10, 2012 12:38 pm

I had basically just assumed that stuff wouldn't change with me, hence my having no need for inventory items (where would I put them?) and the fact that Urrffrah has to stash her rags somewhere every time she moves to a new location, goblin form being her least-used atm but she still likes to keep hold of the rags in case something comes up, as it has done now . And yeah, her rags would get totally ruined if she shapechanged, given how scrawny goblins tend to look, plus a wolf is bigger than a goblin and a barghest is bigger than a wolf .

Urrffrah looks up at the tall, cold-no-fur sitting on the cold-strong-pull-things and slowly moves her forepaws so they're open, facing upward, and slightly apart, a gesture she has seen other tall creatures do when trying to portray themselvse as non-threatening. She supposes it must be to show that they have no claws...or something. This done, she gestures to her surroundings and attempts to speak.
"Izz...bad." she says. "Gets...rrr...sticked?"
She is about to point with one forepaw to the other, but changes her mind and points to one of her hindpaws instead, remembering that she should act as though this is the only form she can take, in which case she won't use her forepaws for getting around quite so much. Still, they're just as dirty as her hindpaws.
"Nnnot...big." she says, then pointing to herself. "Big...finns...heeerrrre."
She gestures to their surroundings again.
"Teefs and...fffinnns."

It's probably obvious, but just to let you know, she's speaking Common .

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Thu May 10, 2012 7:46 pm

Again Sssssil was hit with the duel feelings, he was quite uncomfortable yet secretly pleased with the praise of the pathfinder as she spoke of his skills. Yet relief flooded through him when he said she would not be able to speak of it, and then the real sting of it hit him as she berated him, and he only got sympathetic looks from the rest. He wanted to shout out to them all that the pathfinder had just told him how important he had been. Then he sighed, perhaps glad that they stopped looking at him as soon as they had.

He moved to the rear of the caravan as instructed, happy to be out of sight of people. Still, he was happy to see both the elf and the fellow hunter - especially as the furred one seemed in better health, and he grinned in relief. Ssssil looked around in worry as Westian spoke - once he finally understood what it was the elf had said - although Westian's accent was indeed so bad that if the person addressed could barely work out what was said, how would anyone else overhear. Sssssil was glad that they both knew too, it was easier taking a potentially lonely position as an outsider when you had fellow outsiders. It was an odd thought, to feel more connected to these two than half of his own lizars in the caravan. Ssssil decided he was tired, and shook off the odd thought. Instead, he have a wilde grin - once he knew no one was looking, and crouched down conspiriatorily to nod enthusiastically regarding the shell.

Of course, that Westian is forced to pretend to makes Ssssil a little sad, but he is happy to see Growlgra back with some impliments. Ssssil is surprised that Growlgra has the skill, and his eyes widen and he gives a small hiss of excitement. Then he realises that he could not do anything at the moment. Later he says, miming the passage of time with a sad face. Then he thinks of something. He gestures the size of the shell, and then indicates breaking off a small piece. He mimes working the small piece, and then gestures on his own head the shape of a helmet. He then gestures to his armour pouch, and thee resting Hissssa.

Lol, I have no idea what practical use a helmet can be for a snake, in fact I can imagine it as an impediment and something Hissssa could get mocked for by other snakes and other lizars. But dammit Sssssil#s friend is getting the cool helmet he was promised! Maybe.... Seems somethign that could be sneakily done, perhaps

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Thu May 10, 2012 11:39 pm

Cool, I like that you chose the option of nit having clothes change with you. As far as the way Urrffrah sees things, I'll try and make up stuff as similar to the way yo do as I can and then just start picking up the terminology she refers to things by as as we go.

The two cold ones look at each other, clicking and hissing in their tongue tp each other, then they look back to the goblin. One, the one with the fight-mark on its face, holds a forepaw out towards her, with the walking part out towards her, and the claw parts straight up.Basically shes holding her hand out to you palm out, as if to say stop or wait. Of course Urrffrah wouldnt know that, just trying to make sure the description is clear. She remembers briefly the magic-caller referring to his forepaws as "hands", but hers as paws. Did these cold ones have hands? Or did they have paws? Did it matter?

The cold one with the bad eye and fight-mark stays sitting on its strong-pull holding one paw (or hand, she wasnt sure if only the magic-caller had hands) out while the other one moves its strong-pull towards the wooden herd... The cold one's not-bad eye watches her closely, and Urrffrah knows enough about hunter behavior to detect the wary watchfulness the the golden eye. Its other paw moves near the metal fang on its side, and occasionally its eye flashes from side, as if Urrffrah has a pack hiding in the bushes, and she is distracting it so he pack-members can strike.

Retcon in anything ghere that you want, otherwise the scene continues

Growlgra cocks his head at Sssil for a second, then points at Hisssa, makes his hands as if to say "big" then brings them together to show "small" and nods.Enough left over, easy make. He also seems to get an idea He finds Thessan, who is checking his grahhssk's feet and legs, and brings the scarred warrior to the tracker. He points to Sssil, then to Thessan, then to the shell, draws the "armor pattern" on both Sssil and THessan, then grins. Pretend make Thessan, for Sssil!.

Thessan lookes confused at the pantomime. "Whats he doing taht for?" he asks.

Just then Dassrak, one of the pair of outriders who are in front of the caravan rides up Dassrak is the quiet, huge grey and dark green male who originally found the weir bone talisman that seemed to affect the rats.. He sees Kass who is upervising the last of the loading and reharnessing, and calls her over. Can you roll a listen for me.

Under 10:

Spoiler

Sssil cant make out whats going on, but Kass starts looking around immediately after, as if searching for someone.

10-17:

Spoiler

Sssil hears part of waht is being said by Dassrak to Kass "...ont of...od lor...ilth oblin earing ag..ut of tre..and alk ward us..oad. ont or doesn't sp...aangaa...sta it eith. wh.t it...don't now...but..pas us...something in...amma...ommo...be. frai...as her...wit it...near...his...rap. liss...atch it..." After he finishes his report, Kass starts looking around for someone.

17+:

Spoiler

Dassrak aprroaches Kass and says "In front of the caravan, an odd looking filthy goblin wearing rags came out of the trees and walked towards us on the road. It won't or doesn't speak Zaangaardian, don't think it understands it either. What it wants, we don't know but it won't pass us, either. It said something in mammal-common, maybe.We're afraid it has others with it hiding nearby, and this is a trap. Dliss is watching it now." After he finishes his report, Kass starts looking around for someone

Kass approaches the three and says "Where is the elf, Westian? We have need of his skills. There may be an ambush soon."

Thessan shrugs and fingers his huge, wickedly serrated blade. "I haven't seen the elf since you arrived, Sssil, but I should go check this out."

Growlgra looks blankly at Kass, then turns to Sssil, a questioning look in his eyes. He obviously doesnt understand Kass' words.

Post by **Ameena** » Fri May 11, 2012 12:49 am

Urrffrah remains standing where she is, so that the cold-no-fur creature won't think she's going to do anything bad, and is a little confused when the creature seems to acting as though expecting an attack. Surely he...or she...will be able to smell if others are near? Strange creatures...

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri May 11, 2012 7:39 am

Sssssil nods and grins that Growlgra can also make somethign for Hissssa, glasping his hands and then looking around to make sure no one sees. Ssssil turns to Thessin as his fellow, surprised that the lizar does not understanding the bika's various gestures and miming. "He say he can make armour from shell!" hisses Sssssil excitedly and quietly. "He say he can pretend to make it for you, but really make it for me." Ssssssil then feels sad, realising the necessity of doing it now. Afetr all, Growlgra may not be around later, once the caravan has arrived at its destination. Sssssil had felt relief at the furry hunter managing to live through his poisoning, but hadn't really thought that one way or another the lizar would lose the friendly bika's company by the journey's end.

The interruption is worrying. Sssssil doens't really follow too much of what Dassrak says, and any words he does make out seem strange. His head bobs in understanding to Thessin, as he says, "Elf back in wagon last I saw." Ssssil puts his own hands to his weapons, then notices Growlgra is clueless. Sssssil mimes looking, and then pointly ears, and falling over. Looking for elf. He then points externally, then all around, then to his eyes again but pointing internally to the wagon. He then shrugs theatrically and quizzically. Might be ambush. Sssssil takes hold of his weapons and again, and moves to the edge to start looking around, encouraging Growlgra to do the same, unless he knows where Westian is.

Spot/listen rolls: 20 and 14
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3512836/

Previous roll was a 10
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3512773/

Though Sssssil will be clueless, I think I saw the half-word 'goblin' in there, and together with the need for Westian I'm going to go ahead and guess that it's Ameena/Urrffrah making an appearance

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Fri May 11, 2012 9:57 pm

Growlgra grins at the trackers "elf impression" and nods. He points to the same wagon Sssil saw Westian in and calls something in the mammal tongue. The elf pale face peers over the side at the group.

"Wvat dho yoo nheed?" the elf asks.

Kass seems grateful to see him and says "Could you do the caravan a favor? Theres a goblin on the road up ahead that doesn't appear to speak our language. It won't leave either. Can you go find out what it wants? We are afraid it might be scout for an ambush, but it could just be lost. I will protect you, don't worry."

The elf looks concerned and nods, thinking it would be quicker than trying to speak in his butchered accent. He climbs down the wagon and goes with Kass after THessan.

Sssil and Growlgra warily walk to the road with weapons ready, at an angle from where the main group is, so that if an attack comes from that side ofthe swamp, they will be able to meet it. A few other guards stand against the wagons facing the other side of the swamp, and they nod at the two as they pass.

Once Sssil is clear of the wagon, to his right he can see the brown-and-black speckled female on her grahhssk, an in front of her, there is a goblin. This goblin, although it has the same features as the rare few Sssil has encountered in his life is a very different color. Instead of being a pale yellow or orange, it is an odd shade of blue green, at least what parts of its skin he can see through the filth and rags on its body. Even from this distance, he can see its eyes are purple, not the yellow or orange of most goblin eyes. Thessan is standing near the two, fingering his sword, along with Dassrak on his grahhssk.

Growlgra growls a word in his native language, then points at the goblin and makes a look of disgust and shakes his head. Filthy, gross things. The dog man motions for Sssil to stay where he is, and points at Sssil's eyes then his own body, then to the road edge where the swamp starts. Cover me, im looking there He walks there, his long stone knives held ready, and begins to kick at the bushes bordering the road, looking for enemies.

The tracker sees Westian and Kass approach the goblin warily. They stop about 7 feet away, and Dassrak moves his grahhssk to block a potential attack from the side, Thessan on the other, so that Westian is protected, the main caravan to his back.

The elf hold his arms out loosely to the side and takes a step forward, ignoring a warning look from Kass. "I am Westian." he says slowly and clearly in commmon. "Are you lost? What are you doing here?"

Urrffrah stands with the cold one on the creature for a few seconds. After a minute she can see the hunter Sssil come out from in between the wagons farther down the road. There is also the furry two-legs that reminds her of her run-fast form, although much smaller. The two are looking off into the trees that line the open track. Sssil has a metal fang in his hand, and the furry one has a fang in each paw, only these are not grey and shiny like metal, but green and dull. As hse watches, the furry one moves into the bushes, and starts stepping on the with one of his walking-paws.

She turns her attention back to the cold one in front of her on the pull-strong, and sees that the second pull-strong rider has come back, with a few other cold ones and a hairless one, kind of like the magic-caller. All the cold ones have metal fangs out, but they are not looking at her. Instead they are looking at the plants on the side of the clear track. They are standing so the hairless one is in the center of all of them. The hairless one steps forward and holds its forepaws out to its side. She can see that it is holding nothing, and has no metal fangs on its body.

"I am Westian." it says to her, in the llanguage that the magic-caller spoke to her in. "Are you lost? What are you doing here?"

K, so from Urrffrah's position, the caravan is pulled over on the left side of the road with about 5 feet between it and the road, the first wagon in the string about 20feet away. The lizar on the grahhssk is directly in front of her, and Westian is 10 feet behind(so 15 feet away), with the other lizar around him, Sssil is in the middle of the road to the right of the caravan 10 feet, about 30 feet from Urrffrah, and GRowlgra is in the bushes directly adjacent to the road in front of Sssil.

Post by **Ameena** » Fri May 11, 2012 10:32 pm

What's Westy wearing? Just a vague clothing description (robes, tunic, shoes, boots, etc) and colour scheme will do. I just like to know what I'm looking at. And is Growlgra wearing clothes, or do his kind not? I'm guessing he has brown fur like Wuuf from DM?
One other thing - I dunno whether Sssil would notice, but Urrffrah's eyes will be exactly the same no matter what form she takes, so they might look slightly out-of-place on her wolf or goblin forms because they're presumably a sort of hybrid of both eye-shapes, or something, seeing how her natural form is kind of a wolf with a vaguely goblinoid face. Just thought I'd mention that in case there's any chance it's the kind of thing Sssil might pick up on.

Urrffrah watches as the cold-no-fur creatures move around a bit, and seem interested in searching their surroundings all of a sudden. She sees Sssil and wonders what he's doing with the...creature who looks sort of almost vaguely like her run-fast-hide-good form, only a different colour and probably nowhere near as good at running because of the way he doesn't seem to use his forepaws for getting around.
And then another creature approaches her, this one not cold like the green things that Sssil is. This one resembles those creatures who always seem keen on throwing sharp things at her to make her go away. Does this mean the cold-no-fur creatures were just looking around to make sure she couldn't get away? Is this only-head-fur creature going to attack her? She looks at it uncertainly and is about to bare her teeth when it speaks to her. She guesses he's probably male, but isn't too sure since all these creatures look alike to her - fur only on their heads, things covering their bodies, and sharp things held in their otherwise useless forepaws. But this one doesn't seem to have anything sharp. Not that she can see. Not yet.
She concentrates, trying ot understand what he's saying. Westy-an. Is that his name, or his species? Well, whatever it is, she supposes he means that that's what he wants her to call him. Once she's listened to his questions, she takes several moments to think over what he's said, make sure she understood it, and then she has to concentrate a bit more in order to try and give him an answer.
"Wezhdy-ann." she says, attempting to repeat what she's decided is his name. "Plaayz big."
She gestures around her. indicating what it is she's talking about. then she points to each of her paws.
"Sticked." she says, then pointing to the ground, to indicate where they'd got stuck. "Not...lyke...plaayz. Zzhhmaaaal."
She points to herself as she says this last word.
"Big...ffinns...eet zzzhhmaaaall. Nnnot...whont."
She falls silent, already fed up of trying to communicate in this way. Why do these creatures make such complicated noises whenever they try to speak to each other? Why not just move their bodies about a bit and give the message that way?

Wheee, fun trying to put together sentences . I expect all that took her a good minute or so to say, what with all the pauses and hesitations and trying to pronounce stuff right but ending up saying it badly and with some weird accent, I expect. Shit-at-language characters are quite fun .

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri May 11, 2012 11:01 pm

Ssssil is not entirely sure if goblins are any more or less objectionable than other types of creature that roam around, nor does he really harbour any feeling one way or the other. Still, he does not want to insult his new friend and fellow hunter, and so nods sagely and enthusiastically. As Growlgra moves to kick the bush, Sssssil#s heart misses a beat in fear, but the tracker keeps a firm hold on his throwing axe, and digs his heels in to the dirt. The moment anythign twitches, Sssssil has no hesitation in helping Growlgra - he doens't want the furry hunter to suffer any more injuries.

Still, the sight of Westian and the goblin does occasionally draw Sssssil's eye, as much as he tries to focus.

I presume the 20 spot carries still, and that Sssssil can sneak some quick looks to the antics across the way without any harm? Also, I'm losing track of the timing after are hiatus - the OH EW stone won't come back in to effect until tomorrow?

@Ameena: Sssssil may very well spot the eye colour is the same, but is unlikely to draw any conclusions. At best, he might go 'hey, that's funny, that goblin has similar eye colour to the wolf I sometimes see. I wonder if it's somethign to do with nightsight, or the swamp. Doo bee doo.... He's not the brightest/sharpest tool in the shed. Not utterly stupid, but...not the brightest either I htink it might be one of these fun loooooong dawning realisations, depsnfing upon Urrffrah's other actions!

Also, as a player, and I right in thinking Urrffrah is trying to talk about her predicament, or something else. Like... is she saying she was in a big place, and now she's stuck in a small place?

Post by **Ameena** » Sat May 12, 2012 12:02 am

Hehe that's fine about the eyes - it's not just the colour but everything else that's the same, but I suppose Sssil would know better than to make prolonged eye contact with something that's got teeth that big, so probably didn't spend too much time looking .
When Urrffrah is saying "this place", she means the swamp. Sticky mud all over her paws and stuff - hard to get around. Wolves/goblins/barghests aren't really made for swampy terrain, are they?

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Sat May 12, 2012 1:55 am

Westian is wearing simple traveling clothes. Leather breeches with a undyed (so pale beige) linen shirt that laces up starting about mid-torso tucked into them. The breeches are tucked into sturdy traveling boots that go up to mid-calf. Around his neck is a silver and gold medallion with his holy symbol, prominantly displayed. His hair is abit shorter that in Beos game, just a little past his ears and held back with a leather band with a symbol of Larethian on the front, so it exposes his slightly pointed ears. Growlgra is wearing a simple open vest with an odd pattern or symbol stitched on the back (his grk-wof, but the chars wouldnt know that) and loin wrap made of leather. Around his feet are leather wraps that only go around the sole and ankle so his toe claws are exposed(bika gain a climb/move bonus if they are barefoot or wearing bika "shoes"). He wears a belt that has a simple sheath for a long-knife on either side and a bola hangs down from the belt. His fur is darker than Wuuf's and reddish brown with darker brown splotches. He has dark eyes and a black nose. His finger and toe claws(short, blunt) are also black. Growlgra's fur is slightly longer around the back of his head and neck, and directly under his collarbone on his chest(but not long like a human's more like a wolf's ruff) and his ears are large, traingular and point straight up, unless he is moving them (like a cats or german sheperd's)

Also, Ameena, Westians gonna make a roll to try and understand you. But since I want to make sure *I* do(think I got it, but not 100% sure), can you spoiler/PM the translation

Post by **Ameena** » Sat May 12, 2012 11:32 am

Cool descriptions. As a reminder, Larethian's symbol is a crescent moon, if I remember rightly, isn't it? Not that Urrffrah would care. What is Westy's symbol made of? It's probably the sort of thing Urrffrah might wonder about at a later point. Not the shape of it, but the fact that he's wearing this weird thing that doesn't seem to do anything. Anyway, here's a translation of her last attempt at "conversation". Firstly, an exact translation would be

Spoiler

"Westian.", "Place big.", "Sticked", "Not like place. Small.", "Big things eat small. Not want."

. A translation of the translation gives you

Spoiler

"Westian. This place is big. I keep getting stuck. I don't like this place. I'm small. Big things eat small things. I don't want that."

.

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Tue May 15, 2012 12:54 am

Sorry for the delay, as I said in OOC and the other thread, I had a super busy weekend that culminated with me severely corrupting Windows/my data(as in beyond all recovery) at about 11pm last night, leading to a full disk wipe as my only option. And its one of those things where its even worse cuz it was 100% totally my fault cuz I was screwing around behind my comp and bumped the power strip power switch a bit when the comp was booting/updating which caused my comp to surge from the split second of cut power. Joy. Hey at least my new vid card and powersupply are great! Skyrim, here I come (Its just not the same on ps3)!

Westian blinks at the goblin, apparently quite confused. Then he perks up when he seems to recognize his name. "Yes. I am Westian. WEST-I-ANN", he says to her. God. I am so tempted to go ME TARZAN, YOU JANE!.

"What is your name?" he asks her very slowly. "Westian, is my name." he says, while moving his fore-paw to his chest. "Kass." he says, moving his fore-paw to one of the cold ones next to him. And "Thessan", while moving it to the larger one on his other side, not riding a pull-strong-beast. This cold one is large, and has seen many fights, as it has fight marks all over it. "You", he says, moving his paw back towards Urrfrrah. "Your name?"

"Our caravan," he says indicating the wooden-go-things behind him. "Jhrazzzk", he says, moving to one of the pull-strongs and resting his paw on it.

He frowns as the goblin speaks more. "Big fins? You don't want big fins at small? And sticks?" He looks bewildered.

Sssil and Gowlgra walk along the road by the caravan slowly. Growlgra kicks every bush, Sssil and Hissa behind him ready to spring if they find an enemy. The lizar can see the bika's long ears turning and nose twitching as he tries to detect potential danger. After a couple passes up and down the length of the caravan, Growlgra turns to Sssil and shrugs, shaking his head. Nothing here.

Sssil notes Westian doesn't seem to be having any better luck talking with the goblin than his fellow lizar had.

He hears Westian call "I zhink itzz zzpeaking chommon. Bhutt, iht zzhpeaks worzzze zhan I zhpeak Zhhangaardian. I chan't uhnderzztand iht. But, iht zeemzz to bhe lozzzt ahnd noht a dahnger." to the others, his mouth quirked in a smile at the joke he made at his expense.

"Nothin' on this side," calls a few scouts that are on the opposite side of the caravan from Sssil.

Kass looks back and nods. "And what did you and Growlgra find?" calls the pathfinder to the tracker.

Aaaad, Westian flubs his roll! This was unforseen when I dumped two humans and Urrfrah in the swamp. THe fact that Sssil doesnt speak common and *none* o the other PCs speak Zaangaardian is something I forgot

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Tue May 15, 2012 7:14 am

Lol, well a lucky roll earlier made sure Growlgra and Sssssil could understand each other, and I think Ameena and I agreed there'd be a basic level of non-verbal understanding between the two - lol, although it collapsed this last time

I asked but it might have been buried - when does ther OH EW stone recharge? I've lost track of the game time.

Sssssil realised that Growlgra couldn't make the report. "Nothing here!" he called out. He then realised that maybe Kass would trust his words, but it might look odd. "Grah...groo....furry hunter checked!" he said, embarrassed to find his companion's name did not come easiely to his recollection or mouth.

Sssssil looked to the goblin as Westian spoke, then looked to Growlgra. He pointed to himself and the bika, pointed to his ear and brain, shrugged and nodded, then mimed a mouth talking with his hand, and made a dismissive gesture. We understand each other. Not need speaking. Ssssil then pointed to the goblin, and then pointed to himself and Growlgra. He shrugged. We try?

Post by **Ameena** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:49 am

As Westy-an points at the cold-no-furs and gives their names, Urrffrah attempts to repeat them as they're spoken, to make sure she can say them.
"Khhazzhh. Zzh...Ddhhezzhhannn."
Fortunately they look different enough, what with one being larger and covered in scars, that Urrffrah is able to tell them apart visually. She wonders how these creatures can recognise each other - they all look much the same to her, tall and green, cold and with no fur. But they won't seem to spend much time smelling - none of them have sniffed at her so far. It seems an odd thing about tall creatures who walk only on their hindpaws - they seem to only ever use their eyes to get to know people.
Then she is asked her name, and is glad that she was introduced to such an idea by those creatures who were...what was that word they used? Frennds. Or something.
"Urrffrah." she says.
At Westy-an's apparent lack of understanding at her next words, she attempts to show him what she means.
"I...zzhmaall." she says, moving her forepaws close together, one above the other. Then she points at Westy-an, and at the cold-no-furs. "Yooo...big."
She move her paws apart, to show that they are taller.
"Not whont eeten." she says, holding her paws up to her snout with the toes curled, trying to show teeth. She opens and closes her paws a few times, showing biting, then puts her right foreleg into her mouth and pretends to bite it.
When Sssil shows up, she looks over in his direction but doesn't say anything for now. Suddenly she isn't sure why she's doing this. What if he tells them what she can do? What if they become angry and try to kill her? She doesn't think Sssil would try to hurt her, but the other cold-no-furs might be like all the other tall creatures she's met so far. Well, apart from this Westy-an, apparently. So far.
She then looks with great curiosity at the creature standing beside Sssil. At least this one she can tell from a glance is male. He looks almost like she sometimes does. Only he's still a hindleg-walker. What a strange creature! Maybe he can change into other shapes, like she can.
She doesn't stare at the creature for too long, however, such behaviour being aggressive, and she doesn't want him to think she's going to attack him. Meanwhile, Westy-an is talking to the cold-no-furs and they are talking back. No-one seems to be baring teeth or flattening their ears...well, the cold-no-furs don't seem to have ears...so maybe things are still alright for the moment.

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Wed May 16, 2012 6:20 am

Something to note. Not all lizar are green. Kass is beige with black bands and rust red splotches(although the post whee her sire Hassta was described got deleted accidentally) Theres a post in the OOC thread on the 3rd page that I'm eventually gonna move out to its own thread that describes the members of the caravan. Non noble city lizar are generally dull and come in shades of (always dull) pale and/or dark green, pale yellow, white, light grey, rust red, dark orange, brown, black. Their back-scale patterns range from blotches to speckles and bands/stripes, although the patterns aren't distinct and symmetrical like a noble's, but broken up and blotchy. Noble lizar's scales are very bright. So whereas a non-noble might be a dull green, a noble will be bright emerald. Where a non-noble is rust red and dull orange, a noble would have bright crimson and fire orange. Even black is the difference between dull coal and obsidian. Some nobles even have patches of sky blue. A nobles scale patterns are clear, well defined, and symmetrical without any blotches or brokenness. They can be striped, diamond-backed, swirled, speckled or even have "cobra specticle marks" Unlike the first two, a swamp lizar will only have shades of brown, beige and black/grey. They are completely blotchy, with no defined stripes or speckles and usually are only various shades of one color (ie dark/light brown). Some non-nobles have these colors, but that does not make them swamp lizar. IT would be hard for a non-lizar to be able to pick up the difference between a brown and black Makan lizar, or a brown and black swamp lizar, but lizar know this instinctively. No matter the sub-type all lizar from one family (or for a noble, the blood relatives of the House) are generally similar in color and patterns, with some individual variation.

This post will be copied into the lizar words doc, which I am working on right now and going to change to "Zaangaardian Glossary". Originally it was just lizar words used for flavor, but its slowly morphing into a collection of info about theedenizens, flora and fauna of the swamp.

And the OH EW talisman works for one hour every twelve, as long as it is in a place where it can pick up ambient OH mana (ie exposed to air). If it was put in a place where the OH mana is strong, (IE windy, swung through the air ect) it charges an hour faster for every 1/2hrin this type of environment, to a maximum of being fully charged in 6 hours, instead of 12. Last time you used it was yesterday, so you can use it again.

And personally, I like Sssil and Growlgra's 5 word pantomime, Westians terrible Zaangaardian and Urrfrah's way of looking at the world and accent as well. BUt if it becomes too much of a pain, especially once GRowlgra amnd Westian go off on their own and Ian and OB's chars join, let me know and I'll work something out.

Kass nods in response to Sssil. "It seems as if this goblin is by itself and not a member of an ambush party. But still, lets all be alert and careful until we know exactly what is going on here." she calls to the guards.

Growlgra watches Sssil intently, although one of his ears is still twisted towards the swamp, listening for an ambush. He cocks his head as if thinking, then points to Sssil's OH EW talisman and gives a questioning look. Is it recharged[?/b] Then he points to himself, and to Westian, and then the goblin and moves his mouth as if speaking I speak Common. I help. The two move off towards the group of people up at the front of the wagon. Sssil sees that Lisssak and the oddly-dressed female with the bright face scales are up against the wagons, watching towards the side of the swamp where Sssil and Growlgra were.

Kass moves aside to make room for the two near Westian. "I hope we get this solved," the pathfinder remarks as Sssil stands next to her. "It is a very unusual-looking goblin and not normal-behaving, either. It wants something from us, that much is clear. Perhaps your tracker experience relating to the creatures of the swamp will come in handy? I'm willing to try anything at this point, we are running far behind schedule and I'm worried we wont get to our next camping spot by dusk."

Westian smiles at Sssil and Growlgra.

"This is Sssil." he tells the goblin. "Ssss-iil. And you are Urrffrah? It is nice to meet you."

Urrfrah watches Westian carefully. The various cold ones make noises at each other, and then the hunter Sssil and the one that looks like her run fast form comes over.

The hunter and the cold one Kass stand next to each other, and Kass makes noise at the hunter. The furry one steps forward. He really isnt much bigger than her, in goblin form.

"Growlgra." the two leg run-fast says, while putting his paw on his chest. The creatures voice is surprisingly deep and growling for such a small creature Growlgra is about 4'1 and weighs about 85 lbs., and it reminds her of what an angry run-fast sounds like when it sends out a warning, although he doesnt seem like he wants the red-water to come. More that just this is what he sounds like when he makes mouth-noise. Unlike the others, he wears nothing but some leather wraps on his feet, that leave his claws free, and a leather drape-guard for his mating-parts, that also has stone green sharp clawlike things hanging off it.

Growlgra's shiny black nose twitches as he takes in her scent, although he does not step any closer to her. She speaks again and Growlgra and Westian look at each other. "This one thinks it is concerned it will be food for the pack, because it is smaller than the elf and lizars?" remarks the furry one, sounding slightly amused.

Westian blinks, as if the idea hadn't occurred to him that she might be afraid of being eaten by the others. He speaks then to the cold ones, in their speaking. "Zzhe ghobliin izz afrriad zzhat wvee wvill eht iht." he says. A chorus of hissing sounds rise from the assembled lizar, an Urrffrah notices their breathing-holes become larger Lizars dont/can't smile like a mammal. They have mobile nostril holes that can seal into a slit, not letting anything in, or open wide under extertion. To show mirth they flare their nostrils. And their laughter is a short series of puffing hisses

"Well, that was unexpected!" says Kass, still amused. "Can you tell her we will not harm her, and she is free to go on?"

Westian nods. "We have no reason to hurt you, Urrffrah. The lizar" here he points to the cold ones, "dont eat thinking beings. And either does my kind, or Growlgra's. So, you are free to go on. We will not harm you"

Sssil watches the goblin. There os something strangely familiar about her, but what he can't place. Growlgra motions to get his attention, pointing to his own black nose, then shaking his head and pointing at Urrffrah. Doesn't smell "right" He points to the assembled lizar one at a time, and then draws a circle with his hands, as if to say same, then to his nose. Then he points to Urrfrah, then shrugs and shakes his head. Not like other goblins. Different.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed May 16, 2012 7:37 am

Sssssil walks along with the rest. He shakes the talisman Growlgra had pointed out and sniffs it, as if to work out if the thing has charged yet. He would be quite sad if it was working again and he'd missed the chance to properly understand Westian and Growlgra for a little while. Still, he takes it from his neck and prods Westian with it, gesturing to the elf and for Westian to take it once more to properly understand and speak to the goblin.

Sssssil is happy to hear that the goblin isn't part of an ambush after all. With Kass's comment about using tracking skills, Sssssil has no idea. If you want to convince something it won't be food, then you show it you already have food and you are willing to share. It seems easy enough. Sssssil moves forwards a little uncertainly, having to make a conscious effort not to put a hand to a weapon. Still, Westian has introduced him, and Kass has asked him to help. He scrounges around in his pack, and pulls out some of the smoked deer he got for himself.

He crouches down, and waves at the goblin. He rips a small piece of the smoked deer for himself, to show it is fine, and to show he can feed himself. He then offers the other part to ...Urrffrah, was it? "It has swamp eyes," says Sssssil, as everyone is discussing the goblin. "Maybe it born in the swamp?"

Yes, Sssssil has completely missed the point of Urrffrah's comments earlier, and also the significance of the purple eyes

Post by **Ameena** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:52 am

Wow, lots of stuff to remember about lizar colours. You say "swamp-lizar" as though they're different from Sssil's kind of lizar...but they live in the swamp as well. I'm guessing none of the people in the caravan are poncy shiny nobles (oh, except that one you said was a weird colour, or something?. I don't suppose it matters a huge amount from an IC perspective, 'cause to Urrffrah they're all just tall, weird creatures with no fur and very little physical warmth. And OOC I'd never remember all the scale patterns, if there are lots of lizard guys in the caravan, 'cause I'd just forget half of them and get the rest mixed up. But I'm sure Sssil, at least, is green, isn't he? I seem to remember reading that when I looked through his character description, aaaages ago. I'd figured they all look like Hissssa (from DM), basically, lol.
And lol to the misunderstanding of Westy and the others, thinking that Urrffrah meant that they were the ones she was talking about when she said stuff in the swamp tries to eat small creatures .
And lol again that Sssil hasn't realised that big-wolf-monster and weird-goblin-thingy have not only the same eyes, but the same name .

Urrffrah looks up as Westy-an needlessly tells her who Sssil is. But she supposes she should pretend she doesn't know him, for now, because his pack might be angry if they find he's been hunting with another. Somehow, the thought of hunting with even a single other person sort of...fits. More than hunting alone, at least.
"Zzzhhhilll." she repeats, on being given his name.
Then she returns her attention to the only furred creature present, who introduces himself as Growlgra. Well, at least he has a name she can actually pronounce!
"Grrrowwl-grrruh." she says, glad she can properly growl the name. Well, not quite as properly as if she was in another form, but it's better than all these "sss" and "th" noises that she isn't sure how to make.
At this point, Urrffrah is given reason to wonder whether Sssil has recognised her after all, as he offers her food, again. Yet he offers it to her alone, and no-one else. She reaches out to take it and, despite the fact that she isn't in her preferred shape for eating, the chunk is small enough that she nevertheless manages to swallow it whole. She is also privately glad that she remembered to use her forepaws to take the food, not her teeth - this shape is different to her others, and she has to remember that the forepaws are built for other things, not for getting around.
Still, she is frustrated that these creatures still don't seem to know what she wants. She isn't sure which she should be talking to, because they all seem to be taking among themselves and she isn't sure who's the pack leader. The cold-no-fur called Kass seems to be doing a lot of talking. But it was Westy-an who's done more of the talking to her. Sssil has offered her food, though, and in front of the rest of the pack. So even though he goes out hunting, maybe it's he who's actually in charge.
Not really sure, she decides to mainly address him and Growlgra anyway, since one she is familiar with and the other is of a familiar shape, even if he does walk only on his hindpaws, carry sharp things, and cover parts of himself with...with whatever these creatures call their coverings.
First, she points to the whole collection of cold-no-furs and all they've got with them.
"Yooo...menny." she says. Then she takes a step back, points to herself and to all the people and things she doesn't have with her.
"I...nnnot." she says. "Zzhhh..zzhuuzzhht...rrr...own-lee me. Nnot whont...eeeten. Zzzhtaaayy?"

Translation for Raixel...
Exact translation -

Spoiler

"You many. I not. Jj...just...grr...only me. Not want eaten. Stay?" She can't pronouces the word "just" well enough so changes her mind .

Elaborated translation -

Spoiler

"There's lots of you but only one of me. I don't want to get eaten. Can I stay?"
Basically she's working on the "I'm only one small critter and in a big swamp like this, any old giant creature might try and eat me, but if I stay with you guys, I'll be in a group and not so vulnerable" approach.

Btw, Urrffrah is pronouncing Sssil's name the same way she pronounces it in her natural form...though it probably still sounds a bit different 'cause her mouth is a slightly different shape. Also, she would have taken that food in a relatively polite manner, ie she didn't snatch .

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed May 16, 2012 1:19 pm

Lizar colours are affected by class - ie the brightly coloured ones from nobles houses have bred together, and the 'common' families with each other, hence the striking nature (Raixel can correct me if I'm wrong). Also, Makan is a city, so it's like saying there's a difference between a farmer's sun-baked skin and our indoor city living at our computer skins. Lizars live in a swamp, but some don't reaaaaally live in the swamp anymore

Also, despite Sssssil maybe acting 'common' and being more of a swamp dweller, he is actually from a noble house. Since you don't like OOC/IC knowledge bleeding together, I won't give you more backstory about that. Just know that Sssssil is brightly coloured, but doens't give off 'noble' vibes half the time.

Also, I don't believe Sssssil would know Urrffrah's name in the other forms. I kinda assume they don't talk much, I think we established that - especially if her true form is that's the one she talks in best, and would only occur during feeding. So as you've seen, one noise or speech and just weird noises aren't things he would have picked up easily on. Cut the guy some slack, int 7 wis 8 means he's not the fastest ones for subtlty. Thoiugh I'd like to honour Haynuus and have the naive/oblivious mind set usually turn out for the best half the time

Sssssil almost jumps back as the goblin makes a noise, and he realises - having tuned his ear to Westian's way of speaking a little better - realises his name is being repeated back to him. He looks around nervously as if suddenly having been singled out for some reason, then nods hesitantly. "Sssssil, yes," he says in quietly the easy sibilants of the lizar. HE looks between Westian and the goblin as he says, "Errph..rarr?" He sounds as if he has tried to stiffle a hiccup, and then made a nervous lion's roar to cover for it. He tries to say Growlgra's name under his breath when the goblin pronounces it, again sad that he doens't have the power of the amulet to enable him to say his hunter friend's name properly. Maybe Westian won't use all the magic to speak to the goblins and the lizars, and he can have a few moments to speak 'privately' to Growlgra regarding the turtle shell and armour.

Sssssil listens to the goblin. Again perhaps it is Westian's accent letting him understand the goblin's accent, or perhaps it is just he understands many of the concepte. Feeling distant from a group, and the scariness of being alone in the swamp.

"Ah. He says there's many of us, and only one of him. He wants to stay with us, afraid of being eaten because he alone in the swamp!" Sssssil then withdraws a little, realising the joy of understanding has made him more outspoken than he wanted to be. "Purples eyes, swamp eyes," says Sssssil quietly to Kass, nervously. "Seen creatures who live in swamp with eyes like that. They can see well in swamp and in dark. Maybe he stay with us, be a look out and warn us of danger?" Sssssil mentions the word danger oddly, as if suddenly nervous. Thoguh it is a deliberate attempt to convey somethign to Kass in front of the others.

Hopefully Westian can use the talisman Raixel described - it's a universal translator - to speak to you properly Ameena! Ssssil's partially got it right and partially 180 degrees wrong And Ssssil will happily try to communicate with Growlgra to you since he realises you understand them. And yes Ameena, Sssssil can't tell your gender yet. Though I'm going to say he knows your wolf/true form is female. Another reason not to make a connection!

Post by **Ameena** » Wed May 16, 2012 9:23 pm

I mentioend before at some point that Urrffrah would have given her name after finding out that Sssil didn't mind her being in her true form/could change shape. Her goblin form will be the one she speaks best in - her face in her natural form is vaguely goblinoid, but less so than when she's in goblin form. There's only one langauge she can speak fluently (Infernal), and that's an innate thing due to her place of origin - to Sssil (or, indeed, pretty much anyone else) it probably just sounds like a load of horrendous growls and other such noises . But yeah, maybe Sssil just thought "Urrffrah" was some random word or noise she said. She probably grumbles in Infernal when stuff doesn't go right, or whatever.
Meanwhile, I'm liking this whole "being shit at each other's language" thing - it's fun, and I like the way the lizars can't do growly noises and Growlgra and Urrffrah can, but can't do the hissy noises...meanwhile Westy is fairly shit at both and probably just standing there trying to work out wtf everyone is saying .
I think Urrffrah will also have to correct him on his apparent assumption that she's male at some point, but I suppose he can be let off the mistake as I don't suppose he's seen a goblin before and since they're mammals and he's not, I don't expect he knows what to look for in order to tell. Besides, since I'm guessing he's speaking in Lizardman atm, she won't realise he's made such a mistake anyway .
Anyway, I'll wait for NPC reactions before I post another of my own. I knew I'd enjoy this game as soon as I decided on my species .

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Thu May 17, 2012 1:08 am

Yeah Beo, you got it exactly right. They are the same "race", but just as on Earth there are dark skinned pygmies living in jungles in Africa, and also pale tall people that live in modern cities in Europe, there are what are called swamp lizar, that generally live in small tribes of about 100-200 members in the jungle in a primitive tribal society completely separate from Makan(and each other- Makan doesnt have any power over them, and either do unrelated tribes), and Makan(city) lizar that live in Makan(or another daughter/satilite city ).

Makan is the main city state of the lizar, and is where the nobles live, laws are passed for all Makan lizar, courts are held ect. Kind of like a capitol, but even more so. So all city-bred lizar are called Makan or city lizar, even if they don't actually live in Makan. Its like "all roads lead to Makan" as the smaller towns around Makan, of which there are very few, dont actually have a leader or make their own laws, but are more like forts or trading posts.

And the primitive tribal lizar are called "swamp-lizar" by Makan lizar. There is also the term "da'lasssk" for swamp-lizar which is an insult and means "less than beast(grahhssk)" (as in saying they are less than an animal for living the way they do). There is prejudice by many Makan lizar against "fullblood" swamp lizar, but some swamp lizar do move to Makan and settle in the city, their decendants picking up the mannerisms/accent of Makan lizar within a couple generations at most. This is where the Makan lizar with swamp coloration come from, although they are generally slightly more patterned and less blotchy every generation they interbreed (and also eventually they are just the same as other non-nobles as they pick up Makan coloration from mating with Makan lizar. Kinda like how if a half elf has kids with a human, the kids are considered human, but might have a few elvish feature like slanted eyes, slight points on their ears and well defined bone structure). Only the most stuffy or stuck-up nobles would be prejudice against a swamp-lizar-descended Makan lizar, but those nobles are generally prejudice against all non-nobles. The city lizar don't care if someone has swamp-lizar ancestry a couple generations back, although if someone just came out of the swamp to live in Makan, they might have to face whispered comments of "da'lasssk" or a merchant might try and cheat them in the market. Generally, though, city lizar try to help these lizar integrate, as they view them as "bettering themselves by choosing not to live like an animal". This is just some background info, cuz my main fun DMing is creating cultures/worlds. Like I said before, Im a cultural anthro major!

The colors arent really important beyond remembering "A noble is bright with well-defined patterns, a city-lizar is dull and their patterns more broken and blotchy, and a swamp lizar is usually brown/black/beige and completely blotchy" All lizar are described by color in the OOC page, as Sssil hasnt learned some of their names. So I refer to them ICly as "The brown and black speckled female with the bad eye" "the fat dark green backed yellow bellied male who is standoffish" and so on. Most are referred to by name though, with sometimes a color description.

I lost my DM notes about the caravan lizar though, but its not a big deal cuz I have really old notes outlining the important parts. And yes,there is a female lizar dressed in tight hooded grey robes (*really* odd dress for a lizar) that has noble-bright face and hand scales. She acts shy around Sssil and seems to avoid him. There is alos an odd being of some unknown race (Urrffrah hasnt met her yet, but has seen her in the distance) that has an extremely stange accent (enough so that even someone who cant speak Zaangaardan would notice she sounds different). She wears heavy brown robes and all you can see of her is huge glittering yellow eyes, hands with small gold claws, an extra joint on each long slender finger, and jade green scales that are silver flecked and edged in gold.

Yeah, a lizar and a mammal generally cant tell each others genders unless they have a lot of experience with the other race (and even then its hard for mammals) Lizar males and females look almost exactly alike, with very little sexual dimorphism(the physical differences between male and female such as size, color, hair, ect). Female lizar have pheremones and a estrus cycle called "drikkssa", that changes their pheremone scent when they are fertile. Male lizar also have pheremones that tell their gender, but no cycle scent. The lizar year is based on this drikkssa pheremone cycle of female fertility- one drikkssa cycle is one year, as females are only fertile once a year for a month, in the spring. Lizar find it very odd that mammals have no pheremones or drikkssa that they can detect, and wonder how mammals know when a female is ready or even who is female or male. So yeah, a lizar wouldnt notice boobs or size/feature difference unless they have been around enough mammals to learn the differences.

Westian takes the talisman gratefully, apparently happy that he doesnt have to attempt to translate anymore. "OH EW" he says, after he puts it around his neck and places a finger on it.

The goblin speaks again, and Westian opens his mouth to translate, but looks surprised as Sssil beats him to it.

"You are right, that is what she said." the half-elf says, seeming surprised that Sssil was able to understand her so fast.

Oddly, Urrffrah hears him speaking in the language from the far-away place, the place she was made in before the magic-caller took her. The language is inborn to her race, and the one she knows best. It also seems the cold ones, the ones Westian called "lizar", understand him in their own words as well because the one called "Kass" who seems to be the leader asks him a question in her own speaking-way, instead of the mammal-language.

"It wants to come with us?" says Kass, seeming a little shocked. "A goblin?! What use could it be?" She is speaking Zaangaardian, so Urrffrah can't understand her. At Sssil's comment about its eyes, she looks thoughtful. "Well, that could be useful. It might have been able to stop whoever was resposible for summoning the rats by putting that talisman in there, if it can see in the dark and was with us that night. But still, its a goblin! And it doesn't even speak Zaangaardian at all! Its bad enough trying to understand you, with your accent" here she nods to Westian "No offense, of course."

The elf smiles ruefully. "None taken." Again, Urrfrrah hears him speak in the harsh language of her far-away born-place.

Kass' eyes grow shrewd as she picks up Sssil's inflection after her initial shock. She and Thessan glance at each other, and Thessan nods imperceptiby as his eyes flick towards Sssil.

"Yes. I think that this will work. Tell her she is welcome, *IF* she makes an attempt to at least learn our language. Ive got enough headaches without having to deal with a non-Zaangaardian speaking odd goblin. And we'll need someone to watch her carefully until we know she isn't a spy or Chaos worshipper. We'll discuss this more at tonight's breifing. For now, lets go. I'm sick of standing around this road." the pathfinder says crossly before she stomps back to the caravan calling "PLaces! We're moving!"

The brown and black speckled female with the bad eye moves her pull-strong aside so Urrfrah can pass by and join the others. She glares at the goblin, pointing to her one good eye, and then Urrfrah, before drawing a line across her neck.

"You can come with us. Lets get back to our places, quickly. Kass seems pissed at the delay. Come on, Urrffrah, you an ride in our wagon."Westian says in Urrffrah home-land speaking, then takes the talisman off an hands it back to Sssil. "Heer. Iht zhtill hazz muhch ckharge."

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Thu May 17, 2012 8:06 am

Ssssil has no idea why, but he is thatnkful that the small goblin has been accepted, along with his own idea. It is again strange to feel more comfortable with outsiders over his own kind, but the thought of a traitor worries him. As well as the stranger elements to the wagon. He doubts a creature just wishing protection would be any trouble, and sadly he seems to be looked down upon. Which is, of course, the best way for that creature to spot things going on.

Sssssil's thoughts are interrupted by Westian handed back the amulet. Sssssil takes it eagerly, gving a wide smile to the elf. Of course, he instantly realises that if he has the amulet, then he probably sould also talk to the goblin. Especially if the goblin's language seems to be one that isn't understandable, it would be the perfect time to inform the goblin of the troubles in the wagon.

Still, he turns to Growlgra first. "We speak!" he says happily to the small hunter, grinning. "I...I'd like to hear more about the turtle shell," Ssssil says syly. "And...and your home." He then looks regretfully to the goblin. "But...I think I need to speak to Ewph-roar first."

He waves again at the goblin as people have moved around, and goes over. "Hello!" he says, using up all his courage, and so waves again then is silent for a moment. He points to the amulet. "Can speak. In your language. With this. But...for a moment," says Sssssil, words started to turn in to quiet mumbling. He searches for the words. "You can stay. You can look out to the swamp, warn us of bad things in the swamp." He then looks around shiftily, and says quietly. "Also, you ever seen lizar...like me...but...small? Brown. Umm...sneaky?" He mimes reducing his height and acing shifty.

Post by **Ameena** » Thu May 17, 2012 1:26 pm

Cool that you've made up all theese details about the Lizar culture - that's the best bit of this kind of stuff for me, as well - coming up with all the ideas, creating the background fluff. I've got a whole world (well, country, really) for Wuffy to play in in the game I was running for him (though we've not been back to it for a while now). And of course there's the Murafu, the race I came up with for Wuffy's DM/DnD game but ended up deciding I liked enough to want to use elsewhere .
Oh, and yay for the magic translation amulet of translating .

Urrffrah looks with pleasant surprise at Westy-an as he suddenly starts speaking in the language she's always known how to speak. Then she is slightly suspicious - how come he didn't seem to understand her before, but now he can suddenly, instantly speak the one language she's never heard spoken since...well, since so long ago that it seems the place she'd heard it was too far away for any creature to travel. And he's speaking to the other cold-no-furs, yet they seem to understand him, even though they aren't speaking back to him in the same way. What?
Oh, she realises. It must be magic. Westy-an must be able to make his words sound different, so that other people can understand him. But then, why didn't he just do that before?
But wait...he only started doing it after he put that thing around his neck. The thing that Sssil gave him. So it must be Sssil who can do magic, and he just gave some of it to Westy-an. So maybe Sssil is the leader here...
Meanwhile, the one called Kass is making a load more hissy noises at Westy-an, who replies "None taken". Maybe that was what everyone was looking around for, then - maybe they thought someone had taken something from them, but they've found that nothing was missing. Maybe they thought she took something, and that's why they seemed suspicious at first. But that would be stupid - why would she take something and then walk up to them? She'd take it and run. Or just hide. It would depend on whether they noticed.
More hissy noises are made, and then Kass starts walking away whilst speaking to everyone else. It's as though she's telling them what to do, because the other cold-no-furs start moving around to continue their journey. But if it's Sssil who's in charge, how come...?
Oh, Urrffrah realises. Of course! Sssil and Kass must be together. Yes, that's what happens here, isn't it? Kass must be female - a male and a female work together in ruling the pack, and Sssil is the male she is working with. Now it makes sense!
Meanwhile, one of the cold-no-furs makes some kind of odd gesture at her. Urrffrah tries to work out what it means - does the creature want her to wear its eye around her neck? Is it going to remove its eye and give it to her? Does it want Urrffrah to leave its eye alone? But what does the claw-around-throat thing mean?
Deciding it's probably not that important, Urrffrah looks up as Westy-an addresses her again. She is, for some reason, glad that he says she can stay, and sees that her realisation about Kass and Sssil being the leading pair here must be right, since Westy-an says that it was Kass who gave the permission for her to stay. Maybe Sssil had already agreed, then, or maybe it's the female of the pair who lets new members join the pack. Urrffrah has no idea what the word "pissed" means, but decides to ignore it as Westy-an says she can ride in their...waggon? She guesses that's what the big pulled-things are.
Then her thoughts about the neck-gem are proved correct as Westy-an removes it and, once again speaking gibberish, returns it to Sssil. Sssil goes to speak with Growlgra for a moment, but then turns and comes to address her, instead. And he's speaking her natural language! Why did he never do this before? Urrffrah has never been able to talk to anyone like this!
"Never seen a thing like that." she replies, in response to his question about the small, strange creature he's asked her about. "I can keep watch, yes. Can help hunt, too. But you already know. We can kill some for all you, and one for me."
At the thought of hunting again, Urrffrah can't help but feel a faint surge of excitement at the thought of the tracking, catching the scent, then the chase, the kill, the feeding. Ah, yes. Hunting is good.

Urrffrah's eyes will glow slightly brighter for a moment when she starts talking/thinking about the hunt - barghests' eyes glow when excited, something Sssil will already know from when the two fo them have hunted together .

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Thu May 17, 2012 9:17 pm

Lol, well somebody needs to run the game again! And even bigger lol regarding Sssssil's staus in the group. Although there are a few details I guess that makes him more important than he'd act or even think of.

Ssssil blinks for a moment, and then realises Urrffrah means the amulet. "Not me too. Until a few days ago." He looks around to Growlgra. "You can talk and hear like others. Not for long though. Needs to recharge. In air." His face falls a little, wondering if there would be any way to permanently gain ther ability to easily communicate. He and Hissssa manage it perfectly.

Sssssil blinks again at the second comment. Ah, he means he wants to be able to keep one of anything he catches. Sssssil looks nervously around, the looks back to the goblin and shrugs and nods. He can't imagine the goblin killing a whole erlosss itself, so surely no harm could come from agreeing. Sssssil looks nervously a second time, not sure. And then a third time, for a different reason, and leans in closer.

"Someone in caravan might not like group. Might not like...anyone," said Sssssil quietly. He rummaged in his pack, and pulled out a picture of a lizar on a poster. It's the poster of Hassskilirac Raixel, you can probably desceribe him better than I can! "This lizar leads...swamp lizar. Weaker, dull looking. They might attack us. But maybe someone in caravan works for him too. Might attack from inside. Already had bad thigns happen." Sssssil looks sadly towards Growlgra, then quickly shakes it off. "If you see strange thing inside caravan, don't yell. Tell Kass..." and Sssssil points the direction Kass went, "or Thessan," and he vaguely points towards one of several lizar. He then blinks. "Or...me? I suppose. Yes, you can tell me. But better one of them."

Sssssil then noticed the goblin's eyes are glowing slightly, and he looks around to the swamp nervously. "You see something?" he asks, sudden;y scared and speaking quietly.

Post by **Ameena** » Fri May 18, 2012 12:28 am

Urrffrah looks at the thing Sssil is showing her. It's one of those...things...that she doesn't know the name of, where someone sees something and uses stick things to make a...a...look-like of it on something.
"Lizar" she mutters. "Lizar...is what you are? I sometimes-goblin, you always-lizar? And all the other cold-no-furs?"
As Sssil explains that some strange creature might be wanting to cause trouble, or so she gathers, she blinks, wondering why Sssil would want her to call someone.
"If someone causes trouble...I can just eat..." she says simply. "Then they cause no more trouble."

raixel · Post by **raixel** » Fri May 18, 2012 6:40 am

Ameena, your first post had me LOLing pretty hard att Urrffrah's assumptions. I cant wait for this to play out *snicker*. And is Urrffrah speaking Infernal or COmmon? She hears Sssil in Infernal, but she doesnt have to answer in it, Sill will hear her in Zaangaardian either way. I need to know that before I advance, sorry. In the meantime, heres a brief desc of the lizar in the picture

Urrfrah sees a pressed-reed paper sheet that Sssil shows her when he asks about this "leader". It is very low quality as if someone drew a picture of a lizar, but used a bunch of tiny grey and black dots to make the image. The lizar in the picture looks like he hasn't had much to eat, as his bones show through his face scales. Perhaps he wasnt a very good hunter. He has a large fight-mark going across the end of his snout. Urrffrah cant tell his age, but the look on the lizar's face is the same as the magic-caller would get when he put some two-leg hairless one in a cage. Then later, Urrffrah would hear loud mouth-sounds made by the hairless one in the magic callers's room, the one he never let her in. The magic caller would come out of the room smelling of red-water later, when the mouth-sounds were quiet. And the look on his face was the look on the face of the lizar in the picture. The picture is balck and white and kind of fuzzy, but Urrffrah sees that the darker spots that make up the lizar's patterns arent broken up like the lizar she has seen here, they are like Sssil's perfectly uniform and symmetrical on both sides of his body. She cant make out much mre detail than that, unfortunately, because the picture is very low quality.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri May 18, 2012 7:36 am

Lol, hopefully its in infernal. Although Ssssil didn't explain why he was speaking so cavalerly. And, you know, someone evil could well speak infernal anyway and be listening in...

Sssssil nods his head. "Lizar me...us, yes." He thinks on what Urrffrah just said. "Sumtimes goblin? Is Sumtimes the place you come from, or your name for swamp." He gestures to the swamp outside.

Ssssil then opens his eyes wide as the goblin speaks of eating someone. He again looks nervously around. "Noooo..." he says uncertainly, considering it for a moment from a practical aspect. He then sadly shakes his head again. "No. Might need to talk to person, ask them why then want to hurt us, and where others are."

Sssssil takes a small step back from the goblin. He seemed polite enough when taking the deer scrap earlier, but Sssssil is a little scared that the goblin thinks it could devour an entire lizar or other large humanoid. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to vouch for the creature... still, it seems like he's only offering to eat bad big creatures.

Who's on first, what's on second, I don't know's on third...

Post by **Ameena** » Fri May 18, 2012 11:49 am

Urrffrah is speaking in Infernal, since that's what she's hearing Sssil speak in and the only language she can actually speak properly. When she speaks Common, because she's so crap at it, she has to think over every word before she says it, trying to work out which word from her limited repertoire she actually needs to use, and then attempting to pronounce it properly. If the only words she knew in Common were "Where are the bananas?", that's all she'd be able to say - it's just that Ssil would be able to easily understand her through the weird growly accent. Having your qords automatically translated for you (whether you realise it or not) isn't gonna automatically enlarge your vocabulary. And Urrffrah's is pretty limited, even in Infernal, when it comes to using nouns, because she doesn't know what a lot of stuff is called. It's just that in her native tongue, she's basically automatically able to say any word she wants to, without having to try and work out how to get her mouth around it. the nearest she can get to "Ss" in Common is "Zh", after all .
As for the possibility of someone dodgy listening in on her speaking Infernal, Urrffrah won't have considered that (though I have, of course ). She's more pleasantly surprised that someone can actually speak that langauge that she's always known, even if it was by magic. Fortunately the source of that magic is Sssil (who apparently owns the amulet), whom she already trusts. I'm wondering if anyone in the caravan thinks it's weird that this goblin is speaking some weird language that she probably shouldn't be able to pronounce, and which certainly isn't Goblin. But I suppose they don't know that many goblins so haven't had much chance to find out .

Urrffrah moves her shoulders up slightly, then back down, a gesture she's seen some hindleg-walking creatures do when they want to show they don't mind or care about something.
"Won't eat, then." she says. "Can just jump on instead, maybe? People are very scared when jumped on. First one was scared - had wanted to kill. Didn't know I was there. I jumped on. Looked very afraid - right at back of eyes. Left alone - had better things to do. Didn't want to kill me - wanted to kill someone else. I kill to hunt. But you seen. Hunting is good. This is like a hunt, yes? But not out in the sticky-ground so much. Someone hiding here, pretending to be pack member, but is of other pack, yes? Bad one wants to make your pack weak? So...we hunt bad one."

Again, Urrffrah's eyes flicker silghtly brighter when she talks of hunting. It fades soon after, though - her faint surge of excitement doesn't last long since she's only thinking of hunting. I think it'll be funny if she stays in goblin form the whole time, and finally changes shape to leap on top of the traitor, whomever it is, and probably freaks everyone out. All except Sssil, for whom the penny finally drops and he goes "Ahhh, wait - it's you!" .

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