CHOCOLATE DESTINY, ARC 2

Continued from https://churchofproz.forumotion.net/t1340p500-chocolate-destiny#26359

The barren plains give way to rolling hills of green grass, making the wagons creak with the ups and downs.
Functioning pastoral farms can be seen again, with goats, cows, and other grazing animals. The occasional farmer waves hello.
Time passes in relative safety...

Amos lets out a sigh.

"We're clear of that shit now, but seeing how it spreads faster than a plague this won't be the last we hear of it. Ms. Greenheart, when are we next stopping at a trade city?"

She shrugs as she goes about putting her crossbow and ammo away. "I'll be honest, I don't know my way around this landmass, I'm only here for a tournament. If I knew something like THIS was going on, I never would have come here. Your better off asking the lady upfront she most likely knows where we are going." After everything is put away she relaxes, her eyes returning to their normal shade of green.

"Well, how about it other Miss?"

When the caravan has reached what seems to be a safe distance, with no one in sight, the horses stop on a relatively flat stretch.
"Alright, everyone out!" Estelle calls. Her house guards disembark and form two lines.

"I do not recall permitting you passage on my vehicles," she says to Amos and Noire. "Who are you?"

"Her bodyguard."

Amos holds up his forearm and extends his thumb to point at Noire.

She gestures to Ali and his party. "Also my bodyguards, where they go, I go, and where I go, he goes." At the last bit she points to Amos. "You wouldn't want to disappoint the prince by leaving someone who he has pledged to protect now, would you?" She asks in an innocent tone, a sly smile plastered on her face." (Persuasion)

Estelle turns to Ali. "Is this true? When did you pledge to protect her?"

Ali steps in between the two groups and attempts to keep the calm. Unfortunately, his flexing muscles only succeed in stimulating everyone's libido.

"Shit! Sit down, niggas. Lemme 'splain dis whole situation we in right now." Ali faces Estelle and points to Noire. "We was pickin' miss Noire Greenbacks up 'cause she headed to da same city too. Plus she got lotsa moneybags. Now babe, if you got a problem wit her ridin' in yo wagon, I undahstand. I'll have her ride one o' my llamas instead."

Ali gestures to Amos. "Now dis fellah here, was actually wit us when we first met...and shared dat passionate embrace." Ali wiggles his eyebrows. "He look a bit strange cause someone pop a cap in his shoulder, but he be arite."

Estelle narrows her gaze, but her cheeks flush red. "Uh...yes, I suppose I would rather she ride on a llama instead. She still hasn't told me who she is though."

"Speakin of. We're being hunted Ali, hunted by some weak fuckers. Problem is formidable foes might start chasing us for the bounty money on our heads. And wonderful Ms. Hiyokolon, I'll immediately stop disrespecting you and catch a ride on one of Ali's llama's despite this nasty hole in my shoulder."

"passionate embrace..." She gets a far off look in her eyes, blushing and giggling at the images her mind produces.

After a few moments she shakes her head and continues. "The names Noire. And sure, I have no experience riding any kind of animal but anyhting so you can have alone time with the prince. Oh yeah before I forget," She takes out her purse and hands the lady a platinum coin. "This is for you, I had to use some alcohol and bandages to patch up my bodyguard here." She then turns to said bodyguard. "Do you need someone to ride with you? That was a nasty wound you got."

"It's Hylosiklon, and if you insist," Estelle replies to Amos. She sniffs and gets back into the wagon, ignoring the offered coin. The man in white takes the coin in her stead and approaches Amos. "Hold on, you're wounded? Let me check it out, I'm a doctor."

"Damn, my apologies then Ms. Hylosiklon. You offer compassion and I only gave you disrespect until now. In time I hope I can repay the favor. I'll gladly accept treatment Doctor."

Amos strips away his jacket and shirt to reveal his gauze wrapped wound.

Noire sticks around Amos to watch him work.

"Milady, we can get going in a couple of minutes after I treat this man's injury."
The doctor retrieves an assortment of tools and jars from the wagon and sits Amos down on a supply chest, unwrapping the gauze with gloves on.
"Looks like an arrow wound. Some of it is still stuck in there, too short to push out by hand."
He takes out a pair of forceps and a strange looking tool.
"Hold still. You've probably experienced worse pain than what's coming."
He inserts the tool into the wound, going through Amos' body until it contacts the remainder of the bolt. As soon as the bolt's tip emerges from the other side, he seizes it with the forceps and pulls it out. He briefly examines it in amazement. "Damn, it's still in one piece? We don't make bolts this good...you're lucky it didn't hit bone, or this would be near impossible."
He applies a soothing salve to both sides of the shoulder, then re-wraps it in gauze and bandages. He takes out a vial filled with blue liquid.
"Okay, so now you're going to want to-"
"Fadain!" Estelle interrupts. "We don't have enough of that for you to waste on every injury we come across."
"Ah, too true. Sorry milady." He puts away the vial along with the rest of his equipment. Amos' wound no longer hurts as much.
Her staff gets back on the wagons, and the caravan starts off again.

"GOD DAMN! Thank you especially for that salve. The memory of the pain is fleeing my mind but if it wasn't I don't know how long I could stay conscious. Ms. Hylosikon is there anyway I could trade for some parchment, a vial of ink and writing implement? You likely have no need for money but I will gladly pay several gold rooks for the tools to write."

Amos puts his shirt and jacket back on.

She winces as she watches the display. "Glad I became a gambler, not as messy. Well this is where we part for now, I'm going to find the animal I am to ride, you stay in the wagon and rest...if the merchant will let you that is." She then gathers her things and goes off looking for the animal she is to ride.

"You're welcome." The doctor beams with pride. Estelle agrees to the exchange, one of her servants handing the items to Amos.
Noire has the choice of three llamas to mount, displacing its rider to the wagons.

A. Lucas van Luft
B. Swaggafid woman
C. hanting man

Amos takes one of the few remaining spaces on the back wagon.

"Since they are so generous to let us use some of their open space I'm up for switching off the wagon from time to time."

[In case of time skip] Amos sets the ink in a spot where it will be exposed to the sky and not fall over from the bumpy road.

Noire sends prince ali his other woman to his wagon. "That should convince her to let me on next time."

She then gets on the llamas back after the lady gets off it's back.

The Coterie unloads all guns for fire safety. The seating arrangements are made, and the caravan continues on its long journey. The house guards chatter idly amongst themselves, along with the doctor.
"...won't be much impressed by these..."
"...don't worry, nobody will die of dysentery..."
"...and then he posts again, nearly four months since the last one, can you believe it?"
The hilly landscape transitions into light woodlands, untamed trees splitting into two large branches at their base. The road twists and turns, and upon rounding a bend you are greeted with the sight of an intersection. However, these crossroads are occupied by a large group of small green goblins, milling out in a somewhat disorderly fashion.

Amos peeks his head around the side of the wagon.

"Are these small green men a problem?"

Ali fondles both Estelle and the sarong woman until he feels the caravan stop. He also pops his head out of the wagon, spotting the goblins in the crossroads.

"WADDUP NIGGAS," calls Ali to the goblins. "HOW YA'LL DOIN' TODAY? ANY O' YOU SPEAK DA COMMON TONGUE?"

Noire facepalms as she gets off the llama and takes cover behind the wagon, preparing her crossbow for if this encounter goes south.

Amos lets out the sigh of an angsting teen and draws his sword while keeping out of sight of the goblins.

Many of the goblins seem to be agitated by Ali's greeting, jumping and shouting amongst themselves.

Ali uses his Languages skill to determine what language they are shouting in, so that he may communicate with them if necessary. Judging from their confrontational reactions, Ali hypothesizes that further dialogue may be required to avoid violence.

"If they demand a virgin be left behind to let us move on, I call not it." She quips as she finishes loading her crossbow, setting it aside for now so as not to alert the green men.

Ali determines they are shouting mostly in goblinoid and another unknown dialect. The Coterie and Hylosiklon guards give Noire bemused looks.

"As a well traveled merchant you may want to get some more life experience. Might help you understand the more carnal motivation of men and women alike. As for the small human like creatures, they probably prefer riches to virgins, unless we had a lot of virgins."

In a show of good faith, Ali leaves the wagon and approaches the goblins with an open body posture, stopping a good 10 meters away, to neither threaten the goblins, nor endanger himself. Having traveled to goblin lands before, and experienced all varieties of social interactions (including being ambushed by angry goblins), Ali uses his Social Perception to make an educated guess as to what they intend to do.

Coterie and Daliu prepared to spring into action, should their liege be assaulted.

"Oh I understand, in my field of work men are  quick to let their guard down if all they see is a pretty woman wearing a dumb look and clothing to accentuate their assets, leading to said woman taking most of their money with a timely royal flush...besides was more of an attempt at humor than anything serious."

Amos estimates the total number of goblins.

Ali determines that the goblins are arguing with each other, without any clear group intention. Some are jabbing fingers and sharp objects at Ali and the caravan. Amos counts about 200 adults.
"What is the matter?" Estelle asks. "These creatures are delaying our progress!"

A goblin wearing a violet cloak squeezes its way out of the crowd and cautiously approaches Ali. It squawks several words in Goblinoid, one of which Ali identifies to mean "you".

"Yeah, and they are deciding how to deal with us. I'd suggest you let the desert prince talk, least these green men decide to charge us." She then looks towards Ali's men, specifically Daliu. "And why is there a child fighting with the adults?"

"Nearly 200 goblins are wandering that crossroad. Unless we've stumbled on the beginnings of a fortress, these goblins must be migrating or outright homeless."

This time the cloaked goblin speaks intelligibly. "I speak human," it struggles to make out, "What do you want?"

"To pass through this cross road. Why are your people gathered here?"

Ali beams, glad to converse with the goblin in humanspeak. He nods his head slowly to indicate that he understands the goblin.

"Peace be upon you, mah nigga. As dat man says..." Ali points to Amos "...we want to pass through this crossroads to our next destination. We mean no harm," says Ali, waving his arms exaggeratedly to emphasize that they mean no harm.
"If I may ask a nigga, why are you and yo crew standin' around in dis intersection? Just wondrin', nawmean?"
Meanwhile, Ali uses Social Perception to identify the leader/alpha of this goblin crowd, using body language and social cues to fill the knowledge gaps.

Daliu and Coterie are not nearly as optimistic about this encounter, and begin stealthily loading all firearms, taking extra care to assure that the goblins don't see them. Coterie assists Daliu with his pistol if he has trouble.

Daliu also observes the goblins' weapons and armor. "Can The Prince get us out of here safely?" asks Daliu to his father.

"Well, last time he spoke to a goblin, we had to burn their village down. We generally try to keep them away from His Highness, but there are way too many here," responds the Cook.

Daliu then addresses Noire while loading his pistol. "I am no child, big-tits-lady." His gaze does indeed fall upon Noire's chest, and he goes red as a beet. "I am a man, sworn to protect my father. If things go sour here, you will witness my RESOLVE."

"That is so adorable." She says in a somewhat mocking tone. "All right then 'little man' lets hope you don't lose that resolve if this goes downhill." She then refocuses her attention on the prince and the goblins.

The cloaked goblin jumps in surprise upon hearing Amos' voice. "Who speaks? Where are you?"
Some of the other goblins shout at the arm-waving.
"You point to no one, you are crazy?" the cloaked goblin says to Ali, and points behind itself. "They want you to go away."
Ali scans the crowd, and picks out a fat goblin wearing a bonnet that seems to have the most supporters.
Daliu sees many of them with sticks slung in their belts or packs. Some have short iron tipped spears.

She pushes Amos out ,so as not to make the prince look crazier.

Gray, who has been silent all this time, chimes in with his 50 cents.
"You know, I think these guys may be a conglomerate of many goblin tribes, each with their own leadership. Circumstances which I cannot name may have persuaded them to bond together for some reason, and this is their gathering place."

Gray turns to the humanspeak goblin.

"Could you perhaps inform your people that we only wish to pass through the road, seeing as our horse carriages have little off road capabilities. If you may, then, just move your group 50 feet to the right, we would greatly appreciate it."

After a moment she follows Amos out, leaving her crossbow behind, holding her hands up to show she has no weapons. "It is as the prince says, we come in ppeace, and wish to leave in peace. We are simply trying to get away from a group of ghouls that attacked a town some distance away." (using persuasion)

"Yes, what they all said."

The cloaked goblin turns and chatters in Goblinoid to its fellows immediately behind it. They shout back. It shakes its head and continues conversing.
"They still want you to go away," it says after a couple of minutes.
"Go away! Go away!" some of the other goblins shout.

She places her arms to her sides and relaxes somewhat. "We want to, all we ask is that you and your group please clear a path so we can go away, or point us to a route that goes ahead that doesn't involve backtracking." (persuasion skill used)

Amos whispers to the Ali, Noire and Gray.

"Heyyy. Are we willing to subdue them with payment of some sort? Otherwise we should just move around this crowd before they decide to forcefully take the contents of these wagons."

"If you wanna give up your new jacket sure, you guys got 4000 and I have 1000 i can offer." She whispers back.