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[Leela Steading]

Leela Steading

Diplomacy: To take into custody or to purchase demihumans from the dungeons.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 13 + 7, total 20[/blockquote]

[Leela Steading]

Leela Steading

Diplomacy: Shift Attitude (Using 1 Heroic Action Point to add +8 bonus.)
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+15 : 6 + 15, total 21[/blockquote]

Diplomacy: To form an alliance between the Great Country of America and Xalaster Orthodoxy. Through this alliance, the Great Country of America would use the advanced knowledge of things from their own world to make things to trade with the Orthodoxy that would prove beneficial for both the church and the common folk.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 20 + 7, total 27[/blockquote]

Diplomacy: To clear misunderstanding caused by the Roshandan demons attempt to trade and establish a trade agreement, if not a full alliance, between them and Xalaster Orthodoxy. The demons of Roshandan can provide fine cloth (such as what Leela is wearing, plus the other clothes that she brought along to show them) and they also said they had weaponry and armor they could offer in trade. If the Orthodoxy agrees to an alliance, this would also put an extra buffer between the Orthodoxy borders and the demon domains on the other side of the Domain or Roshandan.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 14 + 7, total 21[/blockquote]

Diplomacy: To release the demon they hold captive into Leela's custody. Whether they are willing to establish a trade agreement or alliance with Roshandan or not, this would be show of goodwill between them and make it easier for Leela to persuade the demons to still act as a buffer. If they refuse to release the demon they hold captive, Leela fears not only for her own people, but all of the Orthodoxy.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+7 : 14 + 7, total 21[/blockquote]

[Maeve Gallagher]

Maeve Gallagher

"What exactly has been rrreleased?" Her two companions seemed to have taken care of the situation with the woman almost as quickly as it had started. Still, Maeve remained cautious as she walked closer to the group, ready to take action if the woman decided to attack one of them again.

[info]Initiative:
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+6 : 7 + 6, total 13[/blockquote][/info]

[Leela Steading]

Leela Steading

Leela studied the nun. She was either Aidia or... "Do you have a twin?" She decided to ask rather than simply follow silently.

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as they entered the room, Leela took in her surroundings. She took note of the lack of both introduction of herself and greeting from the cardinals upon her entry. Two could play at that game. Head held high, Leela silently walked over to the chair the nun had indicated was for her. Before seating herself, she placed Abi in one of the nearby chairs, whispering a casual reminder for the imp to be on her best behavior and try not to draw attention to herself. That done, she sat in her own seat. She did not indicate to Efrit whether he should sit or not. If he were a true personal knight, he would already know whether he was allowed to sit or expected to stand in such a situation without her telling him. Since she had failed to bring it up to him earlier, the princess decided it best to let him decide.

After arranging her skirts so she could sit comfortably as well as fashionably, Leela looked at the cardinals seated before her. For a moment, she pondered commenting that in her country, meetings such as this between such important people were done at a table so that no one could claim they had been slighted by being given unequal standing. In the end, she decided to hold off on that for now. After all, they most likely did look down on her, considering the situation of her 'country' as they had been told of it.

"Cardinals of Xalaster." Leela decided to take the initiative. She greeted them in the only way she could, not knowing their names. "I am Princess Leela Steading of the great country of America. I believe Bishop Mateo has informed you all as to why I have asked to meet with you?" As she spoke, she studied each of them in turn, starting with their face, their hair, their clothing, and finally the way the seemed to hold themselves. A new alternate plan was slowly forming in her mind.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

It was good that her twin had seemed to turn his attention back to the human and the questions their brethren had been asking, as Treesinger found herself unable to come up with a reply. Did fire have a language that they could not understand?

Everything seemed to be going as well as could be expected for a group of Briarborn asking questions of a visitor until the human's voice suddenly rose. At "I said no!", Treesinger's mind was once more brought back to wondering if the human was dangerous. Seeing several of her brethren step back at the outburst, she once again readied herself to defend her people. She was still on duty, after all.

Luckily, Adventurer Extraordinaire seemed to calm down once again and continued answering their questions as he had before. Treesinger also settled back into merely watching instead of preparing to attack. As with the others, the answer of him hunting dragons and the seeming unfinished sentence caught her full attention. She remained silent, along with her brethren as the human began to tell his tale.

"What is going on here?" A voice boomed out. All eyes turned to look at the newcomer. He appeared to be "wearing" leaves and bark for clothing, though like the others, it also appeared to have grown from him if one looked closely. The bark and plant matter that made up his body appeared darker than the others and there were a few scars that looked like he had been burned by fire. Instead of the leafy "hair" that most of the other Briarborn had, short branches grew out. Some sported a leaf or two, but most were bare of foliage. Branch-like brows were drawn low over orange colored eyes as he continued. "Why is there a human at our doorstep?"

Another Briarborn, female in appearance, stood beside him, though her expression was unreadable as she looked over the crowd and the human. Her clothing was obviously growing out of her own body, as it not only did not fully cover her, but the areas where it grew out of her were not covered. Her "flesh" was a light brown and the vines of green leaves that grew from her head were pulled back to keep them out of her face. Her eyes were a golden amber color.

"Fire Tender! Lore-Keeper!" Treesinger greeted them. As she had been on duty when she found her twin with the human, she took it upon herself to explain the situation. "Treesinger found this human, who had lost his way in the forest. He appears harmless and says he has traveled all over Yslia. He has many curious items and stories to tell, so I escorted them here and kept watch while Treesinger went to tell everyone." She decided to leave out that she had thought her twin was going to tell them so that they could discuss what to do with the human. If they wanted to know why he had retrieved a bunch of friends instead of the elders, they could ask him.

The two elder Briarborn had turned their attention to the female Treesinger as she stepped forward and spoke, then turned their attention back to Treesinger's twin and the human. Fire Tender still did not look very happy about the situation, but a spark of curiosity was in Lore-Keeper's eyes as her gaze passed over her own pupil, Lore-Keeper, and to the human.

"Tell us, human, what brings you to the Springrove Forest? Do you intend to encroach upon our home as we have heard humans do to other forests?" Lore-Keeper's voice sounded more calm than her companion's and those of the excited Briarborn who had surrounded him.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

She paused for a moment as she thought over her twin's words. It was true that they had to feed the cooking fire in order to receive the heat they needed if they wanted to cook food. But that was a worthwhile exchange. It was if the fire spread beyond the safe area. Talathel had said that she needed to be careful when casting any magic that produced fire, as it could spread and devour things mercilessly if left unchecked... "We thank our food for giving us life. Fire devours mercilessly." Treesinger echoed the words of her mentor and the elders who had taught them the dangers of fire in their youth.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

"I told him it is dangerous! He said he knows how to be careful with it and that what is in there couldn't burn a leaf unless he stuck it in there. I don't know why he is burning leaves in there." She explained, then pointed in the general direction he had put the fire stick. "He put it in a pocket."

She ignored her twin's question about laughter magic, having felt that she had explained all she could about it and to say any more of it would merely be a repeat of what she had already said. He could always ask the human more if he found it interesting enough.

"But we have seen how fire devours things." Treesinger reminded him, recalling the wood they had sacrificed to the fire in order to cook and the few times food fell into the fire and... melted away as if its life force were being drained out of it. Being an apprentice of Talathel, she had seen the cook fire more often than she would have liked. "I do not think they are wrong about it."

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

"He is not boring. I learn a lot from him." She insisted, but continued before her twin could argue back. "Adventurer Extraordinaire says that laughter is magic for the soul because it can 'bring light to your darkest day' by making you happy when you are sad. It is apparently speaking metaphorically. He did not say what speaking metaphorically means. I think it is some kind of spell connected to laughter magic."

"Also, that thing in his mouth, he used a stick that glowed red to set the stuff he put into it on fire." Treesinger informed him.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

Treesinger had not intended to tell the human how often the Elves visited, but it seemed her brother, arriving in time to hear the human's questions, thought it was fine. "He is not boring!" She objected, defending their mentor. Unlike her brother, she considered Talathel's lessons interesting and never let her mind wander off to other things.

Turning her gaze to her brethren, Treesinger wondered why her twin had not brought more back with him. Perhaps they were busy working, like she was supposed to be. Lore-Keeper, Waterer, Weapon-Maker, Elf-Trader, Hunter, Weeder, Plant-Shaper, Tree-Herder, Grower, Forager, Forager, and even Sapling had all come. But... did her twin not tell Fire Tender, Lore-Keeper, and Mender? She did not see any of them among the group, and any of them would be who she would go to for guidance on the matter of the human.

"A scorpion's tail? Can I see it? Where does all the ink come from? Was there ink already in the tail? Is it venomous ink?" The one called Lore-Keeper questioned, moving closer to Adventurer Extraordinaire.

"Why would you walk on water when you can swim? Does water hurt you? I think water is nice. How do you get your nutrients?" The one identified as Waterer spoke, peering at the man's boots.

"Wow! Did you make the sword? How did you make it?!"

"Do you hunt dragons? Are they scary? I heard they can breath fire! It sounds terrifying! Do you use the hat to make it so the dragons can't see you when you hunt them?" The shorter Briarborn, Hunter, asked.

"I heard dragon scales can be used to make things! Do you use the sword to collect dragon scales? What do you do with the rest of the dragon when you kill it?"

"I like your face fur. Does it grow longer? I heard humans can grow long face fur."

"I heard humans are bad. Are you bad?" A smaller Briarborn, even smaller than Hunter, asked keeping a safe distance.

"Is your face fur soft? Can I feel it?"

The voices of the others, who also began spewing questions and comments, blended in with the others, becoming unintelligible.

Treesinger merely stepped back to watch as the barrage of questions began, realizing her own from before the others showed up would most likely be forgotten, even though they were important things to know. After all, if he hoped to eat what food they could offer him, they needed to know what he could and could not eat.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

When Adventurer Extraordinaire tried to persuade her that the fire was already gone, she moved forward to inspect the opening where he had been poking the glowing stick. There did not appear to be a fire in there... Satisfied, she stepped back once more, looking at him when he said to. She was not sure what him not being a spring chicken had to do with him being old.

"The Elves use fire to... cook... when they visit. They let us try it. It changes the food. We have berries and fruits and vegetables; most do not need to be cooked to eat, but some need to be cooked to be safe for the Elves. They say cooking them removes the poison. When Hunter hunts, only Fire Tender is allowed to cook what is caught. Fire Tender understands the dangers of fire and how to make it as safe as possible." She supposed fire did bring happiness when she and her brethren got to try cooked foods. But the fire was always safely watched, with precautions ready to put it out as soon as possible if anything went wrong.

"Is food poisonous to you if it is not cooked? Can you eat anything without cooking it?"

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

Curiosity of the items that appeared from his pockets turned to a definite look of disdain as the wooden sliver the man pulled out started to glow red on one end and smoke started to come out of the item in his hands. Smoke was bad. Smoke meant fire. Whatever he was saying about speaking metaphorically went over her head as her mind whirled with warnings of fire. Fire was dangerous, as her brother had told the human earlier.

"Why do you start a fire here?" She inquired suddenly. "Why did that stick glow red and cause smoke to come from that," She pointed at his pipe, "but was unburnt when the red went away? They say orcs and goblinkind use fire to bring sadness and suffering to people like ours. Therefore, it is inappropriate to be happy with fire." She considered using one of the spells of nature her Treesinger mentor had taught her to put out the fire in the human's smoke device. With her people bound to arrive any minute, an item holding fire could be a dangerous thing. She hoped the human would understand and extinguish the fire on his own, though.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

His reasoning was... interesting. 'Laughter could make a dark day bright?' The idea was mind boggling. Was it some sort of magic? She tried to imagine using laughter to chase away sun-blocking clouds. Treesinger blinked at his question. "We laugh, when it is appropriate to show such emotion. But what kind of magic laughter that it can bring light out of darkness? How does it chase away sun-blocking clouds? Does this not alter nature's intent? What if you laugh too much and clouds never come to bring rain? It sounds like dangerous magic." Upon seeing the stuff he began pulling out of his pockets, two things caught her eye. She did not interrupt her string of questions on the magic of laughter to inquire about the vial and the small pearl, deciding to prioritize the questions she wanted answered first. Not to mention, she was sure her brethren would want to know what the items were as well. Still, she studied the items from where she stood.

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

The range of expressions the human went through as they asked their question intrigued Treesinger. It was the most expressions she had ever seen appear on a face in such little time. She was beginning to understand what the Elves meant when they said humans were 'emotional'. Showing all of one's emotions on their face as they occurred to them... It was both fascinating to watch and... worrisome.

Treesinger was also startled by the sudden burst of laughter, stopping in her tracks to turn to fully face her twin and the human and instinctively reaching for her weapon as she and her twin shared their worried looks. She would protect her brother and people if he turned out to be dangerous. When the human finally calmed down and spoke again, Treesinger relaxed back to the way she had been before. She was glad that he promised to answer all of their questions, though was unsure of what he meant by saying he did not think he had ever met the likes of their kind but thought he liked them. Did that mean he might not like them? Did that mean he might still be dangerous if he did not like them?

She watched as Adventurer Extraordinaire showed them the purpose of the button. Her twin most likely had hoped it did something magical, too. She had thought it a mere adornment. 'It is much better to just grow your own clothes. That way, you do not need extra things to keep them on or closed.'

Treesinger stared at her brother as he suddenly started to run off just when Adventurer Extraordinaire started to answer the rest of their questions. Although it was true that they were nearing a point in which they should stop and send someone off to bring the others, she had intended to wait until the human answered her questions before taking on the duty of retrieving the others. Instead, she was left standing guard over the curious human who may or may not be dangerous.

She turned to stare at the human once more, just in time for him to burst into laughter once again. Both times he had burst into laughter suddenly had confused her. She did not understand what was so amusing to warrant such laughter. "Why do you laugh so much?"

[Treesinger]

Treesinger

Treesinger frowned as the human told his tale. Frogs could swim. Why did he not just take the scorpion across and let the frog swim? How did he ruin everything by helping them both? The scorpion was rather rude to strike at someone who had gone to the trouble of helping it. She also had similar questions to her twin and was grateful when he began asking his questions immediately. They were all good questions and she nodded her head in agreement as most of them fell out of his mouth.

"Where does all the ink come from?" She asked the moment she managed to get a word in amongst her brother's. "Did you know that frogs can swim, so the frog could have swam across on his own."