RP:The Drow-Goblin Military Industrial Complex

Part of the Surface Tension Arc

Synopsis: Drow scouts track the goblins after their battle with the elves. They lead Gevurah to where the goblins rest under the supervision of their skald leader Klongy. The she-goblin and drowess strike an alliance. The goblin pledge their warriors and gold to the drow war effort, and in exchange Gevurah will give lend them land to settle in Southern Sage (without relinquishing drow ownership), and mages to put in their ranks when battling the elves. Klongy accepts a choker with the emblem of D'Artes as a sign of her allegiance to the First House. In truth, it is a slave collar, but hopefully Gevurah will never have to use it as such if the alliance proves to be true.

Other Side of the Fence (Kelay-Sage)

It had been an odd day unlike any other. One wouldn't be able to tell by the sentinel's face however, somehow he managed to keep the look and tone of business as usual as he found himself thrust into opportunity to convey his recent findings. It was actually quite amazing how he relayed the information as standard and bored as probably possible in such a situation. "Ah, and it'd also seem that a recent attack on our elven enemy on the outskirts of the sage forest by what appears to be goblins. I noticed the head of a dozen or more elves on pikes in the surrounding area..." There was more before and after this bit of information in the scout's report, but the true question is, you just got the juicy bits the matter right there, do you really want to hear the rest about tree protocol? I didn't think so.

Gevurah travels light today. Normally the First Daughter of House D’Artes travels with a sizeable entourage, but now only the scout and the captain of her personal guard join her. She rides astride a giant spider. The captain and the scout ride a giant lizard each. As the scout weaves the clues around them into a chaotic tapestry depicting a goblin raid, Gevurah dismounts her spider and walks amongst the carnage. She dresses conservatively for a drow. Her fashion hails from the past century, though she herself does not. A tight bodice expands into a full skirt at the hips, with a bustle at the back to create the illusion of a drider. A few choice pieces of jewelry and the D’Artes insignia embedded in her necklace confer upon her the rank which is so important to her race. Her steps emit no noise. Her piwafwi shimmers and disturbs one’s sixth sense, if it is well developed, to suggest that here is a notably magical creature. “It is a sizable raid party. Tell me where they went.” She speaks in the harsh consonants of the drow tongue. She follows a set of footprints northward, then stops short as she loses the track.

The scout quickly tries to gather his thoughts as to maintain the urgency of the situation it appears Gevurah seems to be approaching the situation finding it being the area of the report she seems interested in. "Just at the opening of the forest straight ahead" is his reply. "I'd take note of the savage display of the enemy surrounding the area as you near." he adds. Whilst trying to keep rank and tactical he risks adding a "At least they're killing the elves for us." After which he goes back to his duties ready to answer any further inquiries if any were to be had.

Gevurah stares down the scout in his final comment as she debates whether or not to put him on trial. Does he think the drow’s efforts need help? Is this a slight against drow power? No, probably not. She decides against it. At least his loyalties are well aligned. She inspects the elf heads that still have faces in search of Gilwen or Emrith’s face and comes up short. Disappointing. “Let’s find them.” She walks back to Halbyrn, her giant spider, and mounts it. “I don’t suspect they’ll attack us.” She juts her chin forward in a physical expression of ‘go no, then.’ “And if they do attack, well, at least you’re at the helm.” She grins darkly. She’ll follow the scout to the goblin’s camp.

With a simple "Yes my Lady." The scout starts to lead the path forward. He now realizes that the situation may be taken much more seriously than he would of even ever thought, such would be saying something as typically the Drow take everything seriously. As he leads the way further to where the goblins most likely are he finds himself slowly growing rather eerie to the whole situation. The smell of burnt flesh still seems to linger in the air as the obvious signs of battle seem to be about. This wasn't a battle it appears, no, it seems more akin to an execution. Eventually deeper within the trees marks of what appeared to be a gigantic bonfire are also noticeable, why is yet to be seen. With a few crunches of leaves and sways of the trees suddenly what appears to be the entire goblin raiding party makes itself known and boy do they look unhappy. The thought then occured if goblins were willing to ambush and kill elves on sight, what would stop them from attempting to do the same to drow. It would appear they were about to attempt to do just that. It seems something has stopped them though, one of the few female goblin tuns to the rest and spouts at them in its primitive tongue. And just like that it appears that all the goblins except the one are slowly backing themselves away from their visitors. What's left is less than three feet of a goblin, somehow managing to appear, savage, worldwise, menacing, and oddly at the same time oddly cute with her two dark red braids. The scout finds himself being starred at intensely by the goblin, somewhat nervous now he finds himself waiting for his Lady's lead, not even Drow arrogance it seems would save them now if they were to be ambushed like the elves of earlier.

Never underestimate the arrogance of a D’Artes in particular. Gevurah’s spate of recent wins has her feeling (perhaps foolishly) invincible these days. Her guard, knowing her motives, does not draw his weapon despite the brief flicker of goblin aggression. He trusts his charge to know what she’s doing. Gevurah dismounts Halbyrn and stands at a more-than-sociable distance away from Klongy, the apparent leader. “Hello,” she begins stiffly in common. Hopefully they speak that language, for Gevurah certainly doesn’t speak theirs. “I was admiring your butchering to the South.” She fans a hand indicatively southward, just incase this braided, bipedal toad has a weak grasp of the language. As was mentioned previously, never underestimate the arrogance of a D’Artes. “These forests belong to House D’Artes, led by Patron Tiphareth, whom I represent now. I would like to know who you are and whose bidding you tend to.” Realizing that perhaps her speech was a bit too fancy for the she-goblin, (the high priestess does not have a very high opinion of goblins, and a lack of experience with them hasn’t changed her prejudice), she puts it more simply. “Who is your boss. The king?”

Klongy in particular was somewhat familiar of the races of the land, being essentially one of the scribes on KRegus and one of the few to be versed in the arcane as well. She knew thehy were dangerous and vicious types, with a ferocity none of the other weak squishy types can also claim. "Aye, as you see, we took down the earlier ones without trouble. I'm the leader of the lot." Klongy then indicates to the goblins surrounding her. "If the weak ones from earlier mean nothing, that would mean these lands would be easy for goblins to take." Shaking her head somewhat Klongy continues "Ah, ye are the lot I would wish to not anger though, how can we come to understand?" Klongy was surprisingly very well-versed when it came to languages miles ahead of majority of goblins, some type of primitive sophistication seemed to project itself as an aura from her person. She then turned and faced the Drow woman looking upwards to her awaiting a response. She was aware now was not a situation to gamble, no, profit maximizing would have to come another way.

Gevurah is pleasantly surprised that Klongy is not as dimwitted as her company. It will make this negotiation that much easier. “I am glad to meet you. I am Gevurah D’Artes.” She pauses briefly to gauge the goblin’s reaction. Continuing she says, “Coming to an understanding would require two things. First, I need to know who you are who you serve. And second, I need to know your goal. If it is to take these lands, as you suggest, then I recommend you look to other lands.”

Klongy continues to stare at the drow a few moments after she finishes speaking. She replies as soon as she is able to think of 'fitting' replies while a small smirk starts to show itself. "Klongy is my name, upstart and more helpful to ya, killer of these, other elves..." Klongy seemed to be taking a stab in the dark, what she knew however were Drow hated most everyone including other elves, she also remembered her work on the elves from earlier was looked upon as a positive and decided to run with it. "Ah, I am confused though, aye as these elves are not your kind and they were here as you too are?" The goblin continues to ponder "We goblin are doing too well actually, where we' from has too many goblins, so we have to either find new areas, new ways, or food sources. Shame, these elves were weak, with them all gone we thought good would come from it. Back home I was going to bring..." Klongy starts to do some calculations "1000, and 500 more here to make easy work of this all." Klongy found herself rambling, she hoped the information she let slip purposely however was having an effect.

Gevurah suppresses a greedy smirk. Klongy isn’t as dumb as she assumed her to be, but she seems guileless, which reassures the drowess. “The elves you slaughtered are foolishly trying to reclaim the forest. This used to be their home. My House took it. Easily.” History favors those who wrote it. Gevurah has no problem throwing convenient adverbs into her own history. “But they are stubborn. They will only stop when the last elf dies. If your kind supports our campaign to cleanse this world of all elves, then you will reap the rewards of a small patch of land to call home. You will not own it, of course, but may live there at my House’s discretion.” Her lips part as if to continue, but she thinks better of it. Best not to over tax the simple goblin mind with too much information. (Drow are the worst.)

Klongy grins and lowers her brow her big yellow eyes gleaming at all this information. The thought of wiping out more of the weak elves seemed quite rewarding, the drow seemed themselves a useful ally as well. She was also aware of how pathetically underestimated her power was, this could be very useful, not smart enough to be a threat, but enough to be a use is how Klongy preferred she be seen. “We have more gobbos than you are here, I can tell I just can.” Klongy walks closer towards the drow woman closing most of the gap previously before them. “We live on a small island, it is much too occupied currently even at the rapid rate goblins like to blow themselves up.” A quick point is given to the ragtag battalions she currently has with her. “Now with say 1000 and even 500 more at 1500 of us we can make the elves scream and die, but I do know your kind and elf kind. You both know lots of magics, we just do not, We need something to do for that, yes?” Klongy averts her gaze back towards the ground away from the gaze of the drow.

Gevurah stiffens in disgust as the goblin approaches. It isn’t that she is particularly foul, but simply that she is a goblin. The fact Gevurah does not shirk away does suggest an overconfidence in her power. The war has been going well for her, and while she is alert to a sudden change to her disadvantage, she cannot fathom it would come from goblins. “Do you ask for an enchanted item…” Her voice fades as she considers what token she can give. The drow aren’t in the habit of giving away any sort of power. She signs to her scout in the hand language of the drow and he nods then scurries away, quickly melting into shadows. To Klongy, Gevurah continues, “If we agree to an alliance, I need one thing in exchange for three things you want and need.” So generous. “Give me goblin warriors for my army that I can use at my discretion in the war, and I will give you land to settle, a few of our mages to include in your ranks, and an emblem of my House that will let others know you are an ally and not to be attacked.”

Klongy expertly conceals her joys at the announcement. Practically everything she needed is now being given and all she has to sacrifice is cannon fodder, I mean food eaters, I mean goblins. “We can do all you ask, we are very happy to do so. Allow us to take down trees for resources and mine the area now and you will get all the spoils.” Klongy now found herself needing to tone back her vernacular less the drow get suspicious or even worse find out she is getting everything she completely wanted. “All the goblin treasury gold yours for the war, send representative to island and we send one to underground where I hear you live, yes?” Shrugging her shoulders and with a quick shake of the head Klnogy finds she is able to shrug off the mental anguish she feels from speaking like such a cretin. Her intelligence and charisma were what she valued most and how she hadn;t gotten so far, although she finds it justifiable as how much smarter can one appear than appearing tactless and feeble minded while orchestrating a plan. “We will go so far, I really do hate those non-drow elves, they taste stringy and old. I have word to you that the goblins will make your life so much easier and ours so much as well. Klongy once again has her eyes meet Gevurah’s. “Also, Klongy Scribe war queen of Kregus to you, and you to me?

Gevurah grins falsely as Klongy grows excited by a drow promise. “I’ll find a place where we can exchange the gold. No need to come into the Underdark.” Where no doubt shadow gnomes would steal it. The scout returns from a different direction than from where he left and pulls a collar from his cloak and hands it to Gevurah. The high priestess nods to Klongy’s introduction and says, “Gevurah D’Artes, First Daughter and High Priestess to Vakmatharas. You may call me Gevurah.” She shakes the choker to draw Klongy’s attention to it. It is made of braided leather and at the center bears the emblem of House D’Artes. “Wear this and all drow gaze upon you will know that you are under the protection of my House and will not strike you. It is enchanted so that magical creatures will know it is real and not a fake copy.” Here’s what Gevurah doesn’t tell Klongy but her player needs to let Klongy’s player know: This ‘ally choker’ is really an enchanted D’Artes slave collar enchanted by Tiphareth. It has three main properties: i) it cannot be removed by just anyone (either Tiph, Gev, another D’Artes noble, or a powerful archwizard who can crack the magic code), 2) it allows Gevurah to know where Klongy is at all times, and 3) it can send electric pain if Gevurah so wishes. It has no clairvoyance properties. So Gevurah may know Klongy is in Frostmaw, but has no idea why or who she is talking to or what she is doing. It’s like a GPS + cattle prod. It’s a real item I’ll give you if Klongy accepts. Gevurah does not reveal any of the 3 properties I just outlined.

Klongy finishes the exchange of false kindness with a legitimate smile. “Ah, I knew your kind wouldn’t let me down when it came to magical aptitude.” Taking the artifact in hand and staring at it as she walks towards the other goblins Klongy continues. “Take these 40 or so odd fools, I’ll instruct them of our people’s fates and put them under your people. Allow me sometime to send the horde of Kregus to your location. Today marks an interesting and beautiful day, yes, yes it does. Today Kazanga lives. Yelling at her men in native tongue the only word recognizable being ‘Kazanga’ louder and louder again. Suddenly with that two burly goblins stand by Klongy’s side as all the others gather next to the drow scouts whilst Klongy still holds onto the collar to her wayside.

Gevurah makes a mental note to do a little research into the false god (drow opinions) Kazanga. The high priestess nods her head to Klongy’s deliverance of men right now. Without seeming too keen, she asks “Does the necklace fit? They run a little small and I can have a new one fashioned for you. Let me see if it fits.”

Klongy quickly disregards the thoughts she had for using the collar as a standard to her bearer to lead the armies. Now she sees the truth, this is a status symbol, one she can’t afford to go without. Surprisingly despite the huge difference in the two species’ overall size, the collar seemed to fit the goblin perfectly. “Fits me exactly. By the way, my people found your base of operations, I will return with 15000 men and commanders, I will bring back the treasury of Kregus. I’m sure with some magic support we will kick those weak fools out of the area in no time.” Klongy feeling she has won has decided to speak using more of her wits rather than pretending they don’t exist. With her two hardboyz by her side Klongy begins to walk away. “Expect to see me at the head of the military base soon, goblins know war trust me, glad to be in business with ya, the slaves, I mean warriors will be of great use to ya in the meantime.” Klongy chuckles to herself and awaits any parting words with from her new Drow allies.

Gevurah smiles when Klongy dons the collar. “It fits and suits you, an ally of House D’Artes.” She signs to the scout again. “I am sending Urquin with you. He will show you to the area fit for your camp. It is strategically located so that we may better collaborate in the war.” Probably the abandoned Archery Range, but let’s see what the admin say. As Klongy departs, Gevurah says “May Vakmatharas vanquish your enemies.”