Module:RPG/Northern Expedition.json

[   {        "posts": [ {               "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EThe ship has started sailing. To where? From where? That question can be easily answered. A caravel has left the docks of Copperport, going first for the cold northern ports of Yrvhaven to pack up with supplies, but the ship was manned even before that - a human knight bearing the name Stephanus Tavilrond, nine crossbowmen, six halberdiers, three longbowmen and a half-orcish cartographer named Yullen Londers (son of Hens Londers). This rag-tag team is the exploration team that is meant to be going on a little adventure to the north, the cold and harsh north, to a secluded land that went ignored for eight centuries.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n-I see land ahead, captain! - \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Esaid the cartographer. The knight then waved to the rest of the team.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n-This is no ordinary land. The shore looks frozen. The village looks like it belongs to a more ancient period from afar. Everything made out of thatch and wood. Like in the warm south... - \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Esaid the knight, while the captain just sighed\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n-Allright, we are going to land. Everyone, get everything ready. We have no idea what kind of welcome the natives are going to give up, so be ready, and ready to fight back if attacked. But remember, don't shoot unless provoked! We do not want unnecessary bloodshed. After all, we are an expedition team first, diplomatic delegation second, and group of armed men third, not a conquering army. Everyone undestand that? -\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Easked the knight from the group\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n-Sir, yes sir! - \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Ereplied the rest of the crew, and the captain started driving the ship towards the shore. This is going to be the moment of truth.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n",               "date": "2016-01-16T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1452898800,                "user": "Stephanus"            },            {                "content": "The Wolfkin of course spotted the approach of the expedition, going through much their own frantic rush of preparation. Living entirely in isolation however, with barely enough land of their own to bother fighting over, meant that they really had no military of their own. The well-trained forces of the expedition alone could probably do a good job of routing whatever forces the Wolfkin might be able to muster themselves... but of course this didn't have to be a violent mission.\n\n\nThe ship would reach the ground before the natives had even managed to mobilise a force to greet them, but eventually a moderate-size group of hunters and spear fishers had gathered their tools and set off as a group to meet the newcomers, accompanied by the leader of the settlement closest to the shore. About forty of them in total, each wearing hide 'armour' all in white that certainly paled in comparison to the outfitting of the expedition forces. Then again, in a place like this, the white certainly must help them blend in! It didn't work so well against the backdrop of the solid, dark-purplish-brown mud that formed the ground here, and down the way to the shore, however. The advancing figures could be made out plain as day - and strangely, they each had the ears of beasts protruding from their heads of sheer white hair.\n\nProvided that those crossbows and longbows weren't brought to use on the advancing group, who were equipped for battle but certainly weren't charging into it, a discussion would presumably be able to begin. And the real miracle? Both races spoke Common, albeit with very different accents that would occasionally make understanding tough. The question from the natives' leader was simple. \"Who are you? Why do you come here?\"\n",               "date": "2016-01-16T10:15:15.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1452935715,                "user": "Samilyn"            },            {                "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAnd indeed, the mission did not resort to violence when greeted by a bunch of wolf-eared humans who seemed to happen to be hunter-gatherers, savages with spears, harpoons and hide \"armour\". It could be easily assumed that such a group of people would be no threat to disciplined mercenaries who were carrying bows, crossbows and halberds, wearing chainmail armour, but one might be wrong. What these soldiers have in superior training and equipment, they \"make down for\" with overconfidence, underestimation of the enemy. But there are no enemies here (yet), and these soldiers are smart enough to realize that. And so is their leader, Stephanus Tavilrond, who couldn't believe what he was hearing. These people could speak his language? The language of the kingdom? Then maybe the ignorance was not mutual at all...\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n-We come in peace. We are explorers from the mighty Kingdom of Etrand, wishing to begin diplomatic relations with thy people. For almost a millennium, we have been completely ignorant about the fact that life even existed in this cold an desolate land, let alone sentient life and settled peoples. We would like a guide, so we can discover this land and begin negotiations with thy leader. - \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003ESaid Stephanus, trying his best to demonstrate his rusty negotiation skills, trying his hardest to make his expedition group look like anything but an army, despite the fact that they were clearly armoured and carrying weapons technologically superior to anything the Wolfkin have ever come accross. While he did not threaten the person he was negotiating with, the sword he had on his belt, his pose that involved putting his hands onto his hips and puffing his chest, and the fact that he had armed men behind him, all put extra weight behind his words, making him look like a man of power.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EWhat he did not tell the leader however, was that he intends to \"peacefully\" convince - if implying threats but avoiding actual bloodshed counts as peaceful - these people to recognize their land as part of the Kingdom of Etrand, and themselves as subjects of the King, \"for their own good\". Another thing he conveniently \"forgot\" to tell their leader is that they intend to gather as much as knowledge about this land and people as possible - even if it counts as spying - and then spread the news to their own country... even take one of the specimen, if there is a volunteer.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n-Art thou the only leader? Are all the tribes separate?- \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAsked the knight.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n",               "date": "2016-01-16T10:40:19.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1452937219,                "user": "Stephanus"            },            {                "content": "The Wolfkin were a communal people, a culture that required trust. They weren't, however, so quick to trust those from outside of their community, and the leader's wariness showed on his hardened face. He was obviously weighing up the military strength of these newcomers, and unfortunately the calculations weren't really working out in his favour. These men were clearly their betters in combat, and even if the expedition forces were outnumbered, if they truly were just a diplomatic party then there would surely be more to come. So, perhaps there was no choice but to trust them and try to make the best of the situation anyway. Some of his fellow men might find it weak, but it had to be the best way, right?\n\n\n\"I am leader of this village. There are other villages. But our people are One.\" He paused a little, giving himself one last chance to change his mind. He didn't. \"Come with us back to the village. I will arrange you a guide to our Landslord.\" Not a normal Common word, but the etymology and context ought to make its meaning obvious enough.\n\nAnd just like that, with much uneasy looks shared between the two forces, the expedition was led back to the nearby village from which this force had emerged from. The wooden structures that had been visible from the distance on these rather barren, open lands. How did these people survive in these conditions?\n\nThe village itself was peaceful. Idyllic, even, if one could look past the biting cold and the unwelcoming facial expressions that some portion of the villagers shot the newcomers. A group of women gathered along the bank of a small lake of icy, pure water, washing their families' clothes. Pleasant smells of food and wintry freshness in the air. A gentle bustle of activity, with evidence of the Wolfkin's co-operative nature every second place one looked. Villager helped villager, regardless of who was in which family. The needs of the village above the needs of any individual. It would probably be a stark contrast to the world that Stephanus and his expedition knew.\n\nMostly the Wolfkin kept to themselves and didn't approach, put off by the obvious weapons in the men's hands and their imposing suits of armour. The children, however, were not so shy. Two cute little Wolfkin girls, perhaps about nine or ten years old and looking like they could easily be twins, suddenly bounded up to Stephanus, ears twitching curiously. They were both dressed in simple wraps of soft fabric, as white as their hair. \"Hello!\" said one, unabashedly. \"You don't have any ears! What are you?\" The other girl had scooted around behind him. \"No tail!\"\n",               "date": "2016-01-16T11:40:17.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1452940817,                "user": "Samilyn"            },            {                "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EStephanus has had experience with such isolated peoples before, albeit not so human-like ones. He has been on seveal missions to Lizardman swamps before, spoke their language fluently, and had experienced first-hand that their definition of \"trust\" and \"favor\" were different than that of the technologically more advanced urban cultures. No different were the Wolfkin it seems, a culture that required trust - trust that is not usually given for free. Stephanus was already expecting being asked to do certain \"favors\" for the tribal leader just to be given the opportunity to talk to him, let alone get anything useful out of him. But alas, that is not how it went. It looked like the tribal leader knew the strength behind the weapons these foreigners were carrying, and behaved accordingly.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EIt looked like the knight and his team were being given what they were asking for, more or less for free.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E \"Thank thee, noble leader. We will follow thee.\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAnd with that, the expedition team was on the move again, led forth by that village's leader. Ah, the village... Peaceful, beautiful, even idyllic... If one can disregard the terrible cold. But these men could barely do that. All of the expedition team but one were humans without tails or wolven ears. One of them was a half-orc, with a green skin and a face that looked more like that of an animal than a human - and he was their cartographer, constantly carrying all sorts of papers around, a wax tablet that was useless in this cold, and lots of haversacks. Maybe this half-orc named Yullen Londers would catch their attention the most - definitely not one of the nine crossbowmen, six halberdiers or three crossbowmen, right? Or the knight?\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EThe march to the village was relaxed. None of the men walked like they were in a hurry. Crossbowmen let their crossbows vertically rest neir their shoulders, rather than horizontally pointing them forward in a threatening manner. It looks like Stephanus has attracted some attention he did not ask for however - two children, female children circling aound him. The knight just smiled, stopped to rub the heads of both girls, and tried to start talking to them.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E \"I am a Human. I come from the land far beyond the sea... Etrand. A land of lush green fields, dark green forests, and fields of golden grass.\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EHe tried to tell them, obviously with the intent of getting them impressed. Children like hearing exciting stories from foreigners. But it looks like the time he spent rubbing the heads of these children and slowly telling them that one sentence, was time spent making their temporary guide probably impatient, so he hurried up and got his men to march forward again, where they were originally being led to.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E \"I must not let anything jeopardize my mission...\"\n",               "date": "2016-01-17T11:21:23.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453026083,                "user": "Stephanus"            },            {                "content": "The little girls were soon called away by their mother too, cutting off their rush of follow-up questions about what were the forests like, were they dangerous? And so on. They wouldn't be able to delay Stephanus and his party any longer, and so the party could continue on passing through the village unimpeded, and right out the other side of it to follow a worn track deeper into these people's territory. Yes, perhaps the half-orc was attracting a larger proportion of the villagers' attention than the others, but \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Eeveryone\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E was getting stares. The armour was like nothing the Wolfkin had seen before, and fellow humans but without ears or tails were curious precisely \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Ebecause\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E of their similarities to the Wolfkin.\n\n\nIt was a decently long trek to reach the main settlement, taking a good two hours of trudging along in this cold and somewhat bleak landscape. The path wound its way around a large hill in order to prevent them having to climb it, and as the group started to round the corner, something rather incredible happened. Shoots of grass, and the occasional scattered plant could be seen, and the further the expedition headed South, the more signs of more familiar life began to appear. If anyone asked how it was possible, the guide would only shake his head. \"Something warms the earth below us. Enough for plants to grow.\" In fact it was various veins of magma that were responsible for such an effect. And apparently having enough impact that by the time the group had fully rounded the hill and could see the next village up ahead, they were walking across plains that, while still rather arid, could clearly support a range of plant life. There even seemed to be farmlands in the distance.\n\nA runner had gone ahead of the main group to warn the next settlement of the expedition's arrival, and so they were greeted by a small force of soldiers again, the Wolfkin clearly wanting to demonstrate that they had the military force to punish any wrongdoing. The leader of the settlement emerged too, however, and once it was clear that the group weren't looking for a fight, he became a lot more welcoming. He looked perhaps to be in his forties, but then none of the Wolfkin really looked much older than that. Either they had shorter life expectancies, or physically aged slower, it seemed.\n\n\"Gather some girls and women! Have them look after the newcomers!\" he commanded one of the soldiers, who quickly dashed off to do as bidden. \"You are a diplomatic force, yes?\" the leader then said to Stephanus. \"We will treat you well so long as that remains true. First, please set down your weapons, and so will we.\" He watched with alert eyes, waiting to see if the knight would comply.\n",               "date": "2016-01-18T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453071600,                "user": "Samilyn"            },            {                "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAnd so it would seem that Stephanus and his aprty would not be delayed any longer, as they were being led by the leader of the Woflkin away from the place there previously arrived, on a long journey. Two hours of having to carry their heavy weapons in that biting cold, two hours of having snow fall into their face, while their guide effortlessly walked the path without any complaints, having had to listen to the complaints of Stephanus's party instead. Stephanus while certainly wasn't used to this climate, has already endured his fair share of the lements during the 10 years of experience has had. Even though the ground has become warm enough to support plants, the air was still cold enough to cause complaints from the expedition team, who were not used to such conditions. If they knew in advance that they would have to march for such long distances, they would have brought expensive fur coats that do a much better job at defending against the cold than their chainmail and leather armour. The fact that Stephanus was wearing a much warmer plated armour did not help much either - while knights usually sweat heavily and feel hot in plate armour, it didn't seem to grant immunity against this cold.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAnd for once, they saw soldiers again. The expedition team was once again greeted by what they could only describe as a ragtag bunch of tribal warriors, but they were still envious of whatever granted them their resistance to this biting cold - whether it was their warmer clothes, or the simple fact that they are Wolfkin, naturally resistant to cold, did not matter. The expedition team was far more concerned with the temperature than the welcoming party's stance. They had their weapons against their shoulders vertically, breathing visibly, walking in a way that is anything but an army's march. They looked like they can't be any less prepared for a fight, and they did not intend to fight either - and since the welcoming party did not intend to fight either, no fighting actually happened.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EThe knight Stephanus carefully observed the Woflkin he saw before himself. Where were the grandparents? Where were the seniors? He had assumed that these tribal peoples had much lower life-expectancy due to endemic warfare, or had a bizarre culture that involved killing, eating or sacrificing the elderly... Or maybe, just maybe, they were like the Dwarves, Elves, Lizardmen and other non-human sepcies - physically ageing much slower than normal humans.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\"We are indeed the diplomatic force.\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003ENodded the knight, as he waved to his soldiers, who then put their weapons down carefully. The knight however did not seem to down anything. His sword was in his scabbard, and his scabbard was on his belt. Unless instructed specifically to get rid of his sword, he did not do so. Only if told he would get the scabbard off his belt, putting it down along with the weapons of the other soldiers - not that his life depends on his swod anyway, given how every single knight is also capable at magic as well, Stephanus's favourite offensive spell being the thunder balls. No matter what, he would wait for the opposing force to do the same, to put down their weapons. Only after that he would open his mouth.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\"We come from the far Kingdom of Etrand. Thy people seem to speak our language, so I assume thou hast already knew that about me. Art thou the leader of this people? If thou art, we would like to begin negotiations as soon as possible, if that is allright with thee.\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EHe said.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n",               "date": "2016-01-18T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453071600,                "user": "Stephanus"            },            {                "content": "Yes, Stephanus' sword would have to join the other downed weapons, but the Wolfkin did also comply and put away theirs. For the moment at least, there would be peace. Seeing this, the Wolfkin man smiled, and addressed the exepdition party's leader. \"Yes, I am the leader of my people. We call ourselves the Wolfkin, for we have their ears and tails. There's no rush with the negotiating, though. We need to get you folk out of the cold.\"\n\n\nEventually a few women arrived, and the leader told them to accompany the men to some lodging where they could be looked after. The rest of the gathered warrior-types also accompanying the group to make sure they didn't get up to any bad behaviour. This just left the two leaders, the Wolfkin leading the newcomer to his grand hut where things would be a little cosier. They ended up sat around a small wooden table (provided that the knight's armour would even allow him to sit), atop some kind of animal pelt that was actually quite soft. There was a stone firepit inside - perhaps the Wolfkin weren't quite \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Eimmune\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E to these chilly temperatures - and once it was lit the home would be quite cosy and welcoming indeed.\n\nAnd only moreso when Samilyn walked in. She was a pretty young thing, looking much like all the other Wolfkin females but with big, expressive eyes and a cute little button nose. Her body, somewhat hidden away under the same sort of wrap as most, still revealed hints of a rather generous chest considering her youthful mid-teens appearance. She entered gracefully, walking over holding a wood-carved tray of food items for the two men to share, dried fruits and nuts. Once it had been set down on the table, she stood back, waiting submissively in case more was required of her, but unable to stop herself from shooting the occasional curious glance in Stephanus' direction.\n\n\"Now, before we begin,\" the Wolfkin leader said. \"Perhaps there's something Samilyn here can do to make you more comfortable? Help you out of your armour, a massage...\"\n",               "date": "2016-01-18T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453071600,                "user": "Samilyn"            },            {                "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EIt looked like the bulk of the expedition team had no qualms about being led away from their leader by a group of women, into a wooden building where Titanius knows what they would do. Or so did Stephanus think. And indeed, his group of soldiers was a group of typical soldiers, following the orders of their leader - and the orders were to be non-violent, comply with whatever the Wolfkin asked, so long as it did not threaten their own physical existence. This left Stephanus and the leader of the Woflkin speaking to each other.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EYes, the knight could very much sit. His armour was not as demobilizing as one may think. A plate armour is a curious piece of engineering, one that constantly makes compromises between mobility and and defence, but doesn't restrict the movement nearly as much as one may think. The myth that if he falls from his horse he cannot get up is, well... a myth. If an ordinary peasant wearing such armour can get easily, then a trained knight like Stephanus can do so with no effort at all. The animal pelt would have been quite comfortable if it wasn't for his armour - even if he can easily sit with his armour on, no one said it was comfortable. It doesn't restrict movement, that much is true, but it is as uncomfortable as it gets.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EStephanus was just about to take a breath and \"begin negotiations\", but this attempt of his was interrupted by the appearance of a young and beautiful woman. He was just about to open his mouth when she appeared, making him stop in his tracks. A beautiful woman with large eyes, a cute face, an amorous body equipped with large mammaries, all for an age not everyone considers truly ripe. This all forced the knight to remain silent and listen to what the leader had to say before he could even open his mouth. Helping him out of his armour? A massage? Was this a genuinely kind gesture from a tribal people, or a blatant attempt to seduce a forger, in an effort to sway negotiations in a certain direction? Asked the knight himself the question, until he came to the conclusion that maybe it was a little bit of both. He considered saying \"N-no, thank thee, I am discouraged from taking these kind of pleasures...\", but then he reminded himself that he was in foreign soil, where a foreign culture reigned supreme - they might get offended if he refuses such an offer. In some cultures, accepting gifts from the host is mandatory, rejecting them may be deemed so offensive that it provokes a violent reaction. With that in mind, Stephanus gulped and delayed his answer by three seconds.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\"I would love to receive comforts provided by this divine beauty next to me. This armour is not the most comfortable piece of clothing to sit in, and a massage wouldn't hurt either. I would gladly receive both.\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EHe responded. Underneath his plated armour was even more armour - chainmail armour. Underneath the chainmail was a gambeson, a kind of warm and fuzzy \"heavy leather\" whose main purpose is prevent metal armour from contacting the skin directly, although it does add up a bit to defence, deflecting weaker blows. Underneath the gambeson was his normal clothing - just white silk shirt and brown leather pants. It looks like Samilyn will have a lot of armour to take off. How did Stephanus even manage to wear all of these at once without overburdening himself? These earless-tailless people must be strong...\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\"May I taste a few fruits?\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAsked the knight another question. For someone who was so eager to negotiate a few moments ago, now it looks like he became the main force behind delaying negotiations.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n",               "date": "2016-01-18T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453071600,                "user": "Stephanus"            },            {                "content": "\"Yes of course. Eat!\" The leader of these people sure seemed friendly.\n\n\nMeanwhile, Samilyn stood there, hearing the chief freely offer up her services to this stranger. She wasn't exactly \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Escared\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E of him, but certainly wary, and he talked so funny that she could barely understand him. And it wasn't just the accent! \"Divine beauty\"? \"Receive comforts?\" A further verbal prod from the village leader ensured that Samilyn obeyed regardless of her reservations, however, a quick little nod before she started walking over to Stephanus. The Wolfkin girl's heart beat away rapidly inside her chest, bringing colour to her cheeks and an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she struggled to get words to leave her mouth.\n\n\"Umm... I don't really know...\" Her voice was like the other Wolfkin, heavily accented but speaking his language. Soft and gentle. \"You will need to help me, sorry.\" That should've been expected. Unlike the toned men, Samilyn's body wasn't really muscled at all, fragile and feminine. She would struggle with heavy pieces of armour, that she didn't even know how to take off.\n\nBut if Stephanus stood for her, and assisted, progress would be made, and faster than he probably could have done it by himself. Piece after piece stripped away until he was left in just his silk shirt and pants. Samilyn's eyes couldn't help but admire his body a little, though the red-cheeked girl refused to directly meet his gaze.\n\nIt was only once he was sat again, with Samilyn's hands trying to squeeze the tension from his shoulders, that the Wolfkin leader spoke. \"There, now. From where do you people come? We've not heard of your kingdom. And this is a diplomatic mission? You are not just explorers?\"\n",               "date": "2016-01-19T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453158000,                "user": "Samilyn"            },            {                "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAnd then the knight would just grab one of the dried fruits with his gauntlet-clad hand and took it into his mouth, chewing on it while standing up to help Samilyn do the helping at taking his own armour off. Heavily pieces, indeed... The segmented-plated armour was stubborn, while the chainmail came off like a regular piece of one-piece clothing. It wasn't hard hard. As a way to thank the beautiful woman for helping him, he pat her head and then faced the leader.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n\"We are an exploration team first, a diplomatic delegation second. Thou may not have heard of us, but we... We have heard of thy people only recently. We come from the Kingdom of Etrand, the largest and most powerful Kingdom on the face of Artogach, commanding five million souls. A land of lush green hills and dark green hills, a land of yellow grasses that grow bread and wine, a land of abundance. It has recently come to our attention that this land we always thought uninhabited is actually habited... by thy people. And this leaves us with a question of procedure. Thy people seem to be lacking in goods we could offer to thee for a cheap price. However... This land... Thy people are few, and if word got out that this land was inhabited, foreign powers would try to attack thy community and capture this land.\"\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EExplained the knight, gradually shifting to a doomsaying grim tone, as if he was drawing terrible events.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\"This would not only be terrible for thee and thy people, but it would also be troublesome for us. Thy land is right in our corner, and if foreign forces occupied the lands of thy people, they could use it as a base to attack us. This is why I propose that we establish diplomatic relations, and thy people allow our people to establish and embassy and a trading post at very least. I am not authorized to make further arrangements, and neither am I allowed to make any more demands or promises on behalf of my people.\"\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAnd then his tone got a lot quiter. His voice somewhat softer, as if he was almost whispering.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\"And this is where the two missions may contradict. The explorartion mission, charting this land, drawing the map... I believe it is not unreasonable to feel entitled to the knowledge of a territory right in our corner, right next to us, especially if we used to wrongfully claim it as our own. However, if word got out... It could be troublesome.\"\n", "date": "2016-01-19T10:47:29.000+01:00", "hun": false, "streamlinedDate": true, "unixTimestamp": 1453196849, "user": "Stephanus" },           {                "content": "Samilyn just kept on massaging, letting the two men talk. It wasn't her place to interrupt their conversation, so there wasn't exactly much else she could do. As much as she might want to interject and ask if she was doing a good job with her massage, was there somewhere else she should be devoting her attention to? She had no idea which parts of him were sore, and the man wasn't acknowledging her at all, busy talking with her people's leader. So Samilyn's soft, gentle hands stayed at his shoulders, trying her best to make the newcomer happy like she'd been commanded.\n\n\nAt least she could listen to their conversation. Not that she could really follow all of it - women weren't supposed to have to think about these sorts of things. Foreign powers? Something about attacks on her homeland... it all sounded a bit frightening. But also intriguing! The big wide world... yellow grasses that grew bread and 'wine', whatever that was. Lush green hills, it was certainly nothing like the lands she knew! What would the people be like? All like this man she was now massaging? He was so tall. And even if he didn't have any ears, kind of handsome.\n\nMeanwhile, the Wolfkin leader was listening intently to what the man had to say. Establishing an embassy and trading post in his lands? It was a big ask, but he did not see the sense in provoking tensions with these well-equipped newcomers. If they really did own all those vast lands, filled with men armed like the ones that had shown up on those Northern shores, then serious care needed to be taken. Forget about those other \"foreign forces\" that had been mentioned, there were \"foreign forces\" on their lands right now!\n\n\"Very well,\" he finally said, having taken his time to consider things. \"Trading would be wise. But first, I need to know I can trust your tales of these lands far away. I shall send a party of scouts back with you when you return to your own lands. Can you accommodate them? Only when I see them returned here, alive and well, so they might tell me the truth of your words, shall I let any such things proceed.\"\n\nThe Wolfkin man's eyes fixed pointedly on his discussion partner, waiting to see how that offer would be received. Samilyn could sense the tension too, temporarily forgetting to work her dainty fingers over Stephanus' shoulders.\n",               "date": "2016-01-21T11:10:32.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453371032,                "user": "Samilyn"            },            {                "content": "\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EAh, the softness of Samilyn hands was like an angel's touch - so thought Stephanus. She reminded him of the lush, yellow and warm Southern Etrand, a land of simplicity, a land of technological backwardness compensated by bountiful food, beautiful and playful girls, a land where millennia-old wooden castles still stand as reminders of a bygone era that still lives on at the land. But now they were in a cold and desolate land populated by white-haired wolf-eared people like Samilyn. Still, Samilyn reminded Stephanus of that southern land of simplicity, where the people lacked luxuries and the most recent technological innovations, but lived simple and happy lives, had everything they asked for - especially beautiful women. Samilyn, the beautiful daughter of a simple-living primitive tribe.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EBut before he could get all-immersed in how heavenly was Samilyn's message or how beautiful she was, he had to mentally wake up and answer to the questions of the man he was negotiating with. All questions had to be answered.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E \"I will accomodate them, but it will take a long time to show them all of Etrand. We own vast lands, from the cold Northern Mountains where it snows for ever, to the southern rainforests where it is as hot as the fire all day long.\" he said. \"In between are the lands populated by my kind, the Humans. Our lands, filled with yellow grasses that grow bread, blue berries that become wine when crushed. Which part of my homeland shall I show to thy scouts? All of it?\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003Ehe asked. He failed to mention the cities, the urban landscape that lacked all of these. Surely it would be a shock to the scouts if they saw a large blobs of stone and wood cramped together with so many people walking in and out of them that they have never seen so many people before.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E\n\n\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EStephanus knew the quirks of negotiation - he did not return the suspicious look, but neither did he chicken out and look scared. He looked calm and relaxed, like someone who could easily win a game but was playing with his opponent. Like someone who may not even have been taking this seriously. But no, he was taking it very seriously - he just knew that the best way to \"intimidate\" your negotiating partner is to pretend you have as many tricks up your sleeve as there are snowflakes in this desolate land.\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E \"Very well... I can show thy men all of Etrand, if that is what thou wishest. I will personally be responsible for their safety and woe be to me if any of them loses as much as one hairbreadth. I can promise that. However, thy men better be prepared warriors. If I show them the countryside and we are attacked by highwaymen or we are attacked by pirates on the sea... The land of flowing milk and honey is not always safe.\" \u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003EHe finished his sentence. Then he pointed to Samilyn\u003Cnowiki\u003E*\u003C/nowiki\u003E \"Is she close to thee? Maybe if she accompanied me, thou would believe what she seeth. If she seeth what we see, thou can perhaps hear the story from her.\"",               "date": "2016-01-22T00:00:00.000+01:00",                "hun": false,                "streamlinedDate": true,                "unixTimestamp": 1453417200,                "user": "Stephanus"            }        ],        "sectionName": "The Northern Expedition"    } ]