Fort Resolute Leaders Talk Kobolds

[Jim Roberts]

[Feb 7 -- Ft. Resolute]

> “TMI, Kittycakes,” Tramma sighed.
>
> “Perhaps,” Dame Nerwen elegantly suggested, “we should return our
> attention back to the maps?”
>
> Josie at least had the grace to blush at her (latest) faux pax, and
> diligently locked her eyes on the big map. With an assortment of
> grins, frowns, and resigned shrugs, everyone else joined her in the
> examination of the territory surrounding the Briar Patch and the
> Honeyskin’s nearby Chief’s camp. There were several neatly marked
> spots marked with tiny reen skulls which Tregarth told them marked
> encounters with Green Death kobolds, all north and usually east from
> the site of the waystation and main village of the local tribe.

“Will the Forest People tribes have to help protect them in the short or
long term?” Erik asked one and all as he studied the map. “A mutual aid
treaty would help. We can also help deal with the orcs in the mountains
and hills west in addition to wherever the Green Death has been reported
in the area. Assuming the kobolds want help.”

Here, the elven officer had an opinion. “A mutual aid treaty would
greatly help. But as Bard Tramma has inferred, these Upwinder kobolds
are not exactly poor cousins coming begging, in desperate need of
protection. The assets they have available are… considerable, up to the
quality of most if not all of us sitting here now. Mutual aid will
certainly be in everyone’s interest… but the Upwinders may well be able
to provide as much or more aid than they require in turn.”

Ben nodded in agreement.

“Someone else could play the long game like this ‘Mother’ has. They
also could try and take out the Upwinder leadership,” Erik mused aloud.
“If the Upwinders haven’t already set up precautions we should aid them
in their plans.”

All of the Abbot’s people looked at each other in confusion. “I thought
the Abbot was gonna freeze their asses with that Fumriousbandersnatchi
Winter spell he’s always on about,” Josie noted in confusion.

Her silver-haired friend just silently facepalmed, then muttered in a
sorrowful tone, “that’s Fimbulwinter. Besides, that part hasn’t been
decided anyway.”

“I refer to the Fimblewinter spell,” the Abbot clarified. “Because to me
it is a perfect example of a two-edged sword, as it can do far more harm
than good. Yes it would take care of the threat, but the harm to the
environment would be devastating. I'm sure my druid friends could
elaborate much better on the subject than I.”

Tramma snorted in amusement. “Just get Wolf Girl started, and she’ll go
on and on about it.” In defense of her far away friend, the bard
relented and added, “But to hear Pilinde talk, she’s already convinced
the SJE has turned the place into an ecological wasteland. A…
‘perversion of Nature’, I’m pretty clear she either said, or thought so
loud I could hear it. You should certainly ask, but she may be fine with
flash freezing the place, and then letting Nature take over once the SJE
are gone.”

Erik, meanwhile, was continuing to stare intently down at the maps. “The
Upwinders can help both us and tribes with information beyond our borders.”

“They can,” Dame Nerwen quietly agreed. “Help with both information, and
a common defence.”

“You lost me there,” Tramma observed. “I mean, sure, if they are
watching that swampy zone and willing to keep us up to date on anything
weird going on in there, that’s one area we’ll get a bit better coverage
on. But… Gil makes a point of doing an overflight at least once a month,
and the Honeyskin champion Seuth and their scouts are no slouches.
Everyone in the area knows the Green Death bear watching; so how is the
Upwinders taking over that swamp going to gain us information beyond the
present borders, other than the swamp itself?”

The Lord of Fort Resolute had another quite pertinent question.
“Logistically, what problems will we face while moving a tribe of
kobolds through the plains and up to that spot? Who should do it?”

That was more in the elven captain’s wheelhouse. “I was hoping we could
avoid the overland migration altogether,” he replied. “If the Abbot is
willing, I believe a Teleportation Circle would go a long ways towards
assisting with the transport, once the politics on this end are secure.”
He frowned, and added, “IF they are secured,” he corrected himself. “It
will not be an easy matter.”

“What worries me most is the timeline,” the Abbot’s diplomat Tramma put
in. “Ideally we ought to wait until the Forest People have time to
convene some of their Councils to hash out their opinions and hopefully
agree to this plan.” She shook her head, and said, “we have already
kicked the Social Justice Engineers in the teeth and taken out their
evil high priests. I am not sure we dare wait until Midsummer when the
Grand Council normally meets to start moving the Upwinders.”

Tregarth smiled warmly at the bard, silently congratulating her on her
very apt insight. “So in other words,” the huge knight mused in his
surprisingly mild voice, “we need the Boss not just to pull off a
Diplomatic Miracle, but to do it immediately, if not sooner.” He
chuckled, and looked at his liege. “Just as well they’re not asking you
to do anything HARD, Boss.”

“It looks like there will be some long rides in store for me. Finifn,”
Erik chuckled grimly. “I’m assuming your team will be dealing with
follow on strikes on the SJE leadership.”

Before the elven officer could reply, Josie surprised everyone with a
loud interruption. “Yaaaayyy!” the Pussycat lead singer cheered.
“There’s been a putsch! Fin is now in charge.” In mock chagrin, she
added towards the Abbot, “Sorry, Your Holiness, but Fin is a LOT cuter,
and I’d be glad to follow him ANYWHERE.”

Tramma sighed. “Kittycakes,” she said mournfully, “I know this sounds
weird coming from me, but please try to behave. From the stories I’ve
heard, the Lord of Fort Resolute and our favourite hot elf warrior have
a LOT more time together in the field way back when than Lord Erik has
with His Grace, and so of course Erik is assuming that Finfin is in
charge of… what’s that bloodless word they use… the operational side of
things.”

This, Finfin did not dispute, and simply answered the original
assumption. “We will be,” the elf agreed.

“What will you do with the remaining SJE after the Upwinders are moved,”
Lord Erik asked levelly?

“It won’t be pretty,” Josie predicted solemnly, drawing one finger
sideways across her throat.

“Probably true, alas,” Tramma sighed. “The Upwinders have pretty
astonishing penetration into the SJE leadership from what we have seen.
So far as I can tell, there is quite a difference of opinion among the
Upwinder leadership. ‘Mother’ hopes to convinced a fairly large number
of the rank and file SJE kobolds to join their exodus. The impression we
have all gotten from ‘the Foreman’, who appears to be their military
leader or perhaps just in charge of the scouts, is that he does not
expect anywhere near as many as his more idealistic spiritual leader.”

Finfin nodded. “It may reflect badly on me, but I am concerned that the
Foreman’s prediction may well be the more accurate of the two. I hope
that I am wrong in this prediction. But if I am not, then those of the
SJE who manage not to freeze in the Fimbulwinter will be faced with a
variety of choices, none good from their point of view. Return back to
the untender welcome of their dwarven ‘homeland’, follow suggestions we
may wish to plant suggesting a southward migration towards the lands
currently held by the Sultan Sagitarius might be in order… or my
personal prediction, attempt to take away the Godcarver lands in a last,
desperate roll of the dice. Absent their massive home turf terrain
advantage.”

“The Godcarvers would like nothing better than to wipe them out,” Tramma
shook her head. “And there’s no love lost between Jeyshann’s Cat Mob
who’ve been helping scout and the SJE kobolds, either. Even by ‘Mother’s
more optimistic assumptions, we are still looking at wiping out
thousands of kobolds. That is kind of sobering.”

Finfin nodded grimly. “I do not relish the thought. Particularly as the
‘we’ you mention should include some of us personally, and in that
regard, I very much do include myself.” The elven officer sighed, and
added, “This would be death in a sickening quantity… but to walk away
from the mess that we helped trigger, despite any good intentions we
hold, would be even more criminal, and any Godcarver deaths that happen
from our INaction would be our own responsibility.”

“If only we had more time to study this Prophecy ‘Mother’ told us
about,” the silver-haired bard observed somberly. “That’s another
frightening angle of all this. Over a hundred years ago they wrote all
this down, and some of the prose she shared with us quite clearly is
talking about US - Laquendi and I, for sure.”

“See, you’re famous,” Josie smirked. “I am sure somewhere they have a
page or two about me.”

“‘The dark and light Sisters of Silver shall show you the beginning of
the time of mingled change, terror, and promise’,” Tramma recited in a
slightly singsong fashion, then continued in a deadly serious tone.
“Josie, I do not mind people ogling me when I make a fool of myself on
stage to entertain them.”

“This is completely different,” Tramma shook her head. “Those kobolds in
that room; MOST of them *believe* that we are some sort of foretold
saviors or something. I guess it is a bit different for you; Flying
Tigers are born to a sort of guardian role for an entire people. The
thought that I *personally* am included in some divine plan is more than
a little humbling - and frightening. Even though it is an article of
faith in the Tellic church that we ALL fit into the Grand Design in our
own way, it becomes a lot more concrete when you find out someone wrote
down a verse a century ago that hundreds of other beings believe
predicted your arrival.”

“The Telar work in mysterious ways,” Ben cited a basic tenet of his
faith. “That we can only hope to fathom and understand their mystic
messages.”

“Lastly,” Lord Erik concluded, “helping the Upwinders is also the right
thing to do. Helping out groups of good creatures is something we have
spent much of our careers doing.”

A round of somber nods of agreement greeted this observation. Even
brash, confident Josie contented herself with no more than a jaunty
grin. If there was one thing any Flying Tiger understood, it was the
sense of purpose and responsibility brought on by knowing you had a
mission to help and protect others.

“If I might make an observation?” Finfin asked quietly.

After another moment of silence, Tramma gently replied, “You’ve got the
floor, sweetie.”

The elven officer nodded. “I am neither an Elf of the Cloth, nor a Holy
Knight,” he admitted, “and even I can see that helping the Upwinders is
indeed our moral Duty. And that can likely be a compelling reason for
some of the Forest People and their Leadership. But not all.”

Tramma looked hard at the elf for a moment, and then smiled. “You
wouldn’t have brought that up if you didn’t have a suggestion, Fin, So
please, let’s hear it.” Mithi, too, was nodding her approval. The elf
had confessed to her in the past about being “too passive” in the
affairs of the Gelmir Vale settlers, and she was openly encouraging her
mentor to follow his determination to fix that past mistake.

“For those among the Forest People NOT swayed by moral arguments,”
Finfin began, “may I suggest the notion of Enlightened Self-Interest?
For some, and perhaps many, that can be every bit as powerful a
motivation, or perhaps, even stronger.” Turning to Lord Erik, the elf
continued, “Stress to those who need it the mutual advantages of having
the Upwinders as their neighbours. They are not just ridding themselves
of the Green Death menace.”

Erik was looking interested, and wordlessly motioned for the elven
wizard to explain further.

“At the same time,” Finfin continued, “it is important to NOT set out to
CONVINCE the Forest People of either the righteousness of this cause, or
of the Enlightened Self-Interest. But instead, simply present them with
facts of which we are ourselves certain. That way, we can provide them
with the raw data that, if true, can only point in one way.”

"Whaddya mean, if true”, Josie asked curiously? “You're telling me that
after getting us in this deeply, YOU aren't convinced? I might just cry,
you know; I thought you were sold and way smarter’n me."

"I am convinced," the elf replied evenly. "But I am not a diviner of
souls, or able to read the will of the Telar or Great Spirits. So what I
have seen has convinced ME... but my opinion does not ultimately matter.
It is the Forest People who matter here. They are the ones that need to
be given the facts, and to have their own communions with their guardian
spirits, to make up their OWN minds about either the moral necessity, or
of the Enlightened Self-Interest, whichever motivates them most, in
doing the right thing and helping the Upwinders".

“That is the essence of diplomacy, Fin,” Tramma observed gently. “Not
convincing people, but helping them convince themselves. Took me quite a
while to understand that. I knew it worked for comedy, but it took a
long discussion with Bartras and Alaelia to crystalize the realization
that the same skill set could make me a good diplomat, too.”

The elf nodded. “So noted. I hope that we are able to present the case
where helping the Upwinders is a win all around. Not only will they be
making the morally right choice, but they will also secure the
friendship of a remarkably powerful but benign force that could aid them
with any of the regional menaces they may face.”

“That is a bit of a two-edged sword,” Josie spoke up, far more
thoughtfully than her usual flippant interjections. “Speaking as a
member of a remarkably powerful but benign (and sexy) force who have
done exactly that for generations… yeah, I think we can sell that, IF we
can get the Bardic Circle and the Medicine Lodge to agree with the
necessity.” She shook her head. “My ancestors sold the Forest People on
that sort of notion generations ago. Sometimes I find myself wishing
they hadn’t, if ya know what I mean.”

“I certainly do, sweets,” Tramma replied gently. “And Lord Erik here
does as well. I hope he doesn’t mind me speaking out of turn…?” A silent
nod of approval allowed Tramma to continue. “I was there when Lord Erik
was talking about the Flying Tigers’ plight with Grandma Rayga. He’s on
your side, Kittycakes.”

“No shi….rt?” Josie asked, genuinely surprised and only at the last
syllable managing to prevent ANOTHER of her frequent social gaffes.

Tramma played along, looking speculatively at the Lord of the whole
area, acting blissfully unaware she was in the very seat of his power as
she unabashedly gave him a long, admiring look. “That I would LOVE to
see,” she smirked, her eyes dancing with mischief and the hint of some
sort of shared joke with the powerful holy knight. “Business before
pleasure, alas. Though yet again we are dragging the shining knight off
on a vital diplomatic mission. People are starting to talk, Lord Erik,
mostly saying ‘just who does that Tramp think she is bothering Lord Erik
all the time?’”

“You're not a bother at all,” Erik assured the bard with a grin. “I find
you very helpful.”