The Castle

Bright says from the shadows "Looks like we are all set, ready when you are!" and he nods to Reika to open the door.

Slowly, gingerly, Reika turns the doors handle. Hearing no telltale sounds of a trap going off she then pushes the door a crack, then wide enough to allow a person or Firbolg inside. before the door rests on the opposite side, the plucky Ranger had already nocked an arrow to her bow and draw scanning the newly opened room for any hostile creatures.

Reika slowly opens the next door with an arrow nocked and ready to let loose. As the room comes into view, what lies before the party seems to be a simple foyer-type room. Renovations within this room are nearly complete: there is hardly any rubble or ruins left within this small hallway. There is a fanciful red carpet that blankets the ground and leads straight to an intricately carved stone door on the other end of the room (at V6). The walls are adorned with old ornate picture frames holding beaten up, soggy paintings, and a small, glass chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

Directly next to the door located at V6, sitting on a nice wooden chair with velvet cushions on the backrest and buttrest is a surprisingly tall goblin wearing cleanly polished heavy armor with a sheathed greatsword hanging from his waist. In one hand, the goblin knight is holding a sandwich and occasionally takes a bite, while in the other she holds a small book. She is so engrossed in whatever she is reading that the goblin knight does not hear the door quietly creak open as Reika steps in.

Liltila, without trying to hide her presence, will talk past Reika and into the room. Every instinct is telling her to strike out at the creature but she decides to play it calm for the sake of the infuriating peaceful members of the group.

"Must be a good book. May I ask what you're reading." she asks, her hand resting on the hilt of her weapon, just hoping the goblin gives her any little excuse to attack.

Reika was contemplating whether to shoot the reading goblin before they were spotted or not when Liltila spoked to it.

Great...one of these days I will have to lecture these people in the importance of maintaining the element of surprise...

She huffed and moved to the side of the room her bow still trained towards the armored goblin.

Yeah like what she said!

Ash sighs. Then he swiftly moves into the room (V8)
Careful! Monsters!

As Ash nears the door at V8, he can hear voices from the next room. Listening for a moment, they seem to be laughing and throwing jokes, but it is clearly the voices of more goblins in the next room south.

---

Suddenly surrounded, the goblin knight in full shining armor looks at you all with big, wide eyes and a mouthful of sandwich. Clearly fearful and understanding of the dire circumstances she now finds himself in, she quickly closes and hides the book she was reading, but very slowly lowers the sandwich and places it gingerly on her lap. She then carefully chews the bite in her mouth. After an awkward few seconds, she swallows, then says in a voice like a tobacco-smoking cheese grater, "Oh this? Heh, it's nothing. Just uh, just something I found lying around..." But, everyone clearly saw the label on the front of the book before she very quickly hid it, it read 50 Shades of Green.

With book and sandwich out of her hands, she raises her arms in surrender. "More prospectors? Though, you don't have an escort, meaning you probably forced your way in here. Well, what, what do you want, did you come to see the King or something? Heh. He's in a rather sour mood today, but sure. You can put that down, I'd rather you not shoot my eye out with that arrow of yours just yet, if that's okay with you, doll." she squints mockingly at Reika, who has the arrow still nocked practically right in front of her face.

Yes, we were rudely fired upon and attacked when trying to talk with you guys about a missing dwarf.
Ash looks at his comrades.
Now I am doing my very best to avoid bloodshed, and I had a delightful conversation with the old priest. BUT the difference between a king and a gang leader is that a king is available to take the tough decisions, no matter the flavor of his mood.

If we get any more lip, I am going to drop diplomacy and stick with the kill-them-all-and-sort-it-out-later plan, that has otherwise been suggested

Ash looks the porn and sandwich gobbling goblin in the eyes. Now point us to your king, while diplomacy is still an option.

Reika looked at Ash and her eyes almost popped out of her head with surprise to the sudden change of tone coming from the Firbolg.

He could have been that in the beginning and we wouldn't have any problems in the first place, she thought.

Yeah! just what he said too!

The goblin knight scoffs, "Oh! So THAT'S why you're here. Ha! Those darn treasure hunting dipnuts just don't know when to give up or back off. Sure, the King will see you now, right this way." She stands up and walks over to the door next to her, places a hand on the doorknob before saying, "Good luck, I'll follow you inside."

---

~Room Description~
The party is all ushered quickly inside the throne room, and the sights within are certainly one to behold. The party enters a large room of two tiers. The walls and floors of the bottom tier, onto which the party enters, are grand, squeaky-clean marble and polished stone with beautiful patterns and striations. The top tier of the room is situated about 5 feet above the bottom, and large stairs directly in front of the party connect the two tiers. Fancy gold railings line the ridges that run the sides of the bottom tier, from which one goblin knight in full shining armor is leaning over and looking scornfully down at the party. A pristine red carpet has been laid from the door all the way up the stairs, ending before a massive gold throne. The seat and backrest of the throne are a deep, commanding velvet while the arms and frame are pure gold, formed into little statues and artistic flairs. Surrounding the throne are mountains of treasure: innumerable gold and platinum pieces, jewel-encrusted rings and necklaces, potion bottles, a few shining longswords and shields, ad multiple full sets of armor that match the ones donned by the goblin knights. Standing next to the throne is another goblin knight who looks down at the party with a mean smile. Around F6 hangs a large circular chandelier with a line of burning candles, with two smaller ones hanging at around D3 and H3.

Lording over the room from behind the throne is an enormous, life-like and -sized gold statue of an adult dragon, sitting on its hind legs. Its wings are sprawled out 10 feet on either side of the throne. Its tail spirals up the wall behind it and its head looks majestically up to the sky.

To the left of the throne is a balding dwarf with his head and hands locked in a pillory. He looks excitedly at the party as they enter, clearly wanting to jump with joy, but is completely restrained.

Sitting on the throne is a giant, bulbous goblin. His teeth stick jaggedly out from its lips, pointing in every direction possible, slightly obscured by a long, droopy nose that hangs over his mouth. His stomach is perfectly round and bulges forward towards the party as they enter. A red and white robe drapes around his stomach as he sits lazily on the throne. A beautiful gold crown with ruby jewel inlays rests upon his head. In his left hand, he holds a large scepter with a ginormous red jewel placed on the top. The scepter looks to be built for both the casting of spells and the crushing of skulls.

His Sir Majesty, King Grol the Gassy Giant, King of the Cragmaws and Lord of Cragmaw Castle, speaks up in an aged, grumbly, tired voice, "You have requested to see me, and now you are here." He lets the words hang in the air for a moment, which suddenly feels like stinky cheese. "What is it that the Great King Grol can help you with?"

Dana is visibly impressed by the finery on display. "Your castle is remarkable, your Majesty. Not at all what we expected. We're here to negotiate for the release of... well, I'm assuming it's my kinsman there in the stocks." To the dwarf, she says, "Are you Gundren Rockseeker?"

Gundren opens his mouth to speak, but King Grol leans forward in his throne and Gundren instantly closes his mouth without uttering a single sound, looking to the King in fear. "For what it's worth, I appreciate the flattery. The renovation of this decrepit castle has taken an immense amount of effort. Luckily, we have a very wise, powerful, and wealthy patron. It has been a long and arduous process, and the process is still not yet complete; there are many obstacles still in our future."

The King looks severely over at the locked-up dwarf. "And folks like them are only adding hurdles to our track. They wish to keep us where we have been for centuries: fighting for our lives, hanging on with white-knuckled grips at the edges of society. He and his people have killed numerous members of our people, stolen our wealth, plundered our resources, all while their patrons and nobles smile and encourage them.

"I have kept him alive as a bargaining chip, but they keep sending rescue teams instead of negotiators. Please, tell me: what would a "civilized" city or nation have done at this point with such a threat? Do I have a reason to keep him alive still?" The King belches so loudly you swear the reverberations could be felt in the ground under your feet.

Dana scratches her chin thoughtfully. "Several reasons that I can think of. First, his value as a bargaining chip has not diminished. Rescue parties haven't been sent due to intent to insult, merely because of a misunderstanding of the situation. The civilised powers of the world are not aware of what you're trying to build here, so they assume they should deal with you as they have always dealt with goblins. Since those rescuers have not returned, there has been no reason to revise that assumption. By keeping Gundren alive, you retain your opportunity to change that outcome."

"Second, the question of what a 'civilised' society would do with such a prisoner is dependent on what it hopes to gain. If they - or rather you - felt there was nothing to be gained diplomatically, but felt there was some authoritative or exemplary advantage, then they might execute them. You don't seem to be lacking in authority, but what you currently lack is recognition of your own civilised nature. Showing mercy to prisoners, as well as demonstrating that you're prepared to engage with diplomatic processes, is a good way to achieve the recognition you seek."

"Thirdly, you are currently dealing with rescue parties, who are attempting to retrieve their quarry in a relatively subtle and discreet fashion. Should you execute your prisoner, that would be more than enough pretext for those same nobles and patrons to declare all-out war; rather than facing small parties attempting to get in and out of your kingdom with minimal casualties, you would be facing invading armies that would kill all your subjects, raze your castle, and take all its treasures for themselves."

"And, I suppose finally, there's the question of what happens right now. We're happy to negotiate, but we are nevertheless charged with retrieving Mister Rockseeker by any means necessary. If that requires us to kill everyone in this castle rather than coming to a fair settlement, then that's what we will attempt to do - and if we fail, the next group of rescuers will come with the same mandate, but greater resources, in a never-ending escalation. And they may not bother to offer you the choice of a peaceful resolution again."

She looks to her companions. "Did I miss anything?"

Ash smiles and nods. To the porn goblin, he quietly says. Diplomacy at work

The King seems genuinely interested and noteful to Dana's response, but scoffs at the moment she mentions the party killing everyone in the castle. "If it does come to that, I only ask that you spare as many of my citizens as you can. I understand you have come here to complete a job, but it is a job I cannot allow you to complete, at least not yet." The King stands up from his throne, and wobbles over to a busy and cluttered table up against the wall at around I1, going slightly out of view for some of the party memebers for a couple seconds. A moment later, he reappears at the top of the stairs, then slowly descends while flipping through a stack of sheets of parchment. He walks directly up the party, hands Dana a couple sheets of this parchment, then turns around and walks back up the stairs. He strolls over to Gundren locked in a pillory and holds a parchment sheet before the dwarf's face.

"Prospector," he says, his voice filled with hate as he turns to look back down at the party, "you received an exact copy of this sheet of paper, did you not? Hand-delivered by the Ember Redeemer himself a few months ago, no?"

Gundren's voice is nervous and shaky, and is missing the usual heartiness that a dwarf's voice holds, "Yes, we did."

"And what did you do with it?"

"We... well, we burnt it."

"Interesting." The King returns to his throne, crop-dusting Gundren as he walks back over and sits in it, "So, I wish to not let these slights against our clan go unpunished; I wish to show that we mean business, and that we are here to stay.

"I am willing to forgive your party's murder of one of our wall watchers and Mr. Stinky-Pantz, and for such a civilized conversation so far, I freely do. And what was it you mentioned, mercy to prisoners? Have we hurt you in any way, Gundren, besides when we restrained you when we caught you stealing from our patron's hoard after receiving our olive branch?" Gundren sunkenly shakes his head no.

"Well, I do not wish to simply release my one bargaining chip, the one thing I have that will guarantee a chance of others finally listening to me and my clan. I am, however, still up to negotiate. But the simple, unfettered release of my single advantage is a no." He watches the party closely from atop his throne, waiting patiently for a response.

After reading the letter Ash turns on Gundren. You burned it?! Then all the blood spiled since then is on your hands! You utter arrogant FOOL!

Ash takes a moment to gather his thoughts. I have heard stories about exchanging hostages or intermarrying between waring clans. I think if we look at those we could find inspiration for a workable solution.

Your highness, I suggest that Gundren is promoted to ambassador to the civilised lands, and thus staying here at the Cragmaw Castle for a while. We will return with letters in his handwriting, explaining this arrangement. These letters will be returned by one of your goblins. Your priest is my suggestion, but it is your decision who among your goblins are both wise and levelheaded enough to handle human politics.

As fear in Gundren is clear Ash adds. This arrangement would be no longer than a year or until another ambassador have been appointed.

How does that sound?

While the verbal gymnastics between her party and the goblin court are ongoing, Reika's bow arm become tired and seeing as not one of them in the room looked to be reaching for their weapons she put her bow away. Scanning the room she found something that made her heart a flutter even more than seeing gold and jewels: A table laden with food.

*Loudly clears throat*EXCUSE ME!!! HELOOOO! HEY EVERYONE!! SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT!

Storm, who had been quietly hiding in the shadows ready for combat should it break out, drops his guard at Reika’s words. "Greetings King Grol" , Storm bows with a flourish of his cloak. "I’m Bright Storm, and after reading your letter I should apologize for mr stanky pants and your guard."

"Ash’s suggestion seems sound to me, and we have been a day without sustenance. As it seems we have moved past outright violence for now, how about we discuss the terms over a meal? "