>>8802115
Your campsite is up ahead, the village (Read: Warren dug into a hillside near a river) having grown a bit. Particularly, it's grown eighty-something pattering feet that are now being tended to by a small community of mothers that are decidedly NOT into knitting and gossiping. And more, you know, raising the children in a way so that not-too-many of them kill each other off before they're fully matured into PROPERLY backstabbing wretches. The thought occurred to you that you should just toss the women and their accursed infants into some kind of breeding pit in the warren, but you've been more interested in, you know, watching your own back and killing dwarves to get shit done.

Speaking of which, you've got two bitchin' Slayer axes brought back in addition to the human crap, as well as those six chests locked with built-in keyholes. Absolutely bitchin'.

Sidenote: Before the big effin' info block, I wasn't around yesterday due to illness-slash-computer troubles. Still a bit sick, but I'll give this a shot anyhow.

>>8802128
139 Goblins, 13 Humans, 8 Worgs, 2 Bear Cubs:
2 out on patrol for Death Lotus (Not returned)
12 women nursing
6 Diggers working to dig out warren.
2 Bow guards
3 Fish-herding
2 Royal Goblin Guards
2 Speargobs on the roadside
2 Speargobs idle (All of which have some basic crafting skills)
1 Pike-armed speargob watching over Black Lotus captive
6 Gobs working on crafting shields, spears, rope, and baskets from wicker/weeds.
4 Gobs working on ditch and wall.
8 Gobs ready to gather lumber (2 Scouts, 1 speargob)
3 Worgmaster Gobs working on pushing rocks into the road
3 Shamans (Ninetoes and 2 Shamans-in-training)
1 Idle Pike Gob
84 Newborn Children. (2 weeks to usability, 4 until full maturity)
12 Humans (1 Chef, 4 paiges, 7 average-looking human bookworms)
8 worgs currently in their pen, remaining restless and occasionally getting tossed bits of fish.
2 Bear Cubs in their own pen as well.

You have:
-25 Gold coins and 10 silver and 30 copper
-10 shovels
-A few bolts of very comfortable cloth
-2 gold wedding bands
-Ten silver nails from one of the more muscular Elves, who apparently was the one that had the book in his backpack.
-6 Elven corpses with associated paraphenalia (Clothes, backpacks, some lengths of rope, etc)
-1 Wagon, almost completely demolished
-Elf Meat
-Some goblin meat too
-Delicious ale, six bottles
-A few satchels of animal poop for poisoning weapons.
-Fishing net
-Fishing hooks
-Poisonous shrooms and antidote shrooms (And some that cause "Smelly wind" and "Overly friendly trolls")
-Smithing tools
-Ancestral Bugbear Chieftain skull
-6 barrels of ale
-4 barrels of oatmeal
-2 barrels of flour

>>8802138
Weapons:
-10 axes
-6 slings made from various pieces of cloth.
-10 stone-headed axes
-13 wooden spears with flint tips
-6 Reed/Wicker shields
-Your battered iron shortsword.
-8 Shortbows with 40 arrows in 2 quivers and 6 sealed quivers of 30 arrows each.
-3 Bolas
-4 suits of scale armor (One worn by you, and two worn by your Royal Guard Gobs Onebrow and Clawfoot)
-14 pikes
-1 dwarf axe (Wielded by you)
-2 poisoned iron daggers (Black Lotus poison)
-2 Slayer Axes (Greataxes)
-4 Longbows (120 arrows in total)
-5 Tower Shields
-5 Iron Longswords
-5 Chainmail suits
-Iron Wagon (Carriage with iron plates bolted on)
-6 iron maces with notches worked into the heads
-20 iron shortswords
-5 steel-tipped longspears
-2 solid steel greatswords of fine craftsmanship. Almost dwarven, but not quite.
-1 Fancy wrist-crossbow-thing (Ten steel bolts left for it)

Goals:
Ambush caravan [ACCOMPLISHED GLORIOUSLY!]
Meet with bugbears, convince them to acknowledge us as their leader
Assimilate Black Lotus
Call spirits of the caravan elves and the new caravan for more information
Attack human settlement and fishing post
Interrogate Humans? Maybe? Eh, they'll make a good meal anyways once they're done working.

>>8802155
Addendum: Goals listed were the last ones someone actually listed out/compiled. It was also mentioned to have the bear cave you cleared out fortified.

Current Village Layout:
Warren with food holes, sleepin' holes, and plenty of tunnels currently being constantly expanded by your experienced diggers. The tribe lives inside of here now, with food stores being kept up.

The hill it is situated in overlooks a somewhat-wide (30ft) river, with a large oak tree situated atop the hill. You have built a one-gob lookout post from a plank of wood into the tree. There is a bear cave near the hill you have made into your private throne room-slash-headquarters, but it's relatively unfurnished.

Ninetoes has proposed to you that he can "transmogrify" the lives of ten Gobs or Humans into either a boost of arcane energy for himself or a basic golem made from "Au Natural Materiel". Whatever /that/ means.

Fuck yeah, it's Settler Quest! Let's get to interrogating the humans. We should also consider making some plans for the captured wagon. I propose we repair the thing and then, once our bears are grown a bit more, use it as a bear powered battle wagon.

YES. Good to have you back.

See about if we can get an item shiny and magic with Ninetoes' soul process. Or if we can bind a mind/brain into it.

>>8802264
Here's an idea: The bears haul it to a fight, and then are released from their harnesses to better engage enemies. The wagon then serves as a perch for our archers and slingers to shoot from, and cover for them to duck behind.

>>8802264
The humans look delicious, though the woman of the group- currently bound and knocked out in the wagon- looks particularly filling. Especially with a side of fresh dwarf meat. Because fuck, do you HATE dwarves. What decent gob doesn't? It's the cool thing to do!

Regardless, the humans are currently looking pretty worn out from hauling those wagons bareback uphill. Now they feel the same racial inequality your people have endured for years!

Regardless, what human do you wish to interrogate first? There's a hefty-lookin' chef, four young human boys that have thus looked suitably cowed to your mighty Torg-blessed form (What with the spikes and all), and a gaggling of thin humans that have otherwise proven themselves useful as slaves but otherwise incapable of contributing more than a bit of "Please don't kill me!" and "Woe is me!". More woe-ing would be nice, but you can't always get what you want, sadly.

>>8802264
We should find another long-term food source before the next generation gives us even more mouths to feed.

Also, interrogate the human who had the shiny repeater crossbow, I want to know about what they were doing and how the crossbow works.

>>8802292
Exactly what intend. I was also thinking of having our goblins reverse engineer the crossbows into some larger models and attaching a couple to the top and some to the interior that could be fired out of slats in the sides for use as heavy artillery.

>>8802271
Ninetoes seems particularly knowledgeable on magic-ing up stuff. Probably because he's a shaman and- from what you've seen- a pretty freaking strong one by Goblin standards.

"Magic, Glorious One?" He says, giving a reedy smile. "With enough blood, ANYTHING is possible! Well, enough blood and magic. What is it you desire? I can make quite a few things, from those leeetle husks to something...reaaaaaaally shiny. Shiny and big!"

His teeth form into a wicked smile at that.

>>8802315
Well we were planning on creating some hideous human-goblin hybrids for use as spies and infiltrators earlier, we might want to take the females as captives and stick them in a separate dug out in the warren for that purpose. As for actual interrogation though, let's start with the chef. If he refuses to talk let's be a bit sadistic to the fat bastard and stuff his face with fish. He'll be force fed our delicious goblin cuisine until he's full to bursting. We have excess food stocks and the process sounds amusing.

>>8802315
We'll interrogate the woman first, and then maybe a couple others just to verify her story.

I'm thinking we should proceed with the half-troll plan from last time. Ninetoes can use magic to speed the process, it doesn't matter if the result is rather mutated. We can keep trying as we capture people until we make it work.

>>8802321
The human with the fancy wrist-crossbow is woken up with a bit of foul-smelling paste from Ninetoes. What it is made of, you'd probably guess bat guano. Lots of bat guano. He has enough of the shi- stuff. Enough of the stuff to make a mini-warren of his own!

She retches as she awakes, struggling at the reed ropes with a scowl. Upon your questions, she says nothing. Ninetoes smiles, looking to you, "Glorious One," He croons, "I could perhaps wring the answer from her, yes-maybe?"

>>8802380
Hmmm, how long would a half breed take to be born? Humans give birth slow but we give birth fast. Possibly we could get Nine-Toes to magic up a way to speed up the process? It would make them even more abominable. Which is good.

>>8802375
Have the two Slayer's axes magiced up so that they are bound to our own axe, and float near us to attack our foes when we take up the original dwarven axe.

Use as many humans as you need.

>>8802406
Give him the go ahead, just make sure he doesn't wring too hard.

>>8802406
How does he plan to do that? We want her alive enough for the half-troll experiment/entertainment.

>>8802380
What do you wish to interrogate the chef about?

>>8802397
>>8802433
Inquiring with Ninetoes on the matter in front of the woman, she visibly pales as the word "Half-troll" is bandied. The implications aren't too hard to get across the already-well-breached language barrier.

"How long? Wonder myself, sirrrrr...Never tried it before! Would be interesting. Maybe four months or so? Humans take so loooong, might get impatient. Not sure. Plus, maturing, maturing would take long...could just /make/ the girl into half-troll, maybe?" Ninetoes asks, looking at her with a malicious gleam in his eyes. "Yesss..." He croons, drawing out the word in the human tongue.

The girl, for her part, at least retains bladder control.

Oi, You orcs dinnae wan' no scran?

I aven't eatin' since that river wot we cros'd three days ago! I canna fight on this Gobbo meat!

I say we find somewhere to loot!

>>8802472
Actually, it'd be better to use the four young boys for that. Easier to get them properly obedient than someone already an adult.

>>8802472
Eh... if we made her into a half-troll would she breed faster? Maybe we could use her in half-troll form to breed with actual trolls or goblins. Would she give birth faster then?

>>8802492
We just looted a stocked caravan! We'll go raid the village soon enough, give us a bit of time to consolidate our gains though.

>>8802442
>>8802449
>>8802456
Ninetoes cups his chin at this, thinking deeply. Which, for a Goblin, is a sure sign of him having some devious ploy skittering through his head.

"Floaty axes? Well, five or six humies might do good. What you think, woman?" He asks, poking her with a wart-riddled finger.

The captive just snaps at his finger with her mouth, trying to bite it off. Ninetoes lets out a cackle of mirth, "Ooh! Fiesty-fiesty, very naughty! Do not worry Glorious One...will leave her usable. Barely. First will go the toesies, then the feetsies..." He remarked in a sing-song voice, producing a rusty iron knife from inside the breast of his shawl.

>>8802472
Where were the humans going exactly? We know they were probably headed to some sort of battle with the chest full of weapons they were carrying, but not any specifics. If he doesn't know that then they can at least tell us where they come from.

>>8802513
>>8802492
Lootin'? Ye've got loot enough, ya git! But if'n yew be gettin' greedy, there's an 'ole village of dirt-farmin' 'umies down the road about a day's travel. Of course, 'umies are really nosy, so ye'd need to crump the ones in the village right an' propa if yew don't want a whole bunch of 'em buggerin' ya!

Plus, you've got a whole shitload of kiddies being raised right now. They'll make a niiiiice meatshield for any looting.

>>8802502
Ninetoes, for once, shrugs. "Can't say, Glorious One. Never tried it before. Might breed faster than a gob...might leave barren." He flashes another unusual smile, tilting his head towards the woman. "Want to find ooouuuuuuut, though. Neeeeeeeeed to know...Such /delicious/ knowledge!"

>>8802518
I say we use all the 7 bookworms and the chef for making the axes floaty. Would be shiny. We raise our axe in anger, and the two other axes fly off our back eager to shed blood.

>>8802513

> eyes up the remaining humans. hungrily.

Boss, why don't we just snack on the huumies?

It'll just be more mouths to feed otherwise...

>>8802572
Ninetoes makes a compelling argument.

FOR GOBLIN SCIENCE!

After we're done getting all the information we can out of her, of course.

>>8802550
Do you wish to leave Ninetoes with the woman for a short period to interrogate the chef accordingly? The woman, having been the only one inside the one-and-only armored carriage, probably knows as much.

But, as always, your Glorious Wisdom will guide your intent!

>>8802577
And on THAT note, can he make an axe that will use the blood of someone we kill to suck their soul into the axe and make it shinier with magic and killingness the more we use it?

>>8802613
The chef can wait, Ninetoes can make her talk. We'll stick around though.

Float axes are all well and good, but why not try to enchant ourselves if possible? We could always be more durable, stronger, or have deadlier spikes if magic permits.

>>8802612

Stuff ure zienz ya gobbo twit!

Iz hungry!

>>8802615
>>8802577
Ninetoes nods vigorously, though the inquiry leaves him stumbling a bit. "Err, magic that makes itself stronger? Only heard of Humans doing that..." You notice the fires of ambition in his eyes light up. Like a gob possessed, he nods, "Yesssss, I can make! But...will need things. Need to get into Human wizard tower. Or other fancy Human wizard place. And blood. Lots of blood. Will need to ponder on that. Work on it."

>>8802612
Well so far the little harlot hasn't said anything. She's just glaring at the pair of you with some sort of regality. Granted, she TRIED to bite Ninetoes' finger off...which would have been hilarious, actually. Ninetoes and Ninefingers! HA!

>>8802639
Then eat fish, or some of that elf, or a rat. I want shiny magic. And maybe half-trolls to order about.

>>8802679
I'm sure Ninetoes can do a little interrogation.

Just remind him she needs to be usable for GOBLIN SCIENCE after he's done with her.

>>8802679

wizard tower near huumie town, he'll have the stuff you need ninetoes!

>>8802679
Good enough, we'll go for shiny floaty fighty axe trio for now. Use extra humans to make it right, all the weedy ones. The fat chef we'll eat, the kids we can half-troll, and the female we have several options for.

Ninetoes, get her talking first.

>>8802679
We'll make getting him that access a long-term goal. But we'll have to keep a close eye on him. Ambition isn't always a good thing for our underlings to have.

>>8802685

> clubs an elf unconcious, drags it away to the chef.

What's wrong with fishing for a permanent source of food? Also, let's dig out some more caves and start a fungus farm.

I also think we should leave the humans alive for slave labor. The magical axe thing is stupid useless rubbish.

>>8802632
Ninetoes has mentioned that he has NO idea at this point as to how to spark up magic power in others. If he can find more books, maybe interrogate some other shamans/wizzzzards, he might be able to figure it out.

Or he knows, and he just isn't going to give away the only thing he has on your glorious form.

>>8802628
Ninetoes splits a wide smile, his teeth bared, as he approaches the woman. Waving the dagger about like an expert Gob knifefighter, he takes a fake jab at the girl's face. She squeals, flinching away and kicking at him with her legs. Several kicks rain off the shaman's chest, but he just steps back and lifts his staff.

"Ei nath!" He grumbles, the knobbly end of his blood-coated stick giving a hum. With a crack of timber, the floor of the carriage warps around her limbs. She's pinned now, incapable of moving anything but her mouth.

>>8802731

slaves need food. i say we just eat them.

>>8802731
>>Humans as slave labor
>>The magical axe thing is stupid useless rubbish.

I think the humans are too much of a liability as slaves. You know we'd just end up eating them before long. And it's not like we're lacking in labor or food.

Meanwhile, having shiny magic weapons can keep us alive the next time we have to fight something like those Slayers.

>>8802768
Sure, ATER we suck out their souls and use their blood for magic.

I'm fond of the idea of enchanting our axe(s) or armor.

>>8802771

Oi, we don't need no stinkin' magic!

All we need is a clever gizmo that makes them explode!

>>8802731
Humans are too dangerous to keep, we'll always run the risk of having them try to escape or have them endanger our plans. They also require food, probably more than a typical goblin, and guards to watch them while they work. Using half goblin hybrids is probably a better deal in the long run because we can raise them to be loyal and they'd be at least partially kin.

>>8802705
>>8802708
>>8802703
Ninetoes, wielding his knife, begins his work. Brutal is one way to put it, but with the woman incapable of resisting, she gives up after the third toe gets loped off (And a bit of magic applied to seal the wound right up).

Silly women. They /always/ give up after the third toe! It's practically a law. And probably also because Ninetoes, getting impatient, threatened to turn her face into cut salami. Whatever /that/ is.

"S...stop!" She wailed, "I'm just a...a builder! Please! Stop! I'll tell you what you want! Just don't...don't hurt me anymore!" She begins to beg, tears rolling down her face. So weak. So pathetic. So...Human.

>>8802731
Fungus caves, you say? What sort of gob ARE you?! Dwarves eat fungus! Gobs? Gobs eat MEAT! Meat, meat, meat! And, when necessary, tasty veggies like onions that seem KIND OF like meat!

Feeding the slaves is a good point. But still, a weapon seems like we're putting our eggs in one basket. Can't we sacrifice them towards a good harvest of mushrooms or to make our women give birth easier? Or our children to grow big and strong.

I think we should make the filthy human woman into our bride.

>>8802809
What's she know how to build? Where were they going? What were they going to do?

We can force her mind into an object and learn how to make a super goblin fort, perhaps.

>>8802809
Why the fuck did they have two SLAYERS with them?

>>8802816
Well, generally, the blood used from killed creatures is put towards that point. Ninetoes, however, relents from the current process of beating the woman bare-handed (To ensure an "Absolute truthy-ness") to answer. Panting slightly, he nods.

"Sacrifice for good fortune? Ooh, always wanted to do that /tooooo/! Can maybe make good-luck-totem from dead? Would please Gods very muchso. Though if I had more magic, I could probably do /aaaaalll/ of that. Ooooone at a time, of course."

>>8802816

You make a good point, even though having a better weapon or suit of armor will help keep us alive.

Perhaps for something along your lines of thinking: a sacrifice to speed and enhance the growth of our bear cubs so they're like dire bears in only a short time.

>>8802893
Or to ensure the half-troll changing of the four young humans, and mutate them a bit, and make them large and obedient and quite regenerative soon.

>>8802862

Ninetoes, ask the woman about the slayers.

>>8802862
"S...Slayers?" She asks, a terrified smile spreading across her face. "I...I have no idea what you're talking about! Daemons? What daemons? I don't know about any daemons!" She says, giggling slightly in hysteria.

>>8802840
She puts this bit of information forward a bit more forwardly. She even shows a bit of pride at revealing what she knows how to build. "I...I graduated at the top of my class for...for..."

Tears well up in her eyes, "I used to build such beautiful machines, back in the forges. Bearhugger used to complement me..used to say they were almost as good as his own...as good as one of theirs!"

She's babbling slightly, but that's to be expected. Obviously this girl led a /sheltered/ life. You think of the phrase with disgust.

"We were going to go to the front lines. To...to put together the Blutschreiben. To try it out...Gods' blood! To think, this is where it would end up."

>>8802961
>>Blutschreiben

THIS. WHAT IS THIS.

DO I WANT ONE?

>>8802961
Ask her to talk sense and explain or Nine Toes will be let to have a little more fun with her.

But it sounds like she engineers weapons of war. Excellent... perhaps she may be more useful human. For a time. Until we can get instructions from her.

>>8802961
Ask her what the hell a Blutschreiben is and where are the parts for it. I don't remember looting any, but she implied that they are here now.

>>8803008
>>8802996
She looks at your eager eyes with terror. She realizes what you want. Ninetoes readies his knife once more, wiping off the blood on his thigh.

"The Blutschreiben? It's a- a new form of well! Yes. A new well. It's supposed to k-keep a castle watered for weeks on end, and keep the water pure. It's just s-something we put together f-for the front, that's a-all."

>>8803074
"The parts?" She asks, "I...I know of no parts." She stammers, "I c-c-can't t-think of any parts! I-It's already all transported! Yes. All transported. The, uhh, the digger and the, uhh, the rails and all those other b-bits!"

>>8803079
Ninetoes, show her pain the likes of which she's never had before.

Try to avoid the arms and killing her. And her precious head, with it's precious brain and it's precious information.

>>8803079
Why must you lie to us, human? Not that we regret hurting you more, but you shouldn't be this dumb.

>>8803079
>>8803115
>>8802961
>"We were going to go to the front lines.To...to put together the Blutschreiben. To try it out...Gods' blood! To think, this is where it would end up."
The humans are fighting something and want to try out new weapon. We must capitalize on this. Find out who's fighting who, so we may plan another GLORIOUS AMBUSH and walk away as the victorious third party.

>>8803079
Really? A well named Bloodletter? You think we're stupid or something?

>>8803121
Ninetoes let out a fresh squeal of delight as his knife descended once more. Her lower legs were slashed repeatedly, thin slices forming bloody spirals along her legs as her feet ineffectively tried to wiggle out of the bonds. Chanting furiously as he did so, Ninetoes cut her until she let out the truth, her wounds re-knitting themselves in the wake of his knife.

To her credit, it took a full three minutes before she cracked out the truth. Her face was white in terror, her lips blooded from where she bit them to stop herself from screaming.

"It's a siege engine!" She bellowed out, Ninetoes pausing halfway up her thigh. "It...it's a siege engine!" She finally finished, sobbing. "We were supposed to t-test it out in the field."

>>8803222
You will build one for us.

More than one.

On the matter of the Black Lotus tribe. I thought that one way of forcing them to assimilate into your clan was to kill their females.

A bit of a dick move, but effective. But by now their tribe is probably as big as ours, if not more so.

>>8803222
How does it work?

>>8803272
At this point, they might be useful for scouts, but we don't need their numerical advantage. We can make their poison ourselves.

Or we could just steal the wimmin for our own breeding and kill the rest.

>>8803266
Not only will she build one for us, she will draw schematics. For the siege weapon and for the crossbow she has.

>>8803272
Better idea would be to kill the males, keep the women and children. it's what any conquerer in our history did.

>>8803359
We'll supply the labor, she'll supply the brains. All those little goblin shits our women just made should be adequate.

Have we decided on our tribe's name yet? I remember people tossing around Bear Goblins, and that's fairly accurate. We killed a bear, tamed a couple, and eat a lot of fish.

>>8803193
>>8803295
>>8803266
She tries to resist again, but a quick incision from Ninetoes causes her to gasp and fully spill the metaphorical beans. And by that you mean infant's blood.

"It...It's a mobile ballistics platform, mobilized by capitalizing on the transferrence of-" Ninetoes cuts her "valiant" attempt at diversion off. Oh, puns, how you do crack yourself up sometimes!

"It's a...a...I can't put it simply! It's a siege engine that moves! I-" Ninetoes causes her to scream quite loudly, his knife sinking halfway to the hilt. "It was supposed to...to help crush the heresy to the east! I...I don't know the details! I'm just an engineer! Please, don't kill me! P-please!" She sobs, resorting to begging once more.

>>8803272
You doubt they've grown much in size. You, in your glorious wisdom, have kept losses to a minimum and ensured that you've always had plenty of food and swag to keep your underlings content.

Besides, EVERYBODY knows Black Lotus's men are all impotent sissy-children-girly-girls. So if you could kill their women, you could probably wipe them out in a bit of time or just plain-old assimilate them. If you can manage to find and smash your way TO their women, that is.

We're Ursa Goblanus

>>8803443
Mobilise the men. we will capture their women and children, slaughter their men. Seriously. mobilise them

>>8803471
We have bigger priorities than those little shits right now. Bugbears, siege engine, magic.

But we will crush them, oh yes.

>>8803359
>>8803385
"S-schematics?" She asks, doe-eyed. "I-" The lie enters her mouth, but doesn't leave her lips. "I...don't have a choice, do I?" She asks despondently. "But I can't even be sure it'll work!"

Ninetoes moves to strike, but she speaks hurriedly, "We never successfully tested it! It's temperamental, and the parts are exacting! The Blutschreiben parts are one-of-a-kind, I'd need a new forge just to even /think/ of building a new one. Let alone with /goblins/ as labor!"

That good, old-fashioned racism seeps into her voice. She notices it too, and Ninetoes gives a sharp stab to remind her. Her yelp turns into a rushed apology, "Not that there's anything wrong with goblins!"

>>8803504
Easier to do all of those things once we have added to our tribe's size.

>>8803443
You want to live? We want one of these siege engines. You build it, you live.

>>8803460
>>8803438
The consensus has been "Bear Tribe" so far, but it's hardly been made official yet. But as always, it's /tg/'s call in the end...though I suspect you guys would rather remain ANON TRIBE, just as your name is GLORIOUS LEADER.

>>8803509

"How big a forge?"

>>We can capture the village, use its forge the humans there to assist with building it, perhaps.

>>8803504
Start with the cross bows, those should be simple enough. We'll have Ninetoes scribble it down and hand off the information to our builders later. Tell her to give us the parts list for the siege engine now and we'll worry about putting it together when the time comes.

>>8803509
"You will have your new forge. Soon. And you will find my followers very... effective. As you have seen yourself."

Looks like taking over the town will be necessary. They have a forge.

Also we can take women from there for Goblin SCIENCE. This one is too valuable to use.

>>8803504

With this new seige weapon we could crush the black lotus clan!

Yes-yes! A good plan!

>>8803509
You don't have a choice. But if we have a shiny working siege engine and the plans for building more, we'll let you live. Hell, we won't even make you give birth to a half-troll.

How's that for incentive?

this is taking too long. attack something

>>8803628
This is fun, please don't rush.

We'll finish here shortly and get the bugbear muscle, then proceed to stomp the Black Lotus into the ground.

>>8803660

I say we use the new seige weapon n the black lotus tribe, it'll make the other clans and tribes fear us!

refined drawfaggotry.

If this stays popular I will try do a further refined version if I have time.

>>8803590
>>8803570
>>8803560
>>8803547
>>8803527
She looks ready to resist, but eventually gives in with a long sigh. The "live and not be used for experiments with trolls" part is what really broke her.

"I'll get the crossbow schematics." She says eventually, "And a large forge. I'll have to design it myself...again. But I'll need several different kinds of metal. Copper, iron, and whatever steel you can get your hands on. Lumber shouldn't be too hard to get, but I need /precise/ measurements." She said, looking despondently at her ruined foot. "And I'm not being demanding." She says defensively, "I'm certain you don't want a weapon that'll explode before it even gets out of the forge."

Ninetoes releases the restraints, seeing her will broken. She rises, sluggishly, to her feet. "I assume you'll want the crossbows immediately?" She inquires, "By myself, I can make three a week. But they'll be of /good/ quality. Good enough to make Bearhugger proud."

>>8803805
Sounds good. Now then, what's next on the agenda?

Right, the bugbears. Ninetoes, can you do your stuff now?

>>8803688
>>8803628
You have a wide variety of targets to attack. You could easily grab one of your underlings to lash out. Though with the Black Lotus tribe, you already have one of their number to lead the way to their campsite.

"If you want the Blutschreiben built first, it'll take me at least three days /with/ help to construct it properly. And that's without any promises that it'll even work right the first time you try to really use it. It's experimental, after all!"

>>8803760
DELICIOUS! My thanks.

>>8803846
Ninetoes nods, "I have prepared everything, Glorious One! I shall have the chieftain summoned within the hour. Would you care to watch, sirrrrr?"

>>8803872
Oh yes, of course. We are the savior of the goblin race, after all.

>>8803872
Let's watch and see what Ninetoes has cooked up. Have the idle pikegob watch over the human.

>>8803872
Best do it fast. With the bugbears we can then move on to take the Black Lotus, get some more troops and then steamroll the town.

While we're waiting for the hour I suggest we see how Ninetoes' apprentices are getting along. How much mojo can they provide?

What exactly does the Blut thingy DO?

>>8803974
Mobile ballistic platform. Probably cutting edge. Very good for sieges.

>>8803974

Cut her and find out?

but no settlement we know of has walls, what would we do with it?

Hell yeah, Settler Quest!

I'd recommend making crossbows; if I recall properly we were seriously lacking in weapons when we attacked that caravan.

>>8804011
Find a settlement with walls and take it over. The humans most likely came from one with walls or passed by one. By the time we build it most our current objectives will be complete, so it's probably more of a later game type deal.

>>8804011
Good for further expansion. We'll only be able to make it once we conquer the town, and by then we should have found our next target.

>>8804080
A rather good point.

>>8803853
Crossbows for now until we acquire a forge. Make sure she's working in a place where goblins are about, so that someone has an eye on her.

Let's summon the chieftain.

>>8804153

Seconded, lets get on it.

>>8803927
>>8803910
Ninetoes leads you off towards your cave, his two apprentices (The clan's only other shamans) flanking him. One of them is carrying the bugbear skull, freshly daubed in what looks like blood and smells like the entrails of dwarf, gob, and human blended together. As well as a series of delicious natural herbs and spices.

Standing in the center of your precious former-bear-cave, Ninetoes has the skull-bearer set it in the epicenter between the three magical gobs. Raising his staff into the air, the other shamans do likewise.

A low hum fills the chamber, like the buzzing of gnats, as you bear witness to the shamanistic necromancy. The buzzing increases in tempo as Ninetoes raises his staff.

"Et! Et sh'ul! Et sh'ul nai!" He screams, the walls themselves seeming to rumble to life as the skull begins rattling upon the floor. Darting between the three, Ninetoes draws his knife, poising to skewer the skull in place.

He instead rams the knife into the eye of the skull-bearing shaman gob, a momentary look of surprise ending in a spray of gore upon the violently-moving skull. With a hum, the skull seems to jet upwards on a fountain of blood, the wind shrieking into the cave with the force of a hurricane.

Fighting to remain upright, you watch as the dead shaman's corpse dissolves into a pool of blood that rushes upwards with a strong current of blood. Slowly but surely, the blood forms a phantasmal outline of the Bugbear Chieftain as he had most likely appeared in life. Strong in frame, his muscles rippling like waves, his head had the gory outline of a feathered headband on it.

Then, with a final ear-hurting buzz, the spell stopped. The phantasm remained in place, a perfect red-tinted shade of what it had been in life. Its nostrils flared at you.

"You." It rumbled. "Who. Are. You?"

>>8804213
Stand up straight and look the spirit in the eye like a fellow warrior and leader. Tell him we are a goblin chieftain that seeks to commune with him about his tribes well being. They wish to destroy the human town and we wish to help them, and we want his help to convince his tribe to allow us to do so. If they were to attack the city alone they could mortally damage their tribe. With out help and alliance his people could prosper.

>>8804347

Might wanna mention our conquests too.

Of course, leave out the whole grave-robbery escapade.

>>8804213
WE ARE THE GLORIOUS LEADER. SAVIOR OF THE GOBLIN RACE AND THE BUGBEAR RACE, ONLY IF YOU AID US. WE NEED YOU TO CONVINCE YOUR PEOPLE TO JOIN US. IF THEY DO NOT, WE ARE ALL DOOMED TO THE ACCURSED HUMANS.

>>8804347
>>8804384
>>8804400
The bugbear chieftain inspects you for what seems like a few minutes. Its deathly gaze seems to penetrate to your very soul. Even Ninetoes looks speculatively at the shade, despite his assurances of its total obedience.

Then, slowly, it nods. The nod is joined with a rumble of approval, your escapades bringing a toothy smile to its face. "If what you say...is true." The shade says, his voice distorted as though speaking through a cone, "I shall convince my many children to aid you. But know that they will ask a toll, and this, I cannot absolve them of."

Sidenote: Will return in 40m-1h. Getting some grub. Then, CONTINUATION.

>>8804508
Acceptable. Thank the shade. Proceed to the bugbears, with helmet and bear cloak, dwarven axes, bear cubs and warg riders.

As a side note, we should see about making some bear sized barding in the future.

>>8804508
we might want to ask what the toll might be and prepare for it

>>8804583
>>8804634

Yeah, best take stuff that they'd like along with us.

Oh, we'd probably better get some intel on the village too

We should consider onion farming later on. Our population will probably be stable with out current fishing methods, but it never hurts to add variety to our goblin's diets. We just need to get seeds, probably from the human settlement.

>>8804887
goblins seem ill suited to farming. we might want to keep a few villagers alive for that after the attack.

Of all the vegatables, why did Onions come to your mind?

>>8805187
Book Keeper said that Goblins hate pretty much any vegetable matter that doesn't taste like meat, and then mentioned onions as one of the few they would eat.

>>8805187
See here.
>>8802809

Both of our bears are male right? We'll need a female if we want to have a steady supply of them to use.

I wonder if BK is coming back.

>>8806013
err...are you suggesting Bear incest?

>>8806486
>>8804700
>>8804634
Sidenote: I return, sam I am. After an unexpected delay, I am back with a VENGEANCE!

The shade flickers, the red color pulsing several times. You notice Ninetoes licking his lips with keen interest, the rotted tongue of the shaman running along chipped and broken teeth.

"The toll," The shade of the bugbear heaves, "Is usually one of...tribute. Weaponry, gold, food. Many things...pay for allegiance."

Ninetoes made a sharp striking gesture with his staff at the shade, which gave another great sigh of air before adding more. "But sometimes, in great periods of change, the word of an ancestor is heeded as toll enough. The bond of a...respected elder."

Outside, you can hear the sounds of fussing about as the human engineer makes herself at home amongst the people that have taken her captive. The sound of yipping can be heard, as well as the noisy clatter of heavy locks being opened. Not to mention the ring of metal on metal.

>>8806748
Well let's gather some weapons, a bit of our gold, and our largest fish and seek our the bugbears.

>>8806533
I was just suggesting we find another bear cave with a female bear and breed us some more cubs.

>>8806860
Which/what weapons? List so far:
-10 axes
-6 slings made from various pieces of cloth.
-10 stone-headed axes
-13 wooden spears with flint tips
-6 Reed/Wicker shields
-Your battered iron shortsword.
-8 Shortbows with 40 arrows in 2 quivers and 6 sealed quivers of 30 arrows each.
-3 Bolas
-4 suits of scale armor (One worn by you, and two worn by your Royal Guard Gobs Onebrow and Clawfoot)
-14 pikes
-1 dwarf axe (Wielded by you)
-2 poisoned iron daggers (Black Lotus poison)
-2 Slayer Axes (Greataxes)
-4 Longbows (120 arrows in total)
-5 Tower Shields
-5 Iron Longswords
-5 Chainmail suits
-Iron Wagon (Carriage with iron plates bolted on)
-6 iron maces with notches worked into the heads
-20 iron shortswords
-5 steel-tipped longspears
-2 solid steel greatswords of fine craftsmanship. Almost dwarven, but not quite.
-1 Fancy wrist-crossbow-thing (Ten steel bolts left for it)
-DER BLUTSCHREIBEN (Incomplete)

Also, how much gold? As for the bear thing...want to send out some gobs to try and find a bear cave with DAT FEMALE BEAR for BEARIFICATION PRODUCTION?

>>8806748
Have Ninetoes go ask one of the humans to make us a map of the region while we're out negotiating with the bugbears.

>>8806915
Ninetoes does just that. Though none of them are cartographers, one of them, at least, is capable of doing at least a fair doodle.

Unfortunately, thanks to your near-illiteracy, the poor map drawn is practically illegible. It does, however, confirm the fact that the village down south IS just part of a larger human collective a ways away.

Also, someone mentioned interrogating the chef. Your call if you want to do that, or just go with BUGBEARNEGOTIATIN'

We need to raid a city!

>>8806893
Let's grab five gold, five short swords, three maces, and a pike. Then send out a couple scouts to locate a female bear so our cubs can proceed with the bow chicka wow wow war bear production.

>>8807021
Raid a city? Yes! Glorious war! To raid a city, to crush one of the "civilized" races' centers of industry! That would be glorious! You would be remembered forever!

But you are only a tribe of a hundred now. The humans would likely mow you all down before you reached their walls. You must get siege weapons! Sneaky tools! Devices with which to RIP and TEAR down the oppressive, capitalistic walls keeping out the bloodthirsty glee of your Glorious Leader-oriented society!

>>8807024
With images of grand conquest in your head, you stock up on equipment. Do you take any escorts to haul all this crap with you? Or do you just go with your shade-of-approval, ready to buy off the bugbears and have them join your GLORIOUS CAUSE?

>>8806989
Let's get the negotiation out of the way before running off on other ventures.

>>8807120
Lets have some back up. Our finest warriors and Ninetoes.

>>8807120
We'll take the remaining warg riders, and our bears with us to be impressive. Armed with the best.

>>8807120
Let's take Ninetoes and our royal guard.

>>8807120
We need a show of force as well. The bugbears won't accept the leadership of someone weak.

>>8807158
The other two shamans as well, why not?

Also, when we get back Ninetoes needs to check for magical aptitude in the latest batch of kids. We've kept him so busy he hasn't had a chance.

>>8807185
We only have one other shaman apprentice.

>>8807141
>>8807158
Arming yourself up, you take Ninetoes, four speargobs, two bowgobs, and your ever-present pike-wielding bodyguards.

Truly, you are ready for action!

Riding out on worg-back, the shade keeping pace with the group by stint of simply shifting the position where he stood, you eventually come across the river crossing you were near not a few days ago.

The grave site has been fixed up from your desecration, with the bugbears currently watching vigilantly from across the stream. All six of them are squatting on various rocks, their massively rippling bodies jam-packed with muscle. Their apparent leader, wearing a headband similar to the one your shade is adorned with, looks at you square in the eyes. It snorts, stands up, and then sets back down.

Obviously, it thinks you aren't worth the time to cross the river over.

>>8807163
How effectively have we got those bears domesticated? Are they actually usable as riding/fighting animals yet?

>>8807185
>>8807163
Ninetoes is taking up the rear of the group with the two bear cubs, now having grown considerably, now being led along by rope leashes. He appraised at least seven of the kids to be magically apt, but has told you that four- at most- will be able to make it through alive to reach full shamanhood. You know, rigors of magic and all that suchlike.

>>8807222
They aren't fully grown to the badass size their momma was, but you could probably ride one (or both) of them as it stands. It'd hardly be too much of a threat to a human, though. Barely much bigger than a tiny pony.

>>8807212
Send a cry across the river and proceed peacefully, though with some dignity. Have our men march as well as goblins can and hail the bugbear chief.

>>8807212
Well better tell them to take you to their leader.

Do we need to roll for this?

>>8807291
>>8807295
Social situations like this don't need rolls, unless you guys think social combat should be rolled for like physical combat (Though I, personally, don't: It's all about the angles you're working and sheeeiiiiit).

Hailing the bugbear chief, the group of worg-mounted gobs advances. Those few left WITHOUT worg mounts are forced to carry their weapons high above their heads and wade across the river. Sad, but hey, that's their own problem for not being important enough for worgs.

Once on the other side, and your mounts suitably wet, the bugbears decide to perk up a bit. Your nonaggression and desire to speak with their leader causes Mr. Headband to rise from his own (considerable) rock perch.

Which, you realize belatedly, is roughly in the shape of a throne. What with the high arch for back support and the part that lets a ruler's feet dangle.

The chieftain glances at your shade momentarily, the spirit remaining silent. "What you want, gob?" He asked, eyeballing the phantasm, "You lookin' to get pulped or somefink?"

>>8807350
/tg/ shows that our colors are like those of a true goblin by remaining silent for a solid ten minutes, waiting for someone else to take the blame for speaking and fucking up our diplomacy. We're a classy bunch.

I'll keep it simple. Tell them that we want to ally with them so that together we can raid and pillage the nearby human settlement.

>>8807350

Us, looking to get pulped? No, but there are some in this area that are. You know of the blasted human scum in the area, the ones with all the nice weapons,shinies, and food, yes? I believe we share a common goal, and one that beneficial for both our tribes, to crush them under our heels and reap the plunder of battle. We have asked your old chieftain for support in asking you to form an alliance. We have brought a toll as per your customs.

>>8807462
>>8807463
The bugbears look to you, then to the small assortment of weapons and what gold you brought. Passing over the gold, the bugbear chieftain hefts the tiny chunks of precious metal in one hand. They jingle viciously as they're hefted up and down. The weapons are passed around the bugbears, with two of the six still armed with basic wooden cudgels.

"You wanna crush the humans?" The chieftain asked, smiling wickedly. "We might have somethin' in common. They took somethin' important. And I want it /back/. You wanna kill 'em all? Fine. To be honest, we kinda want to too."

He cracks his knuckles for emphasis, the coins still in his hands bending slightly when he reveals his palms again. "But 'un li'l bit. You and your gobs gotta show us we have our fire back. You bring us the big fire-holder, and we're gonna crump 'em."

He lifts his hands wide and high, roughly making a circular shape with his hands. "The humies say that it's theirs, but Bogrok say /no/!" He thundered, "Bogrok want the fire back. Gobs get fire for Bogrok, and Bogrok will crump and smash an' pound all the humies Gobs want. Yes?"

>>8807561
Remind me how many scouts we have?

>>8807599
4 in total. But 2 went out to the Black Lotus search and never returned. The other 2 are currently on patrol for BEAR CAVE.

>>8807561
Seems fair enough. Agree to the terms, but ask for more details.

Maybe old Ninetoes can magic us up some sort of invisibility spell or something.

>>8807675
>>8807630
The bugbear chieftain clarifies further what he's looking for. "Made from iron, the base is. It burns...forever. The fire never stops. Never goes out. Always warm, always keep I and my brothers happy. Suddenly, gone! Humans take...now /you/ take it back, for us! We raise distraction while you go get, yes?"

>>8807692
Well let's go take the fire now. Hopefully it's not too big, if it is we may need to pull out with out worgs and bears.

>>8807759
Nah, not now. Nightfall.

>>8807759
>>8807781
Well, the main concern that comes to your mind about stealing this fire is that it is, according to what the bugbears say, essentially a giant brazier. One that exudes constant fire...which would likely attract attention.

>>8807852
Thereby causing the humans to target whoever's carrying it and allowing us to hit them from behind! It's like a ready-made trap!

>>8807869
Sounds good to me, a couple of bowgoblins in the bushes should be able to take care of anyone who tries to chase us down while we escape with it. We shouldn't get too much resistance in the first place if their distraction goes as planned.

>>8807938
>>8807869
Sidenote: Sounds like a plan-o! Though it's getting somewhat later in the actual night on my end...would anyone particularly mind if we stopped here for tonight, and continued either tomorrow (or sunday) for the attack itself? Probably sunday, to be honest, since I've got a big project planned for tomorrow.

>>8807987
Sunday sounds fine to me. Have a nice night, good luck on your project.

>>8807987
Bye-bee~
I love you Book Keeper.

>>8808010
Thanks...and it's not so much something educational in the book sense as it is "Oh jesus christ I hope I don't make my kitchen turn into a Goblin eatery"

SO! Any comments/criticisms/suggestions recommended. Hopefully the upcoming STEALTHAN ELEMENTAN (possibly) will be FUN-AN.

And the engineer abuse. Hopefully you'll enjoy your new pet engineer of engine-ing.

>>8807987
Sounds pretty good, it's getting late here too. Thanks for the quest.

>>8808042
>>8808021
Thanks! And no prob on the quest-o. I've been thinking, after this adventure (eventually) ends (One way or another), of doing something involving Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader. Not sure how it'd end...would prove interestan. I'd think.

>>8808078
This is proving to be fantastic, by the way.