Sakki reports that the village most definitely has a population larger then what we can see. Its minimalist structures are extremely fortified but there is no way so many people could live there comfortably and these people seem to be fairly affluent. Unlike the village we recently raided, there are adornments of valuable metals and stones on the inhabitants of this village. Though it might be more apt to call the village a castle. It is completely walled with a small court area, not quite a fortress city like we utilize, but if they’re underground they have definitely reduced how much they need to fortify. As mentioned before they are in possession of valuables, this wealth combined with such a relatively small area to fortify means it is ridiculously fortified. However, it is mostly fortified with monsters and perhaps bandits in mind. An organized force like ours could still crack it…we do have artillery after all. Sakki remains cautious as ordered and has had no direct contact with them, but notes they are close in appearance to the elves that were discovered to the south, albeit a bit of a different complexion.
The southern lake would be okay for a village as it has access to water and some degree of food. However, it is poor for us in particular due to how much we need mana. Without the mana infusion in the waters it would be a village that would need to import mana from our other locations just to keep the populace’s hunger for mana satiated. So it would definitely be a loss of mana to sustain it.
A wall of that size that doesn’t just get knocked down by some big monster that wants to pass through would cost approximately 1,425g per tile…at least thats what my notes say. No idea what a tile is. Though a wall of that strength and level of protection would be a steep investment, it might be cheaper and more effective to build a tunnel system instead. Given that a wall like that would be basically a tunnel anyways, might as well just put it underground to avoid the beasts that might muck it up trying to pass through it. I’d estimate the tunnel to be about 650g per tile.
Also the new agents are in.
As requested we looked for someone capable in the field of not dying and diplomatically gifted. On paper Raakel isn’t as talented as some of the other applicants, but she convinced your secretary that she was the best. So I guess by technicality that makes her the best at wordcraft.
Raakel can be described as ‘intense’. Her diplomatic method seems largely to consist of making others uncomfortable and/or nervous. We noted that she didn’t specifically rely on intimidating, just preyed on people’s desire for the meeting to be over with and causing them to miss details that add up in her favor over time. Outside of wordsmithing she is a wizard, gee who would have guessed. We seem to have a lot of those.
Gideon is an old veteran of wandering the world. He used to be a scout, then he was a college student, then he was a roaming monster hunter. He has years of experience, and mana keeps him quite spry in his old age. He takes a particular interest in travel and investigation. He’s not exactly as fight happy as Sakki but he’s definitely easy to set off. Something about having been in the wilds too long. I’d describe him as quiet with an explosive volatility. He’s an evoker and enchanter for the most part.
Salutations Keeper! Today is a beautiful day for the Oda people.
We had the monks test monster reaction to ki. We had to find beasts with less powerful noses, as they’ll just go for flesh if they’re hungry. In most cases it seems the monsters either cannot detect ki or do not care about it as it is not a food source to them. This is attributed to the success of our monks in the forest thus far since they have supernatural abilities to combat the larger monsters but don’t rely on mana for it thus making them invisible instead of beacons.
As a report regarding the island’s wood, it would actually make enchanted tiers of boat possible in the first place. It could also be used to enhance typical monk weapons, they are big fans of the staff and they require their weapons to be made of wood to channel their ki properly. Said wood could also have further utilization upon greater discovery of its potential. As more properties might reveal themselves through experimentation. Though in the immediate time, it could be used to sustain suitable enchantments on anything made primarily of wood. Generally enchantments are imbued into metal, but metal has a poor ability to store mana. Wood has a higher ability to store mana, but less durability to maintain enchantments. This particular wood could be said to be a more effective mana battery then most other options while being hard enough to sustain lower level enchantments, but higher levels then any other wood we have could utilize.
Kyoko has gotten the opportunity to investigate the temple by employing her…carpentry profession to repair and manage the temple. The temple itself is really more of a dungeon full of traps to protect the artifact rather then a place of worship. It is simply disguised as a place of worship. The artifact largely seems to work by making mana undetectable within its range, though it has a notable flaw in that it applies that to everyone. Which is why they have effectively no way to notice that Kyoko is even there with all of her illusion magic. Then again, they seem to believe she is a born and raised resident of a dead carpenter with a family. I’m still not quite sure how she did that part.
Another of our monastery monks, Yuzuki is actually a former bandit from the wilds before a robbery gone wrong in which she ambushed and was promptly caught by Shime. The monastery adopted her and gave her some semblance of direction. She refused to give up weapons even early in her training, which goes against standard monk practice because metal interrupts the flow of ki. However, she has pioneered techniques to make it useful and is something of an oddity. Pending the success of her adventures she may end up retiring back to the monastery to teach the others how her techniques work if they prove effective. For a monk she is a lot snappier and mean, along with arrogant. Though that comes from her childhood, and she is still quite a specimen of the monastery as a level headed and kind person. She just might insult you in particularly creative ways or start punching a lot quicker then most.
We took a moment to ask Yuzuki what she thinks might have happened to Shime, as the two of them were fairly close. Yuzuki being one of the only people who could understand Shime’s charades in their entirety. She did not give a very elaborate answer, her words were “She’s being a goody goody not an elf. She’ll pop back up someday.”
The one you wanted for a commander, champion of their native arena. He’s about seven feet tall and definitely has the advantage of an imposing presence that drives others to obey him. Though he’s not the best strategist, pretty great at just hitting things though and has a rudimentary understanding of the most basic strategic principles such as flanking, positioning, and charging. Most of the funds that go into hiring him seem to be utilized on food, turns out all that body mass needs a lot of sustenance.
A bit erratic, Ocunnohaka, is quite interested in working with us in whatever capacity required for him to go and travel the land in search of monsters and riches. He’s an adventurer at heart for sure, sometimes gets in a little over his head but what young adventurer doesn’t? He definitely has an appreciation for excitement and is talented with the bow in particular. He is sometimes perhaps a bit too energetic for my old bones to keep up with. Before we encountered them, he was a hunter among the tribe and mostly responsible for finding either meat or fish.
I suppose you could call her a princess, but her father’s position is not inherited but taken in trial by combat. Never the less, I suppose it helps to be the child of the chief however he got his position. She’s a clever girl, fairly used to dealing with people who want something from her due to her position. She does not trust us all that well as we are a new contact offering a whole new world they never knew about, so I suppose her hesitation is understandable. What is curious though is we cannot tell exactly what kind of person she is yet. We know she has expressed some interest to marry Kaze, but the motive behind it is unclear. Because Kaze defeated her father, he is technically able to declare himself chief if he so desired. We don’t know if she is staying close to power or genuinely interested in looking over the integration carefully.
KouKou reports that the village is fairly mundane. Largely a group of people who settled there since it had the resources necessary for day to day life. Their culture is similar to the majority of the western coastline in terms of architecture, heritage, and language.
Layla has agreed to take on the role of governor over at the new village provided once she gets there she doesn’t have to do too much walking. She’s not much of a traveler now given the leg and all.
The settlements typically have their own defenses and locally sourced guards as needed, with said defenses depending on the population after all. After a bit of a push, we’ve been convincing people to embark on an exodus to the new village from Sybaris to help get it up and running. In the meantime however Vasi will likely need to continue to protect the new settlement.
Marilena arrived at the first elven city indicated to us by the others. I am told it is called Lennecas. Its population is notably higher then Tethalyn’s but it is also not a remnant like Tethalyn was. So what it lacks in size and grandeur it makes up for by having actual people utilizing all of it. Its defenses are slightly better then Tethalyn’s proved to be but not by too much. Many of the refugees were led here so it is currently rather over crowded. Though while they have a larger garrison, they are not as well armed nor walled. Obviously, its full of elves.
As things would have it, all our effort on the horses have definitely yielded some results. Thanks to Takota and the village we’ve managed to train them to serve as battle mounts. They’re better at it then the beasts of burden we typically utilized since they’re faster. Also see last updates for stuff about the armor we got from the Nalkas.