Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

As we took positions around the small table in Zaka's home, the atmosphere became tense.  A lot of things were riding on the discussion that was to come.  As everyone got situated, I opened the discussion with a question, "What terms are you seeking?"

Shasta turned to the unarmored dwarf to speak with him, likely relaying the question.  I could finally get a good look at the dwarf who is seemingly the leader here.  His face was marred with lots of scars, but contrasting that, he has quite the bulbous nose and finely groomed facial hair giving a somewhat friendly but serious impression.  It's clear that he has seen a lot in life, but also takes his appearance seriously.

As I observed the dwarf, Shasta and him seemed to have a small argument before Shasta spoke to us again.

"These islands are to become a protectorate of the Dwarven Military Leader Kao Ostark.  The artifact crystal similar to ParTor will be given as tribute in exchange for the protectorate status.  Further, a military outpost will be placed on this island.  Soldiers are to be fed by residents of this island as part of their protectorate status.  As a further consequence, all current prisoners shall be turned over to us."  Shasta said, seemingly upset with what she's was saying.

"First, those are worse terms than what we discussed before.  Here's our counter offer, this island, and other islands in this chain are recognized diplomatically as an independent nation with us in charge.  We'll allow a dwarven embassy to be built.  In addition we'll provide the artifact crystal next year as a sign of goodwill, and return our one prisoner."  I said.

After Shasta relayed the information I swear I saw a glint in the other dwarf's eye as he begin begins his response.

Shasta translated again, "How about a compromise?  While you'll be recognized as independent, we'll build a military outpost on one of the other islands.  That outpost will be considered our territory, but on lease from you.  The regular embassy will still be built here, and we'll take the artifact crystal back with us when we leave in the coming weeks, along with the prisoner."

At this point, I think I understood why the dwarf had a glint in his eye.  He likely was no stranger to negotiation, where as I myself am a novice.  By starting the negotiation from such a hardline stance, it makes the current compromise seem more moderate, but it's actually still worse than what I had discussed with Shasta before.

I wasn't completely cornered though, and I gave another counter offer, "Instead of on another island, your base can be on this island.  Still leased from us, of course.  The crystal is actually non-negotiable for another year.  Not only is it necessary for our own construction, but if we were to remove it now, I suspect your return trip would end in failure without the crystal in place here.  You may, however, leave with our prisoner today."

As Shasta and the dwarf had another back and forth, the dwarf seemed upset about something initially, but eventually had a counter offer.  "Instead of any unnecessary leasing discussions, why not simply let us take the island closest to the mainland.  From here, it's about seven days of sailing if the weather is fair.  The crystal can wait a year, and we'll take the prisoner today."  Shasta said on behalf of the dwarf.

I didn't have any idea if that was or wasn't a good deal, and I didn't have anyone on my side of the negotiation who would know either.  The other dwarf was carefully gauging my response, so I felt pressured to not ask for extra info.  However, to not ask would mean that we potentially miss out on a good deal.

I eventually asked, careful of my wording, "As I am unversed in any islands further than the next in the island chain.  I'm afraid I myself haven't travelled nearly enough.  My companion might know more, although he hasn't travelled by sea in many years.  This distant island, can you tell me more about it, since you've travelled there recently?"

After further back and forth between Shasta and the other dwarf, she replies, "I myself have been given permission to tell you what I know about the island.  The first island is a bit smaller than any of the other islands.  It barely has a hill remaining in its center, but boasts multiple beaches.  This is between you and me, but it seems like a fair deal, and there are two islands between it and here which are also uninhabited."

There is always the chance that I was having the wool pulled over my eyes, but ultimately, it might not be too bad of a deal.  I mean, not having to deal with the dwarves directly as some kind of vassal state is good, and we aren't even on any of the other islands.  Maybe at some point in the future it will be a problem, but honestly, it's just as likely not to.

"Fine, we accept these terms.  You can follow us and we'll give you the prisoner, so you may take him with you.  Also, you may send unarmed men to collect your dead."  I say.

The other dwarf seemed quite pleased with the result, as he hummed to himself while we lead him to the jail to collect the human prisoner.  After they gathered the prisoner, the negotiating party left the village.  I myself am shocked we came out of the whole endeavor intact.  I'm sure that down the road there will be headaches as a consequence of this discussion, but for today, I am just glad to be done with the fighting again.

Over the next two days, some dwarves came at random times to gather up their dead.  It was somewhat awkward, but I just reminded myself that they had also devastated the other town on the island, so I shouldn't feel direct sympathy.  These people were soldiers, and should be treated as such.

The eagle also came down to feed during that time, but we had prepared another bundle for it, so it gladly just ate the offering.  A few dwarves that were handling the dead at the time looked on with initial fear, but calmed when the eagle didn't attack them.  It makes me wonder just how deep their cultural relationship with the eagles is.  To me, it seems like many don't interact directly with them, and only seem to have some spiritual belief about the eagles themselves.  That was to our benefit this time, so I'm not going to tell them that it's just superstition, and the eagles are like almost any other wild animal.

We've been fully repairing the walls in this time, but have remained on lockdown.  I don't know how good a dwarf's word is, or even if any documents would have any meaning.  Without third party witnesses, they could easily just decide to attack us again, and no one would know that they betrayed us.  So, until we can verify they've left, we're going to be on high alert.

In the time since we fought, we've gotten a good count of survivors. Unsurprisingly, almost all the goblins who participated in the fighting and survived have prestiged, and three evolved into hobgoblins.  Zaka is also getting really close to his level cap.  I think it'll be quite good for him to be fully mobile again, which I hope will happen when he prestiges or evolves.

Three more days have passed, and we haven't seen any dwarves in this time.  Upstream from the village, we found that the dwarves had made a temporary dam to halt our water supply, but without maintenance, it had overflowed.  Not wanting it to cause any accidental damage, I slowly breached the dam to drain the water.  We're going to send some scouts out tomorrow to look for any further information on the dwarves in the nearby area.  If everything seems fine, we'll send a larger scouting party out to the far side of the island to report if the dwarves have left or not, and also allow goblins to resume fishing, as long as they're escorted to and from the bay area.

After twelve more days, the scouts have returned and it seems the dwarves have left the island.  Which means we no longer need to have all individuals outside the city walls be escorted.  It also means that Zaka plans on re-summoning imps to get more goblins to replace the population of the village that was lost.  Thankfully, most of the damage was done to the city wall, and we've already repaired that.

After the negotiations, I plan on attempting to grow another massive crystal this year.  This time though, I plan on bringing a few goblins with me to work the forge and handle food, allowing me to work at a faster pace.  I really hope I can get it done in a single year, as it took longer than that in the past for me when I was working alone.