Arkady says: "I wasn't thinking of fooling him as much as distracting him. We've seen he doesn't understand fire very well, and it definitely grabs his attention. So let's be saying a knight with a flaming sword, tough enough to fight him for a little while, were to challenge him? That would be grabbing everyone's attention. Enough, possibly, that a much smaller and harmless looking thief, made harder to notice anyway, could help himself to the Rose before anyone figures out what he's doing."

He shrugs. "Then he gets it to the ring wearing knight, say by tossing it; and the knight simply says 'Teleport Ghwerek to his home in Thalassia with nothing by the clothes he's wearing, and leave him there.' That should give us a few minutes of head start, anyway."

"Send," says Piper promptly. "It'll be better to use the word 'send' than 'teleport'. Also - hiding something is difficult. But creating a false seeming, making something appear when it is not truly there - that is a lot easier. I think I could create a false semblance that could fool even the Troll-gods. Um, I couldn't fight with it, though. I don't know how to fight."

"And you shouldn't need to," says Sephrenia, firmly. "That's what knights are for."

Ghwerek seems to be quite comfortable, relaxing in his little stream. One almost gets the impression that if it were deeper, he might want to swim.

Felix continues observing Ghwerek. He'll pay extra attention to Ghwerek's leg. Does he get the sense it could be mended or, if that's not possible, have a prosthetic made to cover it?

"How dangerous is Ghwerek on an individual level? Would it be possible to tempt him with the second thing he craves most? To be made whole? Given what I understand about him I don't think it'll be safe or even achievable, but could be we can... hire him? Approach him with an offer to mend him in exchange for letting us use the Rose to save the Queen and to fight Azash?"

Felix looks at Piper and Sir Sparhawk, two individuals with some of the bigger horses in this race.

"He did try to kill you, Sir Sparhawk, and you know more about him than anyone else here I think, Piper. I'm unsure if it's possible to work for real, but maybe it'd be an excellent distraction if it doesn't? I approach him and someone else steals the Rose if things go south?"

"Speaking to him will be straightforward," opines Piper.

"I can speak Troll," claims Sir Ulath.

"...and healing his leg would be very straightforward," continues Piper, with a nod. "But - the Blue Rose could also heal his leg, and easily at that... and his leg was already broken the last time he had the Rose. And the rings. I'm... not sure how much he wants to be healed, really, but he could have had it back then if he had but asked."

"What does he want then?" asks Talen.

"Jewels and gold, mostly, I think," says Piper, after some contemplation. "Most of what he did with the Rose when he had it was to keep his hoard safe."

Arkady shrugs. "Jewels would be easy enough, though we would be needing to go back to the ship for them. But if someone needs to be taking it from him while he is distracted by several knights with flaming swords, well, that is why we have a thief."

"Hrnn..." Felix frowns. "I'd have sworn his disability played a bigger part of his psychology than that. He felt himself lesser, so he hoarded wealth unimaginable to fill the void... does he perhaps not know the Rose can heal him? I can't imagine he'd want to remain so, unless he took some sort of pride in it."

Felix thinks for a moment.

"I suppose I'm at a loss. We could move to take the Rose by force, by trickery, by trap, or make an offer he finds tempting. Maybe further security for himself?

Felix continues watching the camera feed.

Piper shrugs. "Maybe? That would make sense, but then why he didn't heal himself back then I don't know... I would have guessed that he would know, but I'm not actually sure. Any of those strategies might work. But which should we try, first?"

Ghwerek curls up around his sapphire. Is he having a nap? ...he might be having a nap.

"Well... once bitten, twice shy," Felix says. "Approaching him openly and making an offer should be our first try. If we attempt to take it by force or cunning he'll be on guard against further attempts. Or at least more so than he is now. I could try negotiating with him first and if that fails it can be the setup to the second method for acquiring the Rose. If we go this route I think it should just be Arkady, Theresa, and me."

Felix looks at the group.

"Sir Sparhawk and everyone else nearby in case of trouble.It seems he's gone to sleep in the stream, so we could probably set the traps back up where we think he might flee if he gets spooked."

After a second Arkady asks: "Does he speak Elene?"

"That I can help with," says Piper. She raises her pipes and plays a complex, self-referential tune on them...

...and when she's finished, she howls and grunts in perfect Troll. "Now you can talk his language."

Ghwerek still seems to be asleep.

"And what will you do about the rings?" asks Piper, switching back to Elene. "To make any use of the Blue Rose, one person would need to wear both rings..."

"I'll load up on grenades for my rifle so a first strike or counter attack will hit as hard as possible," Felix says.

"It's an unfortunate matter, but I seem to have left my massive bag of jewels and gold bars in my other pants pocket," Felix nods in a manner that suggests he thinks he's said something sagely. "Instead of guessing what he wants, I think it would be expedient to just cut to the source and ask him what he wants. We can negotiate from there."

Ghwerek continues to sleep.

Felix has one of the two rings hanging on a necklace around his neck, under his shirt, not visible to casual observation. Sir Sparhawk's ring is on his finger, underneath his mailed glove; again, not easily visible to casual observation. Felix has his rifle loaded up with grenades - when he fires that, he will hit hard (albeit only at limited range).

And the current plan is for Felix, Arkady and Theresa to go forth and negotiate, while almost everyone else waits a few steps back, ready to join in should it come to a fight; Lady Sephrenia suggests that herself, Piper, and Talen should stay back with the trucks.

Is there anything else you need to do or plan before starting this confrontation?

--------------

If there's nothing else you need to do or plan, then how will you wake Ghwerek and let him know you want to talk? Shake him by the shoulder? Yell his name from across the clearing? Poke him with a stick?