"Exactly! Exactly so! I would not be able to trace the patterns and disruptions of the city as you do, but the principle is just the same, I think. After all, people are part of the world around them, though we seek to bend our surroundings to our will. Certainly the politics of Argunn Lode are not so different from the struggles of the wild, though they may pretend to something higher. Now I am curious to see the big city, and hear your observations on its rhythms!

"But I forget -- it will require much time and much luck for us to come to that. For now, I am supposed to be teaching you what I know about these wilds of my home -- `the deep caverns of coldstone and and mountains in the sky,' as it's been called. So consider this: when one wolf-pack wanders into another's territory, there is usually considerable fuss, and posturing, and growling and howling. But most of the time, little actual violence. One pack decides it is the weaker, and moves on. But sometimes, when the winter has been hard, and neither pack is clearly stronger, neither is willing to leave. And then it comes to blood, and the luck and fate of battle decide which is weaker, which stronger.

"This is not so different with people: kingdom has fought against kingdom, whether dwarf, or human, or something else again. But like the wolves, there is more often posturing, and rattling of swords, and maybe skirmishes here and there, and then the two groups have a sense of each other's measure, and go back to a more peaceful life.

"But what of the orcs? I tell you this, because your history may not say: dwarves have fought orcs for centuries upon centuries, and I have heard it is the same with elves, and with humans: all of us have been at war with the orcs for as long as there have been scribes to record it. First, why do you suppose this is, and second, with all the magic of the elves, and the puissance of the dwarves, and the adaptability of the humans, why haven't the orcs been destroyed?

"These may well be unanswerable questions, though I'm interested to hear your thoughts."

"Consider, Linnam, that fowl over there. He (that one's a cock, as you can tell by the large tail and colorful neck) has a place and a purpose. He has only a few goals in life: to eat when hungry, to sleep when tired, second to survive, and first, to couple and have children. What does he eat? Bugs, mostly, for which I thank him, because if he didn't, they'd be crawling all over us. What eats him? Us, when we have a mind and for which I thank him again, and foxes, and wolves. So just seeing this fine fellow, we also know a pack of wolves isn't likely to be nearby, or else they'd have gotten him by now -- wolves would never pass up such a fine meal.

"He is a part of nature, and his very presence tells us about the flow of nature around us. Consider, now, the orc: where does he fit in? What are his goals in life?

Ahhh....I will strive to learn from your wise words. :) Like you say, it sounds like either way would be good.

Why is Woodland Stride super useful? I read what it does, and it just doesn't seem like it would come up that much.

I think I'd want to keep Spade, but transformed into a dire badger. I might have to rename him Shovel then. :)

Out of the in-game conversation, I wanted to express here my plans for Barik's future. I've been thinking that this party doesn't really have much resilience in our front line (Barik and Alonzo have demonstrated they don't quite have either high enough AC, or high enough hit points, to really hold the line, and Grell shouldn't really be up front all the time anyway.) Well, we can hardly blame the DM for that (this isn't griping, Scott, I swear!)

So the next couple of levels, I plan to give to Barik as fighter levels. That sacrifices primarily skill points, and secondarily some reflex save and some movement/tracking enhancements, and (at 8th level) a 2nd level spell. But in return, Barik gets more hp (probably), and a feat each level. Those feats can be defensive (Dodge, then Two-Weapon Defense, so essentially +2 to AC) or offensive (Point Blank Shot and Quick Draw, say, or Great Cleave and Improved Critical, etc.) or a mix.

Characterwise, it seems like it would fit -- Barik's just been killed, and he might be more focused on surviving in combat than in climbing, tracking, etc.

This willy-nilly multiclassing is new to me, but I think I've figured this much out. Let me know what you think, and any feat suggestions you might have.

"Hm. Well, I must say, your head is more often than not in the right place, and I feel we'll need more than our share of clear thinking on this perilous mission. And I think you might find your city-born talents quite useful out here, if you were a bit more comfortable with the great wilderness. And who knows, it may be I won't be around to lead the survivors back home, and someone else will have to guide them.

"Very well. I will show you a little, if I can, of this land and how to make your way in it. The Brothers of the Stone Dragon are known for our ability to track orcs for miles across hard ground, and then take them apart like a butcher might joint a rabbit, or perhaps a better analogy would be like a gemcutter cleaves a crystal. That is what we are known for, but such abilities come from a source that few expect. Other dwarves have fought orcs as much or more as us, and yet understand them less. Why?

"The Stone Brothers approach the problem from a broader perspective, and with a broader philosophy. To track orcs, one learns to track any creature. To learn an orc's strengths and weaknesses, one doesn't look at one orc, or a hundred orcs, but at the grand scope of where and how the orcs live, the creatures that surround them and affect them, and their weaknesses become apparent. In short, we learn about nature first, and any particular creature or task is just a piece of that broad tapestry.

"I promise you, I will teach you things much more specific, and concrete, but it begins with this big picture. And the awareness that in this vastness, you yourself, even all of dwarvenkind and humankind, are really a rather small part. As the miners often say, "You cannot move the slab, and you should not try. But you can know where the slab will go. Learn to know what the rock will do before it does it, and get out of the way." These mountains, these forests, they have come before us and will leave after us. We dwarves and the orcs try to own it and control it, and pretend it is ours, which is foolish. But the Brothers of the Stone Dragon watch the mountains, the rivers, the animals, understand their comings and goings -- and then the traces of orcs appear like ripples in a pond, revealing the thrown pebble by their disruption."

(If we happened to be passing a pond or puddle or something, Barik demonstrates what he means. Alternatively, the same point can be made by tossing a stick at a bush with a grouse under it, or a tree full of birds.)

The next few posts are (pending agreement from the other parties) going to be roleplaying a previous conversation in the D&D blog, between Linnam (Jacob Levy) and Barik (Bob Wieman, aka me). This way, the conversation can be a real conversation, but it doesn't appear on the main blog until it's been sorted out, at which point everyone can read it in one block, rather than reading something like:

Drusilla: I hack the kobold next to me in two!

Barik: And now Linnam, consider the orc. Now, the orc doesn't really think about it, but his whole religion is obsessed with his eyes. He worships a one-eyed orc god every day, and that image is so ingrained in him that if you poke out one of his eyes, he feels this rush of energy, as he realizes he is now the image of his god. Instead of making him less powerful, you've accidentally given him delusions of grandeur. Therefore, the best path is to go for his legs, or arms, and avoid the face altogether.

Barik: Oh, and I throw an axe into the kobold leader.

Linnam: Ah, I see what you are saying, Barik. So not only do you seek to cripple the enemy, but to cripple him in the way that he considers most crippling.

Grell: Linnam, quit jabbering and get the hell over here and flank this bugbear!