(no subject)
That went about as well as I expected it to.
I kept to my word and remained silent as two amateurs played at being interrogators, making practically every mistake one could make in that situation. There were seeds of a good idea or two in the mix, but the execution was horrid. I am not remotely surprised that we learned nothing pertinent that we did not already know, or that Bloodaxe didn't ask practically anything I'd asked him to find out. He gains what information he has through absorbing it like a sponge, passive and without the context of interaction or instruction -- he's always been terrible at dealing with others outside of an interrogation, so his failure last night in one is no shock.
When you interrogate, you work off facts that you're confident about, and primarily bluff off universal emotion. You must control the narrative you're painting, even if you're presenting a fictional scenario. It's important to make it believable and never push your target out of the story you're weaving. They chose to take the "two thugs working for a powerful shadow figure" tack, with one being the by-the-rules reasonable one and one being the violent one. That can work if you actually have charisma or know how to keep the narrative in your control, but Bloodaxe, of course, did what Bloodaxe always does -- completely overstepped the reality of where his knowledge ends and tried to bluff to an expert. If you are an orc and a tauren, you don't threaten trolls with voodoo. It's a common misstep; it's easy to think that you need to meet your subject on their level, to dig into something they know intimately. Unless you are an expert -- someone so confident and comfortable in your knowledge that you could do it in your sleep -- you keep to a narrative you can control. Worse, they used props. I believe that that voodoo figurine they brought out was, at one point, held by a troll, but unless they had it prepared specifically for this event -- and considering the orc's hubris, I doubt they did -- the troll was likely laughing inside. It's like a trained archer being threatened by someone who just picked up a bow for the first time that day. Aye, they are holding the bow in front of them and an arrow is nocked to the string, but a casual glance can see everything wrong: the grip, the stance, the position of the drawing arm, the locked elbow. NEVER threaten an expert with their own tools unless you know them as intimately as they do.
They continued trying to reach him on that level by stating they were working for Hakkar. Instantly, their narrative shattered to the ground and the troll gained control. Even when they pushed the point, it was clear he didn't believe that an orc and a tauren would be serving one of his gods. Not because he didn't believe a non-troll would be interested in that, but because of his conviction that his gods are troll gods alone. Unless you have concrete proof that will prove a zealot's belief false, you never try to beat a believer at their belief. They will know more than you and be more committed to the tale than you ever will. Any respect, any fear, any credibility you might have with your subject dies in the room the instant you bluff them on something so fundamental that there is no way they can believe what's coming out of your mouth. In that moment, they failed, and I watched as they painfully put on a farcical act in front of the troll who was now utterly convinced that they were no more intelligent than the dim grunts they were pretending to be.
In order to control the narrative of an interrogation, you must work with what you are confident in -- and in particular, what you are confident in that your subject doesn't know. The misstep with the figurine should have been a tauren dreamcatcher, an orc totem... or, to go less spiritual and even more into the unknown for someone like this troll, a goblin device with mist in a bottle, or someone playing the part of a warlock. The concept is the same -- the threat to capture his spirit and take him away -- but now you're working with tools that look legitimate and that the troll doesn't know about. Pick another big spiritual mover and shaker that the troll might have heard about but doesn't know well to serve. A demon, for example, as they work with souls... the green-skinned orc would make it more legitimate. But don't rely too much on bluffs and lies. Your focus in an interrogation should always be on emotional elements. Do they think they can escape the consequences of death? Strip that away. Play on their insecurities. Bait them with greed and see if they bite. Use something you know is precious to them if you're certain of it. The key is to find the weakness in the armor of your subject and then twist the knife. No amount of pageantry will push you past needing the simple knowledge about how people work.
Now, even with horrible interrogation technique, a simple task of asking the right questions should have yielded results last night, as the Zephyr Crew had brought their deader priest, Marosemius, to read the troll's mind. But no. They were too caught up in their god servant play to actually ask the sort of questions that would lead the troll's thoughts to the answers we sought. We got no information about the vaults Gara'jal is in, no understanding of the man or his weaknesses, because Bloodaxe was having too much fun playing his terrible role and being the authority, just as he always does. Worse, when the time came to finish the prisoner, did they keep the priest in the room to capture his last, most desperate, most revealing thoughts? No. No, he wasn't there for the entirety of the end, which took some time. Opportunities lost again and again.
I told them none of this, of course, outside of agreeing with Marosemius about the poor technique used, and left when they emerged from the tomb. I was not in the mood to hear Bloodaxe talk about his success or instruct me on what I should do next. Hopefully he'll keep his ideas to himself and stop trying to help us find the children, because if he treats everything with such finesse, I expect them to be dead due to his actions. I'll go back to finding information from former slaves.
I had something else important to attend to that night and I was not about to leave Sebrawyn alone with the death of the departed.
I came back to the house after a harrying kite flight and plucked a lotus blossom for her. I thought I'd surprise her, but her clever nose found it. She was... very happy I'd remembered last year. Overcome by it, almost. She was a torrent of emotion last night, and it was all I could do to hold and soothe her against the storm. She's lost so many, and in many horrible ways. The invasion on her homeland. Killing her own sister. She's often alone and away from everything she knows, in a strange land where even her friends are far away. Our son is threatening her life, and the fear of what might happen is starting to leak from the brave mask she's worn up to now.
Of course I'm terrified I'll lose her. Every time her breath hitches or she tells me of a close call she had, my stomach ties in knots. I can only put on a brave face of my own and be a reassuring voice... a bulwark against the fear that threatens us both. We must be particularly vigilant in this place. I spent a long time in my devotions this morning, shoring myself up against hatred, anger, and fear. I have to remain centered for us both.
I don't truly observe the Day of the Dead. Tauren honor their ancestors year-round. But last night I thought of Chela and Boril, of Dakos, of the mother I barely knew, and I honored them in my own quiet way. I can only hope they watch the boy they raised and find him worthy.
I kept to my word and remained silent as two amateurs played at being interrogators, making practically every mistake one could make in that situation. There were seeds of a good idea or two in the mix, but the execution was horrid. I am not remotely surprised that we learned nothing pertinent that we did not already know, or that Bloodaxe didn't ask practically anything I'd asked him to find out. He gains what information he has through absorbing it like a sponge, passive and without the context of interaction or instruction -- he's always been terrible at dealing with others outside of an interrogation, so his failure last night in one is no shock.
When you interrogate, you work off facts that you're confident about, and primarily bluff off universal emotion. You must control the narrative you're painting, even if you're presenting a fictional scenario. It's important to make it believable and never push your target out of the story you're weaving. They chose to take the "two thugs working for a powerful shadow figure" tack, with one being the by-the-rules reasonable one and one being the violent one. That can work if you actually have charisma or know how to keep the narrative in your control, but Bloodaxe, of course, did what Bloodaxe always does -- completely overstepped the reality of where his knowledge ends and tried to bluff to an expert. If you are an orc and a tauren, you don't threaten trolls with voodoo. It's a common misstep; it's easy to think that you need to meet your subject on their level, to dig into something they know intimately. Unless you are an expert -- someone so confident and comfortable in your knowledge that you could do it in your sleep -- you keep to a narrative you can control. Worse, they used props. I believe that that voodoo figurine they brought out was, at one point, held by a troll, but unless they had it prepared specifically for this event -- and considering the orc's hubris, I doubt they did -- the troll was likely laughing inside. It's like a trained archer being threatened by someone who just picked up a bow for the first time that day. Aye, they are holding the bow in front of them and an arrow is nocked to the string, but a casual glance can see everything wrong: the grip, the stance, the position of the drawing arm, the locked elbow. NEVER threaten an expert with their own tools unless you know them as intimately as they do.
They continued trying to reach him on that level by stating they were working for Hakkar. Instantly, their narrative shattered to the ground and the troll gained control. Even when they pushed the point, it was clear he didn't believe that an orc and a tauren would be serving one of his gods. Not because he didn't believe a non-troll would be interested in that, but because of his conviction that his gods are troll gods alone. Unless you have concrete proof that will prove a zealot's belief false, you never try to beat a believer at their belief. They will know more than you and be more committed to the tale than you ever will. Any respect, any fear, any credibility you might have with your subject dies in the room the instant you bluff them on something so fundamental that there is no way they can believe what's coming out of your mouth. In that moment, they failed, and I watched as they painfully put on a farcical act in front of the troll who was now utterly convinced that they were no more intelligent than the dim grunts they were pretending to be.
In order to control the narrative of an interrogation, you must work with what you are confident in -- and in particular, what you are confident in that your subject doesn't know. The misstep with the figurine should have been a tauren dreamcatcher, an orc totem... or, to go less spiritual and even more into the unknown for someone like this troll, a goblin device with mist in a bottle, or someone playing the part of a warlock. The concept is the same -- the threat to capture his spirit and take him away -- but now you're working with tools that look legitimate and that the troll doesn't know about. Pick another big spiritual mover and shaker that the troll might have heard about but doesn't know well to serve. A demon, for example, as they work with souls... the green-skinned orc would make it more legitimate. But don't rely too much on bluffs and lies. Your focus in an interrogation should always be on emotional elements. Do they think they can escape the consequences of death? Strip that away. Play on their insecurities. Bait them with greed and see if they bite. Use something you know is precious to them if you're certain of it. The key is to find the weakness in the armor of your subject and then twist the knife. No amount of pageantry will push you past needing the simple knowledge about how people work.
Now, even with horrible interrogation technique, a simple task of asking the right questions should have yielded results last night, as the Zephyr Crew had brought their deader priest, Marosemius, to read the troll's mind. But no. They were too caught up in their god servant play to actually ask the sort of questions that would lead the troll's thoughts to the answers we sought. We got no information about the vaults Gara'jal is in, no understanding of the man or his weaknesses, because Bloodaxe was having too much fun playing his terrible role and being the authority, just as he always does. Worse, when the time came to finish the prisoner, did they keep the priest in the room to capture his last, most desperate, most revealing thoughts? No. No, he wasn't there for the entirety of the end, which took some time. Opportunities lost again and again.
I told them none of this, of course, outside of agreeing with Marosemius about the poor technique used, and left when they emerged from the tomb. I was not in the mood to hear Bloodaxe talk about his success or instruct me on what I should do next. Hopefully he'll keep his ideas to himself and stop trying to help us find the children, because if he treats everything with such finesse, I expect them to be dead due to his actions. I'll go back to finding information from former slaves.
I had something else important to attend to that night and I was not about to leave Sebrawyn alone with the death of the departed.
I came back to the house after a harrying kite flight and plucked a lotus blossom for her. I thought I'd surprise her, but her clever nose found it. She was... very happy I'd remembered last year. Overcome by it, almost. She was a torrent of emotion last night, and it was all I could do to hold and soothe her against the storm. She's lost so many, and in many horrible ways. The invasion on her homeland. Killing her own sister. She's often alone and away from everything she knows, in a strange land where even her friends are far away. Our son is threatening her life, and the fear of what might happen is starting to leak from the brave mask she's worn up to now.
Of course I'm terrified I'll lose her. Every time her breath hitches or she tells me of a close call she had, my stomach ties in knots. I can only put on a brave face of my own and be a reassuring voice... a bulwark against the fear that threatens us both. We must be particularly vigilant in this place. I spent a long time in my devotions this morning, shoring myself up against hatred, anger, and fear. I have to remain centered for us both.
I don't truly observe the Day of the Dead. Tauren honor their ancestors year-round. But last night I thought of Chela and Boril, of Dakos, of the mother I barely knew, and I honored them in my own quiet way. I can only hope they watch the boy they raised and find him worthy.