Mia takes another step back and tries to put another arrow into the hobgoblin at point-blank range.
The grim smile becomes a wolfish grin even as blood trickles from the gash in her arm.
Griffo steps up and launches his sling bullet at the closest hobgoblin. It cracks him on the base of his skull, sending him sprawling to the ground!
Mia shifts her aim to the other soldier, firing past Mia to hit him in the arm! Surma delivers a mighty swing that finishes him off, blood spurting as the hobgoblin falls!
Eilyne dances away from the hobgoblin scout, taunting him as she disappears into the trees.
He scowls at the kineticist, but seeing his comrades-in-arms fall, he rushes out of the undergrowth at Surma. Cursing in the Goblin tongue, he slices her with his axe!
"Agh!" Surma lets out before slashing back at her attacker.
Surma retaliates, and her axe being bigger than the hobgoblin's, it proves to be the superior weapon. It ruptures his abdominal cavity, and he groans and falls to the ground amid gore and viscera.
With the soldiers defeated, you are able to look over their bodies. Besides their possessions, each hobgoblin has a tattered notebook with rough maps of the woods and noting water supplies, game trails, and ideal routes for marching large groups. Each also carries a copy of a notice in Common that reads as follows:
BOUNTY!
Phaendar has not been secured to our glorious general's satisfaction, and in her name I now offer a bounty of 25 pieces of gold to any member of the Ironfang Legion who returns reliable information regarding the location of fugitive human-likes who fled Phaendar.
The payment is doubled if you instead return their heads. Live captives may be claimed as slaves!
All rewards are doubled for the impudent ringleaders of this band! Return all information or heads to my cur of a son, Sergeant Scarvinious.
—Lieutenant Scabvistin
Curious about the notes Surma begins to paw through them. "... well s+#!." she lets out as she finds the bounty.
"Damn! They've scouted the forest well and that means they're probably all over the place. The route maps may help us, though. Any look like they'd help us reach the rangers faster?" Griffo asks.
The Chernasardo Rangers' redoubt is not marked on the hobgoblins' maps. It's likely they don't know about its location. The trails they have indicated will help you move your band of survivors along easier paths.
"Nah, doesn't look like they've found the Rangers yet. So that's good at least."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
After finding the note, Mia spends the next several minutes beheading the hobgoblins and making three wooden spikes to put the heads on. She takes one of the notes and scrawls a message on the back of it using the blood from their corpses and a twig shaved to a point before pinning it to one of the spikes with a broken arrow.
Send smarter hobgoblins next time Mr. Scabby.
- Phaendar's Cursed Wolf
Below is a cartoonish caricature of a frowning girl with black hair and wolf's ears sticking her tongue out at the reader.
"Then we should probably head to them. Maybe we can hide there for a little while and gather supplies and teach whoever's able how to fight," Mia says as she rejoins the others, her hands stained with blood. Beside her the mother wolf and the pups they'd rescued trot up and begin sniffing around.
Surma happily smirks at Mia's challenge.
"Sounds like a plan." she adds as they look over the map.
Mia takes the lead again, following the routes on the map through the shaded forest. You navigate around a few deadfalls and switchbacks as you cross the rough terrain. As the afternoon wears on, you come upon a thicket of brambles. Partially hidden amid the bushes is a tiny shack--a narrow path promises safety from the thorns.
Surma begins snooping towards the shack.
Surma sneaks over to the shack and listens at the door, but she's unable to hear any noises within.
Looking around aimlessly in contemplation she shrugs before opening the door to the shack.
Inside the shack, there's lots of herbs, vegetables, and salted meat, as well a shelf lined with books, scrolls, and writing materials. There is also a very surprised old woman.
"Ah! Who do you think you are, young lady, barging into a person's house like that? Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't hear anything so I didn't think anyone was home." Surma replies before closing the door.
She then proceed to knock.
From behind the door the woman scoffs. "Of all the idiotic... Go away! I don't like visitors!"
"Well then you definitely won't like the Hobgoblins in the area hunting humans." Surma says from the other side of the door.
"Those strong enough to survive will do so," the woman replies. "I can take care of myself."
"You sure? They have an army."
"Feh!" is all she says.
"... why are you living all the way out here anyway?"
"Because I don't like people who ask me annoying questions all day! Now scram, before I get mad!"
"... so we can't stay the night?"
Following Surma up to the house when they found it Eilyne hears the discussion between the two. She rolls her eyes and says, "Surma, it seems you aren't good with people are you?" She reached out to place a hand on the woman's shoulder and pulled back on her gently as she said, "Let me try."
"Um, isn't that going to make her mad, er, madder? More mad? angry," Mia asks, trying to find the right words. Her little wolf pack trailing behind. One of the pups sniffs at the door, his curiosity piqued.
"Uh, sure." Surma replies as the plant lady steps up.
Eilyne gently pulled Surma back out of the hut and then stood at the doorway, outside of the hut, and said, "I'm sorry for my companion's rather rude entrance. She forgot to knock first." She looked at the various herbs she could see through the doorway.
One particular plant caught her eye, one she remembered her mother using to make medicine when Eilyne contracted a rather nasty disease. It took her a moment to remember the name of it and once she did she asked, "Where did you ever find some Dryad's Veil? I didn't think there was a dryad near here to get any from."
"Hmph," says the old woman. "You would do well to teach your friends some manners."
She seems to perk up when Eilyne starts talking about herbs. "Aye, used to be a dryad round these parts, but she left a few years back. The veil still grows in her old grove, though, and it comes in handy when I need to brew up some potent concoctions." She eyes Eilyne and clucks her tongue.
"You seem alright for a young whippersnapper, though I must say your choice of clothing leaves something to be desired. It's rather uncouth to walk around with all your bits jiggling about. But I suppose if you've got extra goods on hand, Old Veld would be willing to trade you for information, supplies, or scrolls."
Eilynne listened as the woman talked and laughed as she said, "I've been trying to teach Surma some manners but it seems to be a losing fight though."
She considered what to do now that she had earned the woman's grudging acceptance and said, "I learned to dress this way from my mother actually. You see I'm a dryad myself." Despite the fact she obviously wasn't it was equally obvious that she thought she was. "I don't know that we have much to trade but I believe I may have something else you might consider worthwhile." She gave the woman an inquiring look, "May I come in and sit with you while we discuss things?"
Veld sighs. "Oh, alright. Don't touch anything, though. I don't want your grubby handprints on my stuff."
Eilyne nodded and entered the house, closing the door behind her, and then sat on a chair inside. She looked around again at the place before she finally said, "I think we were mislead when we were told about this place. I should have known better than to trust that mite. If I ever find it again I'm going to express my displeasure in a decidedly painful manner." She sighed then and said, "We ran into a pack of mites torturing a she-wolf's cubs while keeping their mother at bay. The only of the little things to survive bargained with knowledge of a 'house where there is treasure everywhere if you can get past the grumpy pointy-ears who will curse at you and shoot you with arrows'. It didn't register until now that he said 'steal' the treasure." She looked at the old woman directly and said, "My deepest apologies for that. I guess at least part of what he said was true anyway, there is a house in the woods with lots of stuff." She extended a hand in the manner of humans and said, "I'm Eilyne."
She sat back again and began, "i don't know if you are aware of what is happening in the area. The town of Phaendar was attacked several nights ago during the festival in the middle of the night. Hobgoblins somehow appeared inside the town all at once, an army of them, and by dawn everyone was either dead, about to die, or had fled. We are the only known survivors from the town. When we reached Gristledown we found we were too late, it too has been destroyed and everyone killed or captured." There was a look of worry on her face and her body had tensed at the thought of what was happening. "They have even begun hunting the the woods for survivors and stray humans, a bugbear is leading the group, and killing any they find. When they find you they will do to you what they have done to the others."
Veld's hut is little more than a single room with a bed, workbench, and cauldron. Dried herbs hang from the rafters, and a small cabinet holds dried meat.
"I don't think the gremlin was talking about my little hut. Those pests don't usually bother me. The only 'pointy-ears' I can think of is the half-elf hunter Keloch. He's just as curmudgeonly as me when it comes to visitors, so I wouldn't expect a warm welcome. His cabin's about a day's walk southeast of here."
Veld reluctantly takes Eilyne's hand when she offers it to shake, though she quickly takes a handkerchief and wipes hers off once she's done.
"Shame to hear about Phaendar, but I've no care for the townsfolk there, or most people in general. As I said, those strong enough to survive will do so. And you needn't worry about me, dearie. I may be getting up there in age, but I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Old Veld can still sling a spell or two when the need arises. My hut's probably safer than being out there in the Fangwood, especially if hobbo-gobbos are mucking about."
Griffo takes advantage of the lull to try to figure out the magic ring they recently acquired, but soon finds it too complex for his limited magical knowledge.
Overhearing that Old Veld knows some spells (and might be willing to trade), Griffo pokes his head in the door. "Hello there! We might well be able to make some trades, I hope. We have many people to care for and need to stay ahead of those hobgoblins as best we can. But first, I hope we can make use of your wisdom." He holds up the ring. "This bears an enchantment but it is beyond my skill to figure out what it does. Can you help me to do so?"
Veld scoffs. "A paltry task well within my capabilities. Let me take a look." The old woman murmurs a cantrip and studies the ring for a minute or so, then nods. "A ring of protection, of course!"
I think I'll take my chances with the hob-gobs, Mia thinks as she looks at the giant thornbush that seemed to be Old Veld's home.
The mother wolf and the pups wisely stay clear of the thorns.
Realizing this woman might have some idea about how Rocky came to be here Eilyne asked, "Maybe you can answer something for me. When we were rescuing people in Phaendar before we fled we came across an earth elemental there. It seemed panicked and scared at the time but I convinced it to join us. Is it unusual for an earth elemental to be here? I told it I'd try to find it a way back home but I have no clue how to do that or how it could have gotten here in the first place."
"An earth elemental? Now, that's an odd thing to be skulking about. Big animals, tricksy faeries, sure, but a rock creature is a rare sight. Don't rightly know how it might have come to be here."
Veld strokes her chin. "When you want to send an outsider back where it came from, you gotta use some powerful magic. Dismissal ought to do it, else you could find a freestanding portal to the plane of Earth--which is pretty unlikely! Unfortunately, that sort of magic is beyond my capabilities."
Mia continues to wait for the others to finish their conversation with Veld. She hands out ear scratches to the pups and their mother as they all wait.
The wolves bark happily and line up for the ear scratches. They seem rather happy to have Mia leading the pack.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
After a while, as the meeting drags on, Mia plays with the pups and their mother. Some time later, Mia is on the ground in a puppy pile.
Eilyne's face fell at teh news and said, "I guess I'll have to watch for a portal like that then. What could make one or where would I find one?" She seemed hesitant, much like she was becoming attached to Rocky, but she had promised it and she wouldn't go back on her word to the earth elemental.
"Hell if I know. You're on your own there, dearie!" Veld says. "Anything else you want from me? Otherwise, I will ask you to get out of my hair!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When Eilyne comes out, she finds that Mia is currently under a pile of wolf pups and their mother.
"Okay! You win! Can you let me up? Please," comes her muffled voice from beneath the clump of cute canines.
After a disappointing answer about a means of returning Rocky home Eilyne rose and said, "Thank you for letting us speak with you. If we find anything you might be interested in we'll try to bring it back. Do you have any herbs you need replenished?" Once she had her answer Eilyne went back outside and closed the door behind her only to roll her eyes at the sight of Mia buried under the wolfpack. She made a gesture indicating she should get up and then said, "We got what we could for now. This isn't the house where the treasure is, she told me it's that way," she pointed towards the direction she'd been told, "we should get going so we don't bother her, it wouldn't be a good idea to make her mad at us."
Surma nods at Eilyne before turning to the shed. "Take care! Watch out for the hobgoblins!"
Veld gives Eilyne a list of herbs to look out for, promising to trade provisions in exchange for them.
You meet back up with the other refugees and continue on for a few more hours before making camp. Your followers are wary after the run-in with the hobgoblins earlier today, but fortunately, the night passes without event.
In the morning, the warm air is still and humid. Dark clouds are beginning to gather overhead. It is no light rain the weather portends--it is going to storm later today, badly. Trees and tents won’t offer sufficient protection. You'd do well to find serious shelter before the storm breaks!