The thug is prepared to spout off another threat when Asha and Zarina strike in tandem, knocking the man out cold. He crashes to the floor amidst the other three. The room is silent but for the cackling coming from Poog as he stabs his foe, blood arcing as he withdraws the knife and raises it high for another stab.
"Does he yet draw breath?" Simon asks as he wiped the blood from his rapier. "Reverend sir, might you be willing to stabilize him for questioning?"
"Hmph! Poog kicks the mutilated corpse in front of him and gives it one last "I told you so!"
He turns and looks around at the others, blood covering his small figure, though it already seems to be falling off his rag-like clothing.
"What am you needing?" he asks.
"If this one is still alive, keep him that way," Simon says while he kicks away the thug's weapon and lightly rests his rapier against the man's throat. "We require answers."
"Hmph. He am deserving death for associating with one who hurt me, but Poog am letting him live a little longer."
The goblin casts stabilize on the man.
Asha steps forward, her glaive at the ready, and glares down at the goblin. For the first time since any of the group has met her, she looks angry - more, she looks utterly furious. "Poog! Why... why would you do that? He was unconscious! Defenseless! He wasn't a danger to you or... or... anyone! How could you do something so terrible?"
Poog looks at Asha strangely for several moments.
"He tried to kill me. I told him what the penalty was and then I did it. He could have tried to flee and I might have considered letting him go, but he didn't. He paid the prices for his action and now he'll never try to hurt me -- or anyone else, for that matter -- again."
Several droplets of blood fall from the blood-splattered goblin's ears as he talks.
"I do say, Poog has a bit of reason there, he told the man what he would do, then he did it. To see another would be murderer die in a pool of his own blood seems a fitting solution to me." Zak lazily touches back down after his short flight. "Sparing that man's life could have future implication for the death of innocents, he was a murderer, by removing him we may have saved someone else. Back inthe caravans we had a saying, 'if you see a snake, kill it, else it may come back to bite you'."
Asha shakes her head firmly. "Most snakes run from people, and catch the rats that might otherwise eat your grain," she replies, still staring at Poog. "And who is the murderer here - the dead man, or the blood-covered one who stabbed him times beyond counting? Should we do to you, goblin, what you did to that man? Is that 'fair'?"
"If I attack you, you can try to kill me, Asha. I didn't start this fight. I didn't try to kill any of the people we faced in fair combat, even when I could have used my most lethal spells, even when they nearly killed Simon just earlier today, even if it might cost me my treasure. Perhaps now that whomever sent these assassins after us has seen what might happen, he or she will think twice."
"So it's ok to leave rats to die, but not to kill snakes? That logic doesn't ring true to me, sister. And I'm sure Poog can attest, both are fine in a stew when a man's hungry." Zak grins mischievously. "Speaking of which, I'm starving, and those bowls of soup and noodles are getting cold."
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"The snake does not understand good or evil. It is not good or evil," Asha replies. "And yet, you assume it deserves death for its mere existence, ignoring the good it might do you. You do understand good and evil both, and yes, I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard than we do rats and snakes." She glares again at Poog. "He tried to kill you, it's true - but he failed, and so completely that he had no chance to succeed, now or later. You say those who sent him should think twice, but you denied him the chance to do that very thing. He might have repented, changed his course, perhaps even aided us somehow in finding his masters. Now he will do none of these things, whatever potential goodness he had in him lost for all eternity."
She shakes her head, looks away. "You didn't just kill him, Poog. You killed his hope."
Still avoiding the gaze of her friends, Asha heads for the door. "Finish your meals, then," she tells the others. "I need some fresh air, and I find I am suddenly not hungry."
"Hey, an extra bowl of soup!" Zak claps Poog on the shoulder and settles down to the meal. (taking all the standard precautions of course)
Zarina didn't have much of a dog in that fight between Asha and the goblin. She was a little more fond of honor in battle than Poog, but she understood his upbringing. She was just glad they had survived another day at the tourney.
As the cleric investigates, many of the thugs that attacked are still alive. Asha's enchanted weapon only dealt them superficial wounds. The one that Poog slaughtered is, of course, dead, and the one that Zak peppered with arrows has also passed on. The other three, however, aren't that too worse for the wear, and you are able to restrain them and bring them back to consciousness, should you desire.
It's about this time you also realize that Marythsan has not arrived for the meeting he scheduled with you.
"We need to chain these men up, at the very least," Simon says, "or otherwise restrain them. And we need to ensure that Marthysan has not been murdered in the streets on his way here. Should he be completely safe and have abandoned our meeting... that suggests something unpleasant. Innkeep! Are you there? We require rope, or preferably chains!"
Disturbed at being pulled away from his soup, Zak waggles a finger at one of the revived men. "Here now, I'll let the goblin eat you if you don't start talking!"
Poog happily slurps up his noodles, seeming completely unconcerned about Asha's anger. At Zak's words, he gives the captives a toothy grin.
"Hey, Asha, can we feed this guy to the goblin?", Zak yells out the door, "Poog still looks hungry after his noodles."
Asha turns, startled, a look of horror on her face - but then she catches Zak's meaning, and frowns. After a second, though, she squares her shoulders and walks back into the inn. She kneels in front of one of the would-be assassins. "Listen to me carefully," she tells him softly. "You are at a very delicate moment. You can see the results of the goblin's handiwork there." She makes no effort to hide her revulsion, nor does she look at Poog at all. "I can protect you from a similar end, and will do all that I can to see you reserve a fair and just treatment from the authorities... but to do so, I need you to help me. We need to know why you attacked us - if you were sent, and if so, by whom. Tell me now, and I give you my oath that I will see you handed over safely to the local guards, along with my testimony about how you aided us. You are headed for the precipice, but you have an opportunity to change course."
"Poog always starts with the calf muscles, nice, tender, juicy, and that way he can keep the rest of the meal fresh and living while he enjoys his first course."
Poog licks his lips.
The thug latches onto Asha's words, and looks to her. "Yes, please, turn me in, just don't let that creature sate his hunger upon me! We were sent to kill you by our masters, the Golden League. I don't know why, I don't need to know why. I follow the orders given to me, and they said to come here and make certain you don't walk out of here. I have failed, and my life is soon to come to an end. At least the League will see to it I'm not to become the meal of a creature such as him."
"The Golden League," Asha says, frowning. "Thank you," she tells the thug. She stands, lifting him to his feet. "We need to find the local guard or the Tournament authorities," she tells the others, looking around. "I suspect they wouldn't appreciate the League attacking competitors." She does not add what she is thinking: Is this about me and my brother? What is going to happen tonight at midnight?
"So Poog no am going to get to eat him?" the goblin asks in a disappointed voice.
"We also need to find out what happened to Marthysan," Simon notes.
"he seemed trustworthy," Zarina nodded to Simon. "At least as trustworthy as anyone in this place seems to be."
The door to the tavern opens again, and a familiar figure in resplendent mithral plate steps through the portal. Marythsan steps into the inn, and surprise plays across his face as he sees the disarray caused by the averted assassination attempt. "By the Inheritor, what happened here? Are you all alright?" He quickly closes the distance between you, and his eyes darken as he sees the prisoners you've taken. "Has he been cooperative?"
"He was reasonable fair after the goblin finished his noodles and started looking for more to eat." Zak waggles spoon towards Poog, "You'd think their kind would be larger for the amount they consume, or maybe that's where hobgoblins come from?" Zak squints at Poog as the new thought on goblin origins occurs to him.
Marythsan's face darkens even further as Zak speaks, and he sets the full weight of his gaze upon the archer and the goblin. "I sincerely hope that this is your idea of a joke," he says evenly, the displeasure evident in his voice. "Because the punchline lost its humor in the translation."
Poog shrugs. "Poog am no doing anything to that one," he says, jabbing a finger at the bound captive.
Without breaking his smile, Zak holds Marythsan's gaze, "We just survived an ambush based on the politics of this place, an attempt to take out lives for the squabbles of other's that existed long before we set foot on the soil of this island. Humor is the only thing keeping my hatred at bay, so please accept my foreign custom to it's ugly alternative." Still smiling, Zak keeps the eyes of Marythsan, "I see that you've come to visit with us in full plate armor, is that the standard way to greet companions at the pub in this land?"
Asha shakes her head, lays a hand on the archer's shoulder. "Tonight has been... stressful... for all of us," she says soothingly. "I beg each of you to remember that."
Marythsan holds Zak's gaze for a time before sighing and shaking his head. "I'm wearing my mail partly due to my status as the current Ruby Phoenix Champion, as well as the lawlessness that has surrounded itself with the Tournament. But you're right, of course, you haven't lived in Goka for the last decade and become familiar with its ways. My apologies, all of you - it's been a very long few days, and I've not even been the one fighting for my life this time. I'd forgotten what it was like, leaving Lastwall behind and coming here to fight just for a chance to earn the title of Champion, and a trophy from the sorceress' vault itself."
He examines the man that you've taken prisoner, noting some intricate tattoo work on the man's arms. "Figures. The Golden Sun have sent their xun after you - little more than soldiers. That they'd move so openly against contestants greatly concerns me. This needs to be brought to the Emissary's attention. Are there any other threats that I need to brief him on?"
Marythsan's apology feels heartfelt and sincere.
"Aren't you a bit late for our get together, Marythsan? We're you detained for some reason?"
"This am nothing compared to being in goblin tribe," Poog says with a shrug. "But still, who am this Golden Sun?"
The goblin's bloodthirsty demeanor seems to have disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced by his usual odd manner.
"Yes, I am, and I do apologize, Zarina," the paladin says, glancing back to the bronze-skinned woman sheepishly. "Tournament business kept me longer than I had intended, and I missed the boat I had planned on taking to get back here. I don't mind the walk, but it was irksome. As for the Golden League, they're criminals. They've got their fingers in every criminal enterprise in Goka, and I'm not surprised that they want a piece of the action here due to the Tournament. This attack on you, though, is highly unusual. If they'd move this openly, then you're a threat to their plans, whatever they are. I doubt this one -", Marythsan says, gesturing to the battered xun on the ground, "- will say anything about his masters, but it's clear that you don't figure into their endgame."
"He has cooperated," Asha says, hauling her conversational partner to his feet, "and even if it was only out of fear for his life, I have nonetheless given him my word that I would see him safely delivered to the authorities in recognition of his aid. We have other captives as well; we haven't interrogated them, but I would ask the same mercy be offered to them also. This one believes his Golden League masters will be able to reach him even in the custody of the guards. If that be so, I'd rather turn them over to the Tournament, if you have the facilities to hold and guard him."
"Just get him out of here," Zarina snorts, still not sure who she could trust involved with the tournament. Just when I was considering relaxing enough to try the food and drink...forget that!
Poog grimaces as Asha proves to be soft again where the enemy is concerned.
He am just going to try to hurt us again.
He pulls out his wand and begins curing his wounds.
Marythsan nods at Asha's words. "Upon my honor as a knight of Iomedae, I shall see him back to the Tournament grounds so he can be under protective custody. If you like, you may accompany me as honor guards."
Simon watches Marthysan unobtrusively and listens to each and every word he says.
Poog shrugs. "As long as we am not going to be attacked again, Poog no care..."