The Road to Minkai: Dragoncat's Jade Regent (Inactive)

Game Master Dragoncat

The combined attacks of Gilbert's arrow and Ikoma's blade reduces the beast to bloody chunks on the dining room floor.

Combat over.

As the party takes in the damage, a faint voice comes from upstairs. "H-hello? Is somebody down there?"

Stabilize check: 1d20 ⇒ 12
Phew, stabilized at -1.

With a flick of his wrist Ikoma clears the blood from his blade. Keeping it at the ready... he replies"Yes come out... who ever you are.!"

Caerwyn approaches the fallen creature and runs his sword through the creature heart "Shalelu always said make sure a downed enemy stays down" Upon hearing the voice coming from upstairs Caerwyn calls out "This thing, whatever it is, is dead. You are free to come down. Master Walthus, I presume?"
Damage (Coup de Grace): 2d10 + 2 ⇒ (6, 7) + 2 = 15 (DC:25 Fort save)

Just in case the monster's bloody giblets spontaneously reanimate themselves, Caerwyn makes doubly sure that they won't by driving his blade into its heart.

The slow pattering of feet can be heard from upstairs, growing louder as a spitting image of the 'halfling' you were speaking with moments ago comes into view at the top of the stairs. He looks even worse off than he was before.

"Oh my... was that you what made all that racket? Does that mean that thing is dead?" He gasps, leaning heavily on the railing for support.

"Oh dear, I do not have any healing spells memorized. Do you have any healing equipment Walthus-san?"

"I got this covered, Yui!", says Gilbert, putting his bow next to Nestasha and looks around a bit,
"Uhhhmmm....", he says before grabbing an elbow, very carefully,then stands up and offers the lady a hand to get up.

"Master Walthus! Pleasure to meet the you you. Ah... May I offer you some magical healing? It's what I can offer you.", he says, clearly distracted by the corpse next to him. "Now what is that?! I never seen anything like it!"
Knowledge(Nature): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

Looking at Nestasha he adresses Gilbert."Gilbert... I think we need your abilities right now, right here!"

Caerwyn kneels next to Nestasha to examine her wounds
Heal check: 1d20 ⇒ 1
She's dead, Jim!

I'm terribly sorry, I though I mentioned casting Cure Light Wounds. Please consider that in the previous post... That should teach me for posting while tying my tie...

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"You alright there? Really, really sorry, that was my bad."

Spells Left - 2 or 1 if Gravity Bow was cast.

That's ok, realized I forgot to subtract the damage. Corrected now.

Moaning and clutching her stomach, Nestasha looks around, "What jusst hit me?" Seeing the dead thing on the ground, "Well, at leasst it'ss dead." Accepting Gilbert's help in standing, Nestash gives him a slightly pained smile, "Thank you Gilbert, I'm not great, but I will be alright for now I think."

Walthus staggers downstairs in time to see Gilbert heal Nestasha. "Oh, heavens... er--that's alright, sir--I'll be fine now, I'm sure of it."

At the sight of the beast's corpse, the halfling starts crying in relief. "I--I'm sorry, th--that thing just nearly killed me and my pets. How'd you know that... that thing wasn't me?"

"Uhm... I saw his face moving, and it didn't know what the names of your snakes are, soo, we assumed so... It also did turn into a giant monster and clubbered Nestasha here bad, so we decided to put it down. It did promise us tea, however. Yui here would definitely not mind making some for you, and I wouldn't mind attacking some of your stronger beverages, if you know what I mean!" Gilbert puts on a smile and pulls a chair for Walthus to sit. Duchess approaches as well, and sits on her back legs, wagging her tail.

"Whatever it was, it IS dead now!"

"Are you quite all right Nestasha? That not-Walthus attacked you and nearly killed you. What was that anyway? He couldn't set tea." Yui says disappointingly.
After a moment she moves to the kitchen to set a proper kettle of tea for everyone.

Feeling the need to move a bit so she doesn't stiffen up, a lesson learned from her tumbling practice, Nestasha gets up and goes with Yui, "I'll be alright Yui. I think I'll come and help you though, I need to get up and move or I will sstiffen up."

"I tricked him into giving a false name for one of your pet snakes. Unless you do actually have a snake named Zsa Zsa? In which case I probably owe him an apology." He nudges the corpse with his foot "Can you tell us who, ...what, this thing is, ...was, and what exactly happened here?"

Nodding, the samurai bows slighty to the half-elf. "That was good thinking, indeed. Sir Walthus, we came here on behest of the Sandpoint Sheriff. We seek to clean out the goblin pest, and he told us you could be of help. We seek your help!"

"I tricked him into giving a false name for one of your pet snakes. Unless you do actually have a snake named Zsa Zsa? In which case I probably owe him an apology."

Walthus arches an eyebrow. "No, none of my pets have that name. Still, brilliant plan, sir."

"That was good thinking, indeed. Sir Walthus, we came here on behest of the Sandpoint Sheriff. We seek to clean out the goblin pest, and he told us you could be of help. We seek your help!"

The halfling hobbles into the dining room. "Well, since you've been a great help to me, it's certainly the least I can do. What do you need to--"

He stops dead in his tracks as his eyes fall upon his teapot. His face turns red with anger. "Son-of-a-motherless Chelish whore... WHAT DID THAT BASTARD DO TO MY TEAPOT?!"

Walthus hobbles over to the teapot and picks it up before sniffing it. His nose wrinkles in disgust. "It's-it's filled with swamp water! Unfiltered! I'll have to spend a week washing this thing out!"

He grumbles and sets the teapot down. "Filthy savage... coming into a man's home, threatening his well-being, and to top it all off, ruins a perfectly good teapot."

"I agree, this is quite filthy, but from now on, whenever you make tea, you will remember that some things are not what they seem. And that a saving hand can come unexpectantly."

Walthus sighs and sits down. "I know..."

"Now, anyway, what was it about the goblins you were so curious about?"

Yui seems more distraught by the swamp water in the tea pot than anything else. Nodding along fiercely when Walthus calls him a savage.

"We are looking to hunt these goblins, since they've been a threat to Sandpoint... The savages..." Gilbert gestures to spit as he's saying the last word, ignorant of the irony, but stops as Nestasha looks at him dissaprovingly.

"We're also promised a bounty, but we heard they have fireworks, using them as weapons..." Gilbert says, looking at Yui and Walthus messing around with the tea.

"Are ya now?" Walthus turns to Gilbert. "Aye, goblins are a nuisance to anyone, but--wait." He looks up. "They're shootin' fireworks at caravans now?"

"Huh. Didn't figure the little scabs were smart enough ta make them. Well, in that case, I'd be happy to point you to where their village is." The halfling stands up, his legs still shaking. "Have ya a map or somesuch that I can draw on? I'll need to find myself my charcoal... assuming that didn't get ruined as well."

Duchess scratches at the door and whines. "Eh? Ya brought a dog here, did ya?"

"Bah! Duchess is much more familiar in etiquette than I am, let me tell you that!", says Gilbert, oblivious to the truth in the joke. "I'll take her outside now, though.", he says and opens the door to Duchess.

"Come on, girl. If you smell anyone bad, howl loudly, ok?", says Gilbert, giving Duchess a snack.

Seeing the shape of the tea pot Nestasha gets a sneaking suspicion that tea is off the menu, "I don't know that we can make tea ssafe to drink from that pot Yui."

"Bah! A poor noble like myself has picked a couple of tricks to go along without servants! Let me look at the pot, and you'll be able to drink anything from it, even tea!", says Gilbert, taking the pot, rather hastily, and casts Purify Food/Drink.

"It should be ready to serve its purpose again, though just in case, I recommend putting something sterner in there first, if you know what I mean!", he says, giving the purified pot back to Yui.

@GM, is it too cheeky to ask for situational bonuses to social skills now? They do seem like tea fanatics. Also, if need be, I also have Mending.

Taking out the map and shaking his head about the teapot incident, Ikoma patiently waits for Walthus to show where the goblins life and what he thinks is the best line of attack.
"I would think early morning to midday would be a great time to strike!"

"If only I had memorized a different spell today." Yui pouts.

Sighing in annoyance, Nestasha takes the pot and begins scrubbing it as best she can as she looks at Yui, "Maybe we could jusst boil ssome water in a pot and make the tea that way. It wouldn't be quite the ssame, but it would be better than sswamp water tea."

"All this talk about tea is fascinating, but we have a body to bury and a raid to plan so I suggest we get a move on." Caerwyn chimes in a bit impatiently.

Giving Caerwyn a slightly irritated look, "No one is sstopping you from talking about sstrategy, we are sstill listening and I will add anything if I feel the need to. I am not familiar with wilderness tacticss sso I defer to the expertss."

Walthus takes the map from Ikoma & lays it out on the dining room table, digging a charcoal stick out of his pocket and studying it intently.

"Now, if I remember right, the goblin's village is right... about... here." He says, drawing a square around a part of the map near the middle of the swamp. (Area H on the map.)

"Yep, that should be where they are. Now, going in a straight line from here to the village will be faster than going around the swamp. However, going that way would be muddier and potentially more dangerous, even without the Soggy River in the way."

Brinestump Marsh map has been updated.

Gilbert looks at the map and studies it. "Shall we go cautiously, or just take the most direct approach? Either works for me, as long as there's goblins to hunt!", says Gilbert, re-stringing his bow, and toying around with his dagger.

"Say, Walthus, what sort of danger are you referring to? The disease variety or the hydra variety? Frankly, not a fan of either, but need to know.", he says to Walthus.

"Bah, Caerwyn! Want to help me plan a way through the swamp?"

Gilbert will try to plan a better path, preferably both safe and fast, or at least more precise.

Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

"I think we should take the safer route, it means we come fresh and do not have to deplete our ressources! Also, our duty is to clean the village, not the swamp."

"I agree with Ikoma, the sswamp is not our job, jusst the village," Nestasha says with some disgust at the thought of being in the swamp any more than possible.

Walthus scratches his head. "Now, before ya set out, I'd just like to make a couple of offers here."

He starts walking out of the dining room to go back upstairs. "First, if ya would like a place to rest and regroup during your foray into the Marsh, feel free ta make yourselves at home. I've got a guest room upstairs--it might be a little cramped, but the roof'll keep the rains out just fine."

"Second, I've got a little something else for ya." He starts walking upstairs. "Wait here--I'll get it for ya."

"I like little somethings! Though, back to the map. I think that we can take a safer path, down the branch over here. If that doesn't work, we can just go on land. Also, don't worry about me, Duchess and I can sleep in front of the fire if there isn't place.", Gilbert says and sits in a chair.

Nestasha replise, still in obvious pain, "I could ssertainly use a resst, I am sstill in bad shape from that monsstossity nearly killing me."

"Well, if we're spending the night, as we should, since my eyes aren't so keen in the night, I suppose I can try and mend some of your battle-scars! If it's alright with you, of course!", says Gilbert, drumming with his fingers on the table. You get the feeling he's probably still a bit worried or uncomfortable about Nestasha's earlier comment, about the deadlyness.

"I like the shadows enough but I guess most of you have a disadvantage in the dark. We might as well spend the night."

-Posted with Wayfinder

Then lets spend the night. Ikoma will take care of his horse and effects... and take a middle watch, giving those in need a chance to rest.

As the party takes stock of their options, Walthus comes back downstairs with a bundled-up cloak in his arms. The cloak is a faded blue and frayed a little around the edges, but otherwise appears to have withstood general wear and tear with ease.

"Now, since you're set on this, I think it's fair that I give ya a little going-away gift for saving me. This cloak here's brought me quite a bit of luck over the years--in fact, it was one of two things I was able to bring with me from my old home." Walthus sets the cloak on the table and unfolds it. "I hope you don't mind, but I hemmed the bottom a bit so it would fit me better. It ought to be an easy thing to cut the stitches so it's a full-length cloak again."

"Now, I suppose I'll get the guest room ready for ya. Don't mind me."

"Thank you, Walthus! I'll let someone else take this gift, you've already been too kind to me and Duchess. If you have some good spirits, though, I'll take advantage of your hospitality again! Hah!", says Gilbert, resting himself on the chair, in a position that is borderline lazy.

After taking his share of guard duty, and taking care of his horse, Ikoma throws himself down on a blanket and tries to get some sleep.

Nestasha looks at her companions, "I don't ssuppose anyone could heal me any further before we all go to ssleep could they?"

Caerwyn looks at Walthus' gift dubiously "Um... thank you, Master Walthus. You're generosity in allowing us to spend the night is more than enough."
Since he never said anything about it being magical
Caerwyn will take the cloak and place it in his backpack for the time being.

Yui will study the cloak for a moment.
take 10 on it for 17 should recognise a cloak of resistance ^^
"It brought luck because it is magical Walthus-kun. Thank you for your gift. Nestasha-chan, I can study a healing spell in the morning. Though I prefer to keep some spells ready in case we fight the goblins, I have some tricks to take out a bundle of them at a time."

Actually, the DC is 18 to ID the cloak.

Walthus blinks and eyes the cloak. "Really? Huh..."

So everyone's ready to move along?