"Your choice Gob. Whether you keep them as their chief, or send them away. If you wish to keep your new tribe, we are not the ones you need to convince, Sandpoint is..."
"For now... Dragging prisoners is a pain. Do them like Snovli and Tudmunch. If they turn on us, they die, if not they live." Thanadros says, not very threatened by the goblins.
"But, that's genocide. And would probably upset the local food chain until another predator moved in. Thing is, it could be worse than the wolves... or goblins."
Vaclav seems more comfortable now that he doesn't suspect the wolves are metaphorical. "Hardly. There's always more wolves. You do what you must to protect your herds and people. And if something worse wanted to move in, say a pride of griffons, a wolfpack would not deter them."
"Your choice Gob. Whether you keep them as their chief, or send them away. If you wish to keep your new tribe, we are not the ones you need to convince, Sandpoint is..."
"For now... Dragging prisoners is a pain. Do them like Snovli and Tudmunch. If they turn on us, they die, if not they live." Thanadros says, not very threatened by the goblins.
Vaclav nods agreement, although he does feel threatened. He knows they're likely to turn when the party is weakened or asleep.
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"You two, tell us your names, then you speak only in Common. you remain unarmed, and you defer to Snovli and Tudmunch, then to my allies, and then to me."
"If you show any sign of betrayal, or do anything we don't like, we will kill you without remorse. If you survive, and you aid us, you will be allowed to go free."
Keeping silent during the discussion of what to do with the prisoners, Albrecht's face turned to stone as they were speaking of killing the in cold blood, but grows warmer as he realizes that they are being given a chance to prove themselves. Walking up to Gob, he says, "You have made the right choice; The Dawnflower teaches that everyone deserves a chance at redemption, no matter how heinous their crime." However he adds, "But only one chance," as he turns toward the goblin prisoners.
The two goblins nod understanding.
"We do ... as chief Gob says," one says in halting common.
"You no worry Chief, we watch 'em close. You two listens good: chief Gob he mighty sorcerer. We gonna be new tribe," he glances at the humans and demi-humans. "We gonna gets plenty good food, but not get squished by longshanks."
"Names. And leave your armor in this room."
Gob looks to the party and say, with all sincerity, "Thank you for giving them a chance."
"Now, what can you two tell us about the rest of this place? What to expect? The recent history of the longshanks that Ripnugget was helping?"
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"Me Grivlog, him Ratsmash, Chief Gob," the one who spoke before grunts, as he reluctantly peels off his armour.
"It ... embarrassing," he grunts. "He stop being real leader, real goblin, when She show up. She say she know things about the Great Goblin who live deep in Thistletop, and he listen to her. He have big plans for leading goblins against longshanks town, say we go there, kill them all and and eat their babies one day soon. Not sure if this a good idea - last time, longshanks kicked out butts!" He glances at Tudmunch and Snovli. "They know, ask them. Birdcrunchers got really chewed up."
He turns attention back to Gob.
"They on floor below, chief. She dig under Thistletop with witch-woman. She got two other longshanks down there - Barrabas, who having fun with Ripnugget's wives, and human who got big sword. She sacrifice other longshanks there to Jackel-Goddess."
"We need to attack while we still have the advantage of surprise. Lead us to them little goblins"
"A witch-woman and a man with a big sword, eh? Those are probably the two mystery men we heard talk about in town. If there's only two of 'em, I bet we can take 'em."
"We should make sure there's nothing left in the fort to threaten us before descending in search of more foes."
While her companions discuss the group's next steps, Aylmora examines Ripnugget and the other goblins for any items of interest.
Ripnugget's armour may have looked piecemeal, but it is in fact masterwork quality, the equivelant of breastplate armour. He also has a masterwork shield and a dogslicer that seems magical. The goblin commandos had masterwork shortbows, masterwork horsechoppers, basic leather armour and wooden shields.
There are three other doors from this chamber you have yet to explore.
Let's keep opening doors, then! Gornak grabs his hammer and waits for the next door to open.
Gob searches for any sort of fetish, crown, or other sign of office Ripnugget had and dons it in case they run into other goblins.
"'Chief' Gob? Would you like to take Ripnugget's sword and shield as your rightful spoils?" Aylmora asks, offering the items to the blue goblin.
"He had some quality armor too, although it's not as fine as your mithral armor," she adds.
Gob winces a little at the appellation of 'chief,' and it is obvious to his friends that this ruse makes him a litle uncomforatble. "Hmm, seems a good idea. But I agree, my armor is more to my tastes. Thank you Aylmora."
Gob straps the shield across his back , and affixes the sword at his side.
"Friends, if any of you have need of this sword, I'll gladly part with it."
There is a battered crown, worth around twenty gold pieces, fixed to Ripnugget's helmet. It has been hammered on and a little strength detaches it.
The door to the north contains what appears to be the personal quarters of Ripnugget. Several rugs made from dog or horse hide lie strewn over the dirt floor of this room. Against the north wall stands an impressive collection of horseshoes, each nailed to the wall. To the east sits a ragged padded chair next to a rickety desk that may have once been an expensive antique. To the west sits a canopied bed covered with silk sheets and sporting a once-impressive headboard that featured nymphs and satyrs cavorting in a forest. The bed’s sheets are stained with dirt, while the headboard is bashed and battered.
The door to the north-west leads to a small armory of crudely made weapons (mostly dogslicers and shortbows) and several small goblin-sized suits of studded leather armor and dented shields. To the south stand a pair of workbenches.
The door to the south-west leads to a passageway that dog-legs due south with a single door to the north in it.
"Which stair should we take down?"
Gornak averts his eyes from the erotic headboard, embarrassed.
"Isn't there still one door left? Let's check that one out."
Gornak opens the remaining door with a certain amount of force. This foul-smelling butchery is a horrifying aff ront to all the senses. Haunches of poorly smoked meat hang from hooks along the ceiling or lie heaped in and atop crates. In some cases, the meat seems to be dog or horse, but in many other cases, the meat has all-too-recognizable features, like feet, hands, or grimacing faces.
Gob's eyes blaze. He looks furiously to the goblins that have been spared.
"From this day forward, none of you eat people. No sentient races. Ever!"
Gob's eyes blaze with psionic fury and he adds, "You will eat like kings, on all the wild game your hearts desire, but you will never again eat people. Is that understood?!"
Aside to the nice humanoids, "They had to have a larder somewhere. We'll bury or burn these remains on our way out."
Gornak grimaces. "Oh, yuck. Don't look in there, Miss Aylmora. I'll just take a quick look around."
Gornak goes inside and looks around to see if there are any personal effects or other objects of interest in the room. If not, he'll start bringing the humanoid bodies out one at a time, saying "Poor souls..."
Seeing the horrific sight, Albrecht sheaths his blade and offers a quick benediction for their souls. "May your souls walk with Sarenrae," he says before helping Gornak clean out the room.
"Leave them for now and close the door," Vaclav advises. "There are other threats to deal with first. Let's move downstairs."
The four goblins look confused at Gob's order but accept it without question.
Which staircase will you use?
"Good point." Gornak leaves the bodies where they are.
Int:
"Say...I think I've seen some of that junk in the armoury room before! I think I saw the handle of old Ben's meat cleaver in there. They must be scavenging from around the junk yard, the little devils!"
Thanadros readies his bow as they make their way down the middle stairs.
Gob follows suit, keeping an eye his "tribe" and keeping his crossbow ready and remaining as stealthy as possible.
Stealth
"What is our new order of march? The goblins could play us false if they walk before us, or behind, or in our midst?"
"Do we have any rope? I think if we tie Tudmunch and Snovli together at the arm, and Grivlog and Ratsmash the same, it should keep them from trying anything, as we can keep a better eye on them. As it is now, they are unarmed and unarmored, and I will not hesitate to blast them into pieces if they betray us. I just want to give them a chance, like Mr. Parooh gave me years ago."
Gob looks to the goblins a bit more calmly, "You understand why we cannot trust you yet, don't you? I am doing what I can to get you through this alive, but you have to follow me, and aid my companions."
The goblins are not happy about going ahead, unarmed and tied together, but they are suitably cowed that they do it anyway - Goblins are often used as arrow-fodder by warring hobgoblin tribes.
The party descends the steps in relative silence.
A single lantern hangs from a hook on the wall next to where the stairs enter this room from the north. Several rickety doors open into this room, and a few discarded dog pelt rugs lie forgotten in the northeast corner.
"Whatever you think is best Gob."
Gornak is a bit doubtful about bringing a mob of goblins along with them, but he keeps his doubts to himself.
Gob heads down with his newfound tribe and ushers them to a corner, keeping his crossbow trained on them while he waits for the othres to act. "Silence," Gob whispers to the goblins.
The Goblins shuffle into a corner, saying nothing.
"Looks like we've got our choice of doors," Aylmora whispers to her companions. "Anyone have a preference?"
"Might as well start with this one," Gornak suggests as he opens the first door on the left.
Vaclav nods his approval at Gornak's choice and positions himself in the middle of the room. He readies to fire through the door.
Gob whispers to the two new goblins, "Do you know anything about this place from this point onward?"
"Yes! Yes! That way lies work room, then chamber with terrible monster," Ratsmash squeaks in fear as Gornak opens the door. Beyond is a short stretch of passageway, less than ten feet long, and another rickety door. The walls here look rougher hewn, or possibly more eroded by time.
Gornak opens the next door.
Crates, barrels, and mounds of miscellaneous refuse lie heaped against the walls here. To the north, the sound of crashing surf echoes in, along with the smell of the sea and breath of fresh air. Gornak does not have to think to recognize the junk piled up in this room: it's stuff he's pushed over Junker's Edge himself.
"Which door leads to the other longshanks?" Aylmora whispers to the goblin known as Ratsmash.
Ratsmash points mutely at the middle door of the three. As he does so, the right-hand door next to it swings open, to reveal a huge bugbear. He is fully armed and armoured, and his eyes widen at the sight of the party.