Hey Elisile, wanna do me?
Joking..
Seeing that the goblins remaining outside are not going to be any threat , Elisile returns inside, murmuring a quiet “well met” to the priest. Before descending down the ladder behind Alwyn and Hudak.
EDIT:
In the chamber with six doors, Elisile listens carefully, trying to determine if there is any noise or activity from beyond any of them.
She will also investigate the floor for signs of passage (and/or assist Dravite in the same endevour).
"See anything?", Alwyn mutters as Elisile sniffs around the room. "If not - we need to start somewhere. How about the door to the southwest?"
Ooooh! Ooh, burn!
Shot down in Flames!Ain't it a shame?
It sure is, Bon.
Davos takes a weary breath and follows the others down the hole. Seeing the doors, he ponders a moment, then casts Detect Magic. His eyes search for a hint of magical aura.
Elisile can hear a strange mewling sound coming from one of the southern doors. From another sothern door, she can hear sounds of movement, and whispered voices. The rest are silent.
"Up, Gurney," I command, having sheathed my sword, and putting Gurney up on my shoulders for the short climb.
Elisile silently points out the two doors from beyond which she can hear noise, then brings her bow up, nocked arrow pointing at the one with the whispering voices.
Alwyn nods at Elisile. "Sneak up and open it", he whispers to Dravite, "then Hudak and I charge in. Everybody else comes in after us."
Larken slips down the ladder, watching as everyone seems prepared to charge onward.
"Let's hope there's not much of a fight coming," he whispers, "I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing we're about out of spell support."
Vethran nodded slightly at Larken's statement and whispered in reply. "I've got a few tricks left, but by and large I think we'll be relying on these wands for magical aid." With that statement, Vethran produces the wand of lightning bolt and holds it in his left hand.
Elisile silently points out the two doors from beyond which she can hear noise, then brings her bow up, nocked arrow pointing at the one with the whispering voices.
I says we hit de door wit' de voices first. Dose meowin' tings prob'ly cannae be workin' a door if'n dey be hearin' us, while de talkin' dudes could.
I failed the listen check, so I can't use the wand of CLW unless Aubrey lets someone who made the check tell me the command word.
Illes grabs Larken by the shoulders and gives him an affectionate shake before letting go. "I thought Pharasma was set to cut your thread for sure, Larkoulo! Thanks to Desna, I had that one wrong. Here..." he pulls a flask from his belt and offers it, "it isn't much, but it might be just enough to turn away a blade when you need it most."
Listen roll 4
"I think he said mecka lecka hai, mecka hiney ho...."
but I'm not too good at that magic stuff.
Dravite yanks open the door and Hudak charges in. The room is about 20' by 20'. In the middle, it is dominated by a filthy-looking pile of furs from which, even at this distance, can be seen dancing with fleas and other unpleasant vermin. Equally horrific are the three goblin females crouched on top. They wear horribly revealing garments, their ears are pierced with myriad trinkets shiny trinkets, and their slobbering lips are painted a garish red. They appear unarmed. As the party bursts in, they scream and cower, and begin jabbering in Goblin:
"Hold off! No threat here... They beg to live and each others lives for their own. Anyone looking for a goblin harem? They're offering..."
~gnnnng~
"Are they Ripnugget's harem, or someone else's? As them who else is down here in the tunnels."
Illes steps forward menacingly his hand reaching for his whip, "Duun ol'daan an rhaal'duul? Akaar an dokhol'dec ac o dec ach keegan."
Hudak looks real surly and his lip starts twitching. He starts running his finger up and down his axe blade.
intim: r13
The goblins begin to jabber, mostly about how kind the party are for letting them live, how mean Ripnugget was and how they are glad he is dead, and how handsone and sexy all the men in the party are. All complete rubbish, especially the last part.
They also say that there are three longshanks in the level below this, plus Bruthazmus the local bugbear bandit, who now works for the longshanks. None of the goblins are allowed in the lower levels, so they don't know what else is there. Rumour has it that there is also something nasty lurking in the temple, to the north on this level. The longshanks had a prisoner, another longshanks woman, who they last saw being taken to the cells to the west, which also connect to the temple.
They also gossip about Nualia. Apparently, the ugly female longshanks with the yucky silver hair and revolting violet eyes told Ripnugget she could free the goblin god that is trapped within Thistletop. Ripnugget, instead of killing her when she appeared, let her go to the lower levels, much to the annoyance of Drekh, the priest of Rovagug. Everyone in Thistletop assumed that Ripnugget was humping the ugly longshanks woman, especially as he seemed to lose interest in his three wives (though Bruthazmus has been bravely filling that, er, void of late). Notwithstanding, they very much hope that the party kills the Nualia.
"Ask them what's behind the other doors here. After that, tell 'em to get topside, gather their ugly runts and then take off. They can join up with some other goblin tribe and tell them how incredibly dumb Ripnugget was to take on the longshanks at Sandpoint. Make sure they don't snag any of our loot when they leave."
The south-west door is the harem where the party now stands. The middle south door leads to the rooms where the longshanks sleep. The south-east door (from which you hesrd the mewling sound) leads to the cages where the goblin whelps are kept.
West is to the cells, north is to the temple and the lower halls, east is to the lair of a horrible monster which the longshanks killed on first coming here.
"Good, good. Now, where's the bugbear? I assume they all heard us fighting upstairs and went to their defensive positions. Finally, how do the other two longshanks look - do they wear heavy armour, wield swords, that sort of th... Just a second." Alwyn's face twists in surprised disgust. "Did they say goblin whelp cages? What kind of degenerates put their runts in cages? This I have to see." He steps out of the room and walks over to the goblin nursery.
There were originally four other longshanks. One, a hairly male, was carried up in pieces from the lower halls. The other, a skinny male, was Nualia's mate and disappeared after going back to Sandpoint after the raid. That leaves two others - a male, wearing metal armour and carrying a big sword. The other is a female, who doesn't seem to carry anything much other that a few wands. This female seems to fancy Nualia's mate, but he is only interested in the freak-b$&*! with the scaly arm.
They - Nualia, the other longshanks and Bruthazmus - have probably all gone downstairs. A goblin warrior managed to slip down from above to warn the complex that the longshanks from Sandpoint had arrived. He's probably with the others somewhere down there too.
Alwyn finds the goblin nursery. Feral goblin infants, all ears and teeth, yammer and pull at the bars of the tiny cages they inhabit. Some can barely crawl, while others cling to the wicker cages like monkeys.
That ain't sheeat.
Alwyn shakes his head in amazement while looking at the goblin pups, before popping back to his friends. "So, there's a handful of caged whelps in there, and another handful of pups topside. Is there an orphanage in Sandpoint that could take care of the lot? I'm sure they could be productive citizens if raised right. And caging the little guys ain't raising them right."
Larken, his brow furrowed with the pain of trying to figure his companions out, says, "We are at a juncture, then. Do we gather up these goblin pups and take them back to Sandpoint now? If we chase off the adults, then we can't leave the children behind in case we lose in the fights below. It would be a cruelty to leave them caged with no one to care for them, and then die. Or, do we send them off with the adults, knowing they'll be raised as good little goblins, which means a problem for a later day. We can't do both. At least I'm not seeing how."
“I am neither from Sandpoint nor human, so I cannot speak for whether the local orphanage would take these whelps in. In my village … it would be doubtful. I have seen much hatred and fear of goblins in Sandpoint, most of it deserved, so I have the same doubts in this case. If I am wrong, and the orphanage does take them in – what then? They will face that fear, hatred and prejudice all their lives – or as long as they are able to survive. Are we the ones to judge that by taking them from their people – however harsh and uncaring those people seem to us – we provide them with a better life?”
Elisile speaks quickly and quietly but with passion. It seems almost as if she is referring to another event or situation other than the one faced here. She takes a deep breath, gazes about at the group for a moment, then continues.
“There are at least three adult males and a number of older children left alive upstairs. With these here, that is enough to eke out an existence, if they keep a low profile and do not attempt any raiding. The children of these children may cause trouble for Sandpoint in the future – if the tribe survives – but these ones will not. I suggest we let them all – adults and children – go. Whether that is the best ethical decision the priests can debate – but we do not have time to debate for long, or to return to Sandpoint now. We know that Nualia is below, and that she plans to release something dangerous. We must stop her. We now discover that she has another prisoner – perhaps this priest’s” she points to Davos, “companion. Haste is called for, so let us make this decision in haste, and repent when there is time if it is wrong.”
"I agree. I am not one who should decide the fate of the children, nor should I presume to decide what the city of Sandpoint should do with them. We should let the goblins stay together, and let them leave now. Tell the... wives that there are a couple of live specimens in the watchtowers who'll help take care of the kids."
Alwyn hangs his head as looks at his companions. "I'm sorry about that. I won't impose myself like that again." He ruefully shakes his head. "we have bigger things to worry about here."
"So, we're gonna let them go? I bet the grownups will eat them.
Look, they're goblins. What's the big deal? Show them mercy, and you'll see what you get. And they breed like rats. You people, I frankly wonder if you have any common sense."
"Do you really think those cages are there to keep hungry goblins out? I seriously doubt that they're at risk from some greenskin looking for a late-night snack. Let the women carry off their offspring and hook up with some other tribe. They'll bring news of our power and our generosity. They'll be just fine - to the extent goblin life is ever fine, of course."
"They don't know what generosity is. They think we're weak. Gullible. They'll tell those other tribes that Sandpoint is weak.
Then they'll raid us again and again.
You act like they're human."
Looks at Starbow and Dravite.
"You guys--I think of you as human. Er, as good as,....
Well, you're not goblins at least!"
"If it's up to a vote, I say we do them all in. Goblins.....s&!+."
"If they had knives, I'd kill the lot. But they're harmless. I'm not killing kids."
I cannae be doin' in a herd o' de infants. I dinnae know wha' ta be doin' wit dem but slittin' dere throats don't be sittin' good wit me....
"They're not infants. They're goblins. You want me to do the job on them myself?"
Elisile stares at Hudak for a moment with unblinking alien eyes. “As good as a human?” she asks rhetorically, her eyebrow quirked. She then shakes her head. “No, I say we do not kill them. If we were to follow Alwyn or Larken’s suggestion of having them raised amongst humans – I believe that their nature would prevail, but what if I am wrong? They may be a clean slate, innocents. If we kill innocents, or non-combatants with the hope of redemption at least, then we are no better than goblins, Hudak of the Shoanti.”
"You guys, just get outta here, and don't worry about it. You don't have to get your hands dirty or nothing.
It's not the same. Human,...goblin,...if they'd just leave people alone, I wouldn't have to take care of it. We leave them alone. They can't leave us alone.
So we have to survive. Any way we can.
It's the way of the wild. I thought at least an elf, much less a ranger, would understand that."
"Drop it, fathead." Alwyn leans in on the goblins, looming over them. "Tell them to get the hell outta here before I change my mind", he growls. "They'll take their pups with them. And also tell them that if I ever see them again, I'll personally feed them to that thing in the hole. They'd better not make me look bad after this."
"What do you mean, look bad? When they do, what goblins do? How does that make you look bad?
You had mercy on them, after all, brother.
I'm not the fathead here. I'm thinking clear!!! You're the fathead!"
Larken very purposefully slides his rapier from it's scabbard and steps between the goblins and Hudak.
With clenched teeth, he hisses, "I've had enough. There will be no killing of unarmed women and children, human, elf, goblin or whatever, while I live. I can't be any more plain than that." He looks directly at Hudak and says, "Leave now. Find a way down to the level where the real threat is. Or draw your weapon. Your attitude offends me."