Izbahhn drily responds, "If there is an ambush I would prefer to be on the giving end of it, thank you very much."
Izbahhn drily responds, "If there is an ambush I would prefer to be on the giving end of it, thank you very much."
"But receiving, is good too?"
The four adventurers leave the main road to follow the small trail indicated by the wooden sign. The path is easy to follow, if a bit rough as it goes up and down small hills. Soon, the more perceptive of the group can hear the sound of crashing waves. They arrive in a small clearing where several rounded rocks stand erected, like menhirs. Some of these rocks have crude glyphs carved on them. There's no particular order to the way the rocks are laid out but it still doesn't look like this could be a natural formation. The herb is long, about human waist high and there's little vegetation around beside this. A few old and gnarled apple trees provide some shade and two of the rocks are overrun with vines ornamented with beautiful crimson and violet flowers. The small cemetery is on the edge of a steep cliff that overlooks a rocky beach, about 100 feet below, where the waves of the Varisian Gulf come crashing down.
"Careful everyone! Those vines may look pleasant enough, but they are know to feed on people and animals. It's pollen can even knock someone out as though they were asleep."
Izbahn gives the plant a wide berth, and responds "Good advice, Venmirl. Do you think we are on a wild goose chase, or do you think the goblins did come through here?"
Venmirl starts examining the ground again, being careful to stay clear of the carnivorous vines.
While staying away from the deadly plant, Venmirl examines the ground for any sort of tracks. Unfortunately, he can't find any signs that there was anyone here in the last few days beside a deer.
Izbahn glances at the others, "This looks like a dead end. Let's return to the main road and head further east."
Venmirl hears Izbahn, but before he turns to leave he raises his hand while saying a few magical words and scans the rocks and the general area.
Venmirl doesn't detect any magical aura in Pauper's Graves.
With that, the group leaves the ancient stones and deadly plant behind to return to the main road. They follow Nettlewood's southern edge for about 20 minutes before apparently reaching what they were looking for. After a sharp curve in the road, they see (and smell) a pair of dead mules partially blocking the way. Several crows, who were feasting on the remains, are frighten by their arrival and fly up to perch on nearby trees. They continue to observe the scene from above while protesting loudly about their interrupted meal. "CAW! CAW!"
Upon closer examination, the adventurers also find two partially eaten and decomposed corpses of men. One of them lies in the middle of the road, behind the mules' remains while the other lies face to the ground in the right side ditch. Time and wild animals haven't been kind to the two men and mules and so there isn't all that much left beside bones. Around the scene, several arrows or pieces of them are scattered on the ground or into trees. A few feet further down the road, the adventurers also find a large pile of ash, surrounded by scorch marks.
Naomi says the last rites of Erastil, Calistria, and Desna over the fallen.
"The people of Sandpoint will be glad when they no longer have to fear the roads."
Izbahn’s face pales as he sees the gory scene in front of him. He slowly approaches the corpses and looks them over for any clues as to how long ago this occurred.
Once finished there, he heads over to the scorch marks, and examines the pile of ash trying to determine what the cause of this was.
While Naomi administers last rites to the two men, Izbahn looks around the scene to gather what information he can. While there isn't that much flesh left on the bones, what is left doesn't seem all that rotten. The deaths can't be very old, 2 or 3 days ago probably.
As for the pile of ash, Izbahn doesn't recognize the effect of any spell he knows. The few small pieces of carbonized wood in the ash as well as the burnt grass around it seem to indicate that there was a fire burning here for a while. In all likelihood, someone piled up things here, set it on fire and let it burn to the ground. Good thing the last few days have been damp or the fire might have spread.
Izbahn nods, a satisfied look on his face "This look like what we are looking for. Venmirl, see if you can find those tracks."
While Venmirl looks for the tracks, Izbahn examines the corpses more closely for any additional clues.
Izbahn examines one of the many arrows lying about and he can see they are rather short, probably fletched for a small bow. For his part, Venmirl can easily spot many tracks of small humanoid creatures who walked on the road and in the surrounding woods. Furthermore, he also spots a pair of wheel tracks, such as what would be left by a small cart, that leads north from the road. Venmirl follows these tracks for several feet, zig-zaging around trees before he ends up into a narrow and partly overgrown trail. The wheel tracks continue into the trail and so a cart probably went this way. It must have been difficult to move it here, as the trail is just barely wide enough and it leads deeper into the wood, where the vegetation is much more dense. Venmirl looks at the west sky and sees the sun quickly approaching the tree tops.
Izbahn nods decisively, "Definitely goblins.” When Venmirl informs him of the trail, he says ”Let’s keep going, maybe we can catch them before they go too far.”
Venmirl looks at Izbahn and is glad he wants to keep following the tracks before dark. He nods and gets on his way, leading the group down the trail.
The adventurers fall in behind Venmirl and together they make their way deeper into the Nettlewood. It's slow going as the trail is poorly maintained and the way isn't always clear. Other trails and small streams occasionally cross the trail they are on. Venmirl often has to stop and examine the ground for signs of the cart's passage, sometimes doubling back when the group took a wrong turn.
After following the trail for about an hour, they arrive to a much more open area. The trees here are more widely spaced but there's still as much if not more underbrush. Long herbs, ferns, shrubs and other greenery are all tightly mixed together. At least the way the cart went is clear here: it left a well defined path of broken plants that should be easy to follow.
Darst cocks his head, trying to recall anything he knows about this area.
Darst doesn't know much about Nettlewood, having spent most of his years closer to Sandpoint.
While most members of the group are focused on the ground and the track left in the vegetation, Izbahn notices something in the sky. A thin smoke plume is rising from somewhere to the left of the cart trail. While Izbahn can't see the source of this smoke, he thinks it can't be too far from their current position.
Izbahn points out the smoke plume to the others, ”Hmm, that could be the goblin encampment we are looking for. Let’s head that way.”
Izbahn points out the smoke plume to the others, ”Hmm, that could be the goblin encampment we are looking for. Let’s head that way.”
"What? Goblin camp?"
"What? Goblin camp?"
"Yes, the goblin camp, most likely the ones who ambushed those merchants earlier. Maybe we can capture one of them and get some additional information from him."
Venmirl glares at Darst. "That isn't going to be a problem with you, is it?"
Izbahn says "Naomi and I will wait for you two to check it out."
Venmirl glares at Darst. "That isn't going to be a problem with you, is it?"
Darst's eyes dart about. "Um...no. Who's we 'tacking? Camp, little camp?"
Its hard for Venmirl to tell if the little goblin is playing stupid or is actually that dense. He decides to stay quiet and wait to look for Darst's reaction when/if they spot a goblin.
Its hard for Venmirl to tell if the little goblin is playing stupid or is actually that dense. He decides to stay quiet and wait to look for Darst's reaction when/if they spot a goblin.
Its hard for Venmirl to tell if the little goblin is playing stupid or is actually that dense. He decides to stay quiet and wait to look for Darst's reaction when/if they spot a goblin.
Venmirl and Darst creep forward, as silently as possible, crossing the long herbs toward the source of the smoke. In doing so, they have little choice but to come in close proximity of the stinging nettle these woods are famous for. Only someone with a good knowledge of plants will be able to navigate the underbrush without coming in contact with them.
Whatever the case, the shoanti and his goblin 'friend' eventually come close enough to the smoke to see what's causing it.
Venmirl decides to attack the little goblin that he spots.
Acid Dart: , damage: .
With his cover blown, Venmirl jumps out of hiding and chases after the goblin that is yelling and screaming.
Deciding he shouldn't blow his cover to warn Venmirl, Darst looks for the source of the arrow.
Izbahn starts as he hears the goblin tongue shouted ahead. Although he unsderstood most of the words, here the words were too garbled to make out.
He pulls Naomi to her feet "C'mon, I think they need our help!"
"Because we were getting so bored just sitting here and relaxing..." Naomi says as she's pulled to her feet and follows Izbahn.
Venmirl runs out of cover and after the fleeing goblin.
Izbahn pulls Naomi to her feet and they both head into the bush, toward the goblin voice.
The exposed goblin, panicked by Venmirl's presence and the arrow that just missed him, withdraws from the large shoanti to go hide in the bushes to the north. Two more goblins, who were hiding unseen at the edge of the clearing, reveal themselves by shooting Venmirl with their small bows. Both arrows hit but don't penetrate the hide armor very deeply and thus inflict only minor wounds.
Darst looks up, trying to find the source of the arrow. The sky is empty but high up in the tall pine in the middle of the clearing, Darst spots an archer hiding amongst the smoke and branches. It's hard to make out the archer's features through all this cover and distance. Darst can only tell that she's a woman with pale skin and blonde hair.
A lone pine stands tall in the middle of a small clearing, about 50 feet ahead. Logs and dry pine branches have been put aflame at the tree's base, sending smoke and hot ash up in the branches and the air above. Perhaps of more interest are the three dead goblins lying in the clearing, around the tree, each with an arrow in his skull.