Kara finally slides through the wall and calls out to the local constabulary for assistance, though they seem slow to react. Kul-Amon cries to the crowd lead to his becoming swamped by concerned citizens. Yargul's physical efforts draw the attention of Kara's guards and they start to give a half-hearted chase. Jikan tries to follow the goblin under the horses legs, only to find himself knocked aside for his efforts. Shaya's warning gets most people to move out of her way, she bursts into the main street and manages to avoid being trampled by a passing horse. She just about catches up to the goblin when...
..the thief ducks into a group of people gathering to figure out what is happening. Shaya and the other can see the alleyway the fugitive seems to be headed for and quickly realize they are running out of time.
Meanwhile, the fisherman struggles to overcome the villainous wall he find himself in heated life or death struggle with.
Jikan
Goblin
Kara
Yargul
Klo
Kul-Amon
Shaya
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It's not like Shaya to either try and sneak, OR to try and lie-- she's a big believer in the beauty of the truth... but necessity seems to indicate that she attempt it. She briefly imitates a tall, standing, armored potted plant with a snagged fern held up in front of her face.
It's.... astonishingly effective. Maybe the guardsmen were looking the other way. Dashing forward again, Shaya runs into another pair of guardsmen, and pastes on her brightest grin. "HI GUYS! NEW RECRUIT HERE! HOW ABOUT THESE BIG STATUES AND ARCHES THAT I TOTALLY KNOW ABOUT AS A FELLOW, UH, MEMBER OF THE GUARD, HUH?"
Boy, do they give her a weird look. Shaya bangs her head against a wall as she finds herself mired in trying to explain things. "No, see, what I meant was... crap, I shoulda just told you I was chasing a thief... ugh never mind..."
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Kara runs right into a rearing horse, cursing her luck.
Gotta watch where I'm going! she says, chiding herself. She dives under the horse's legs and scoots forward on her belly until she's clear, hopping back to her feet. She walks up to the patrol to explain the circumstances just in time to hear Shaya's unconvincing lie and shakes her head.
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Klo growls menacingly at his mighty foe ... The Wall. Never in his many winters has he been challenged so fiercely. But the Shoanti are strong. The Shoanti are proud.
But this Shoanti appears to be a terrible climber. Digging deep, he roars his fury at the wall, finally finding purchase and flinging himself over.
The team faces mixed results as their separate efforts leave them in disarray down the thief's escape route. Things look grim until The All-Seeing Eye provides his most favored acolyte the pathway. The goblin reaches for some drainpipes in an effort to escape the orc's fury...
..but is too panicked and looses her grip.
Jikan
Goblin
Kara
Yargul
Klo
Kul-Amon
Shaya
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No time to properly convince them, it'll take too long. Let's try this, Kara thinks to herself.
Gentlemen, my friend is embarrassed, she's not used to city-life and that goblin stole her change purse. Please let us through, and help us!
She is not very convincing at first, so she presses on. What, afraid of a little goblin? We can't stand around while all of her money in the world is running away on those two spindly legs! If you won't help, at least step aside!
The soldiers have had enough and decide it's not worth their time to pursue any further questions, and Kara catches up to Kul-Amon and the goblin.
The goblin looks terrified as she draws her dog-slicer with a trembling hand and makes a half-hearted defensive swing...
...before the Nethyian priest scoops the goblin up into his grasp and lifts her off the ground.
Shaya winds up jogging up to Kul-Amon a little out of breath, having finally convinced the guards to let her past. "...hey, good work there!" she says with a hearty back-clap of the Nethyn's shoulder. "Thought the little bugger was gonna get away!"
She bends down, digging rope out of her pack to truss the would-be thief and giving the goblin a stern glower.
"Okay. We can do this the easy way..... or the way where I write words on you."
Wiggling an arm free, the thief pulls out what seems to be the skull of a goblin. "Plarg, we no can let Longshanks catch both. Always 'member Ekkie." With a half-pinned arm, she uselessly flings the skull underhand a few feet away. It clatters down the alley until it rolls to a stop...upside down. She flashes Kul-Amon a triumphant smile, "Plarg good at hiding. You never catch him." A rat emerges from a pile of trash and investigates the skull, it's nose twitching away. "Plarg, stop playing with rat-toy! This serious...Plarg...PLARG! I know you hear me!"
Still held tight to Kul-Amon's chest, she looks down at Jikan, "Stoopid short Longshanks. Me am Ekkie. But me am only going to speak gobby now, no talking Longshanks!" The emphatic 'sppplllt' of a raspberry sprays the sorcerer with flecks of goblin siliva.
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Shaya grimaces and picks up the skull of... "Plurg." "Yeck. Okay, let's get back to the Lodge with this one. Uh, anyone speak Goblin? I sure don't. Can manage orc though..."
Unceremoniously Shaya tucks the goblin under one arm, like a football-- unless Kul-Amon would rather carry his prize himself.
"Stop squirming, or I'll knock ya out for the walk home, you hear?"
She divests the goblin of anything that looks useful during the march back to the Lodge.
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Kul-Amon nods and allows Shaya to grab onto the goblin, before ponderously moving to pick up "Plarg". "Plarg the Skull, Kul-Amon honors your death. You too are to be taken prisoner to the Lodge of confusion that is in Magnimar. There you will be interrogated until your secrets are no more" intones the cleric, picking up the skull with both hands and reverentially holding onto it.
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Kara walks alongside Shaya and crouches down next to the goblin's head, speaking to her in a strange, chittering tongue. Some of it even sounds melodic, punctuated by the soldier clapping her hands together dramatically.
Ekkie, me Queen Boggy of the Bog Stink tribe. Me use big Gobbo Magic to look like Longshanks. You see that ugly horse? He smell my gobbo magic and get scared. I kill Longshanks in their sleep, take all their shinies. But Ekkie ruins everything! Now you join me, we take all the loots. Two gobbos better than one. Three, if we save Plarg. Or I let big one write words on you.
Hear our song:
Boggies sneak and Boggies kill,
Boggies steal for a thrill.
If you try to make Bogs fight,
We chomp off you head with one big bite!
So, whatcha gonna do? You boggy-friend, or dog food?
"Watch out, Plarg kill many longshanks orc-girl!"
The thief responds excitedly to Kara, then with suspicious chatter as she eyes the remaining team.
After returning her to the Lodge house, Kara convinces Ekkie to recount her story in Common.
"Even out in the swamp, we heard stories about the Nightsoil Marauders-a gang of goblins in the longshanks city. When Murg tried to bite off my ear-again!-I left the swamp and came to the city to join up. I met some other goblins outside the city and they sneaked me inside. They took me through the smelly tunnels and made me wait outside their lair. An important-looking goblin with a big, dangly hat came out and stared at me. He said his name was Versevosh. I thought he was the boss, but he said that the big boss is much scarier than him. Versevosh said rude things about me and my tribe and said I'd have to prove myself if I wanted to join the gang. He said I'd have to steal shiny things from a tribe of longshanks in the city. He showed me drawings of what to look for."
Ekkie draws the pictures she was shown-the Glyph of the Open Road and a wayfinder. "The other goblins showed me the way through the smelly tunnels to the horse-killing place. I like that place, 'cause they cut up horses there and you can see their insides and I got lots of dead horse to eat. The goblins said to steal from the big house then go back to the horse-killing place, then they ran off. It was almost sunrise and I could hear longshanks so I hid. Later I sneaked up to the big house and took some shiny things from the small houses, but then big orc-man caught me."
After the interrogation, Sheila is surprised at this recent development. "You should find the headquarters of these goblins, stamp out any threat the goblins pose to Pathfinder operations in Magnimar!" she says emphatically. "Recover any stolen artifacts you find, and discover why the goblins are targeting the Pathfinder Society."
With a wink to Kara, Ekkie offers, "Me 'n Plarg help. We show you where secret entrance is to lair. Longshanks go stabby stabby!"
A detailed inventory of Ekkie bag reveals Ekkie's numerous common items. However, there is a finely crafted necklace in additions to a wayfinder. Ekkie admits that she was able to steal those from the Shalast House, one of Heidmarch Manor's other Thassilonian Houses, Shiela send word to Joadric Heimurl , a loud brash man staying at the lodge. "Oh ho! I thought I lost it. Saved my bacon more than once I'll tell you. I can't tell you how thankful I am. As a small token, you can keep the necklace, just be careful when you use it, if you know what I mean. So I hear you are off into the sewers, eh? well, I can also lend you this, but that I will want returned."
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"There's a couple of local tribes I'm aware of. The Breakbag goblin tribes lives in the Mushfens, and the Wind Whisper tribe lives many miles to the east, deep in the Mushfens."
Jikan sighs. "So we are to find a goblin's lair? Oh boy. What a treat." The sarcasm in Jikan's tone is palpable.
"I suppose I can carry the Everburning Torch. I don't really need to carry a weapon."
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Shaya snaps her fingers at Jikan's words. "Hey, yeah, I've hearda those tribes too-- but the ones under the city, from what I've heard, the city ones don't tend to form those big tribes. More like small family knots. Course, they can squeeze on into anything. Like cats, you know? If a cat can get its head into something, it can get its whole body in."
Shaya grins at Kara. "I dunno what you told her but she's sure liking you!"
The big half-orc balances her glaive across her shoulders and rests both hands on either end of it. "Woof. Exterminate, exterminate? Kinda heavy. It's nicer if you can convince people to change." Shaya looks briefly sad about the possibility that will be hard with goblins, but that won't stop her making a try at it.
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Kara returns the wink to Ekkie, then says to Shaya I just told her she'd better do what we say if she knows what's good for her. So, let's go to the horse-killing place. I can go a bit ahead with Ekkie when we draw close, so the goblins don't run away at the sight of our group. What do you guys think?
After getting your gear ready, the goblin guides the team to the Mariska Knackery in Magnimar's Lowcleft district. The knackery stands on the northern edge of the district, two blocks west of the Matador's Lodge. Lame or old horses, as well as animals and beasts maimed or used up in events at the Serpent's Run arena or the Matador's Lodge, are brought to the knackery to be slaughtered and dismembered, and their meat and other remains are sold off.
You notice the burned remains of a large shed off to one side of the main building.
Ekkie points to a man whose mustache give him the appearance more of a walrus than a man. "He's the longshanks horse-killer. He give us yummy meat. Door to secret lair in that building."
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"Yes there is Jikan the Gnome" comments Kul-Amon darkly as he returns Plarg to Ekkie. Exterminate. Kul-Amon thinks that means kill everyone. But should Kul-Amon kill Ekkie? Ekkie just runs like prey. She does not think she is not-prey. Well. For now. So for now Kul-Amon will not exterminate Ekkie. Approaching the mustachioed man, the half-orc raises his hand in greeting. "Hello horse-flesh man. This one is Kul-Amon. And this one" he says pointing to Ekkie "says that you give their kind the flesh of horse and have a door that takes to where they come from. Kul-Amon would buy some horse meat and would ask to go through the door that leads to the lair of the goblins. Him and his companions. Kul-Amon does not expect you to say no."
The Varisian turns to address the large half-orc. "Goblins..he..not sure what ya mean there friend. I just sell fresh meat. You look like you could use-" It is at this moment the 'horse-flesh' man see Ekkie and clearly looses his composure.
"What could I do? Those little vermin have got me right where they want me! At first, I tried locks and bars to stop them, but the thefts got worse. If there's any way in, they'll find it!. Then the big, creepy one, at least a foot taller than me, came one night. It put the fear right into me, I'll tell you, lurking there in the shadows with its snuffling breath and twitching ears. It said it knew exactly where my family lives and said it'd know if I tried to go to the watch. Then they burned down my shed outside to make their point. So I've had to go along with them, leaving the best slabs of meat for them and ignoring the scurrying I hear down in the cellars at night. If I don't, they'll burn down my home and murder my family!"
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Shaya smiles reassuringly at the man. Well, she thinks it's a reassuring smile. Humans sometimes find the big mouthful of tusks to be not so reassuring.
"Hey, hey, no need to worry, friend. You're just a simple man protecting your family, we understand. Here, let's talk privately..."
She puts a big arm around the man's shoulders to escort him out of Ekkie's hearing. "We're going to go root out those goblins, sir, and make sure they don't threaten you again. My word on it as a servant of Shelyn. In the meantime, may I suggest you and your family stay the night at a relative's? Just in case. If there's anything else you can tell us, though..."
"Ekkie and Plarg show bestest meats!" She darts off behind the counter, presumable to grab some choice cuts.
******
Tersus finally relents and shows you how to enter the sewers. As the grate shut behind you, there is distinct cursing as the butcher realizes that more of his meat has gone missing.
Twenty minutes of twists and turns finally lead to where you seek to go. "Nightsoil tunnel over 'dare. Me and Plarg no want fight them, like no fight you. We leave Magin'mer." Then with a turn and blink (that you assume is supposed to be a wink) to Kara, Ekkie makes several stabbing gestures toward the other Pathfinders as she fails to suppress her laughter.
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"Kul-Amon does not understand. Did the offer of coin not please the man who sells horse-flesh? Is Magnimar a place where one would trade actual things for other things, like a place with common sense?" asks the cleric, stomping along in the rather rancid sewer with a more than a few pounds of horse meat. He sniffs and frowns. "Kul-Amon would not have brought the meat with him had Kul-Amon known that it wasn't that jerky meat that is sometimes sold, or that Kul-Amon and the others were going down into a sewer."
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I may have told her that I was a Goblin, and that I was going to kill all of you. Who knows, maybe I am?
Kara smiles at the others, and casts a spell, summoning an orb of light that she keeps 10 feet in front of the party.
You watch Ekkie leave into the twists and turns of the sewers. It took the better part of an hour to get here with her guidance, but you are fairly certain you can find your way back to the entrance. The it little comfort given the stench and filth you have had to travel through to get to this point. The last hour have found you all in closer proximity to refuse and waste than you have ever wanted to be.
PERCEPTION
As you all move forward, Klo, Kul-Amon and Yargul believe they see a sentry at the opening of the tunnel, but he seems to be looking away from you all.
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"Not sure who fooled who Captain." the elf says. He leans heavily upon his shield as he walks.
"Do you see what Kul-Amon sees? Maybe we can barter horse-flesh for passage. Kul-Amon will not sneak through."
"I see. Nor shall I. Is unlikely that it should listen to reason."
The elf looks towards the faster or more ranged party members for guidance.