Stopping just inside the doorway, Irnk glares intently at Gutwad, sizing the Goblin chief up.
Avan walks in, the smell of charred wood filled the air, and there he saw the equally charred goblin boss, he pointed to Irnk in the direction of the goblin's chief right side, following this he moved to his left, ready to move out of the way of any attacks he might throw.
Once on the chiefs side, Avan steps into the goblin's guard and strikes with both of his palms, aiming for the goblin's abdomen.
Apex speaks, again with that determined voice.
Irnk! Don't take an unnessecary risk! Let my magic help you!
She moves up to Irnk, and touches the tip of her staff to his back while speaking a small incantation. After a second, Irnk grows to the size of a normal human, along with all his gear. She stares determinedly at the chieftain, but her words are for Irnk.
I don't want anyone else to die, human or goblin... Maybe now you can intimidate him into a surrender....
This spell causes instant growth of a humanoid creature, doubling its height and multiplying its weight by 8. This increase changes the creature's size category to the next larger one. The target gains a +2 size bonus to Strength, a -2 size penalty to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1), and a -1 penalty on attack rolls and AC due to its increased size. A humanoid creature whose size increases to Large has a space of 10 feet and a natural reach of 10 feet. This spell does not change the target's speed. If insufficient room is available for the desired growth, the creature attains the maximum possible size and may make a Strength check (using its increased Strength) to burst any enclosures in the process. If it fails, it is constrained without harm by the materials enclosing it-the spell cannot be used to crush a creature by increasing its size. All equipment worn or carried by a creature is similarly enlarged by the spell. Melee weapons affected by this spell deal more damage (see page 145). Other magical properties are not affected by this spell. Any enlarged item that leaves an enlarged creature's possession (including a projectile or thrown weapon) instantly returns to its normal size. This means that thrown and projectile weapons deal their normal damage. Magical properties of enlarged items are not increased by this spell. Multiple magical effects that increase size do not stack. Enlarge person counters and dispels reduce person. Enlarge person can be made permanent with a permanency spell.
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Avan rolls next to the chief but he is able to avoid the attack.
Apex makes the Irnk human-size.
At seeing Irnk grow, the Goblins outside start to chant again!
"Pangulo! Pangulo! Pangulo!"
Chief Gutwad takes a 5' step away from Avan... and lights the "fire lance". The foot-long wooden tube begins to shake and emit a handful of white sparks, shedding light as a torch exactly like the last one. The Madness of one that sees all lost seeps from his eyes.
The sudden change in his place & relationship to reality around him Irnk's only indication of Apex's spell, his expression becomes a combination of confusion, frustration & stifled anger as he sees Avan do exactly what he wanted him not to. Shaking his head, Irnk makes his way forward, dropping his blade as he attempts to slam Gutwad away from the fireworks.
The only sign of annoyance was Avan's louder than usual step in the goblin chief's direction. The charred wood easily splintering at the force of his step. The first part of his assault was a low punch, followed by a side elbow strike, then a foot stomp and finally a vicious backhand.
Having barely recovered from the explosion, Sybil finds her grip on Avan's cloths to loosen enough for the man to go back inside the hut. Gripping her crossbow tighter, she carefully approaches the door to the chief's rotten "palace" and peeks inside.
An expression of utter fear appears on her face as she sees Gutwad and Irnk fighting over the burning firework.
"Fools! Leave Gutwad alone, the fedatifis is going to blow!"
Seeing as no one seems to be listing to her, the dwarfette takes a few steps forward and pulls strongly on Irnk. She follows her tug by dropping to the ground and covering her face with her arm, hoping to avoid the incoming attack.
"Apex, drop to the ground." She yells. The use of a first name without the 'miss' giving an even greater sense of urgency to the demand.
The wind begins to swirl around Apex, cloaking her in a swirling mass of air as she drops to the ground as per Sybil's command, screaming
Irnk!!! Avan!!! Get out of the way!!
The worry is evident again in her voice, as it cracks mid sentence. Her eyes are wide, and her hair is flying wildly in all directions.
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Everything happens in a second, Apex dropping to the floor while wind wirls around her, and Sybil pulling Irnk down and away from chief Gutwad.
Avan moves against the mad Goblin and strikes him repeatedly, the goblin body flinching at each strike.
The mad Goblin, all hope lost, ignores the strikes will embracing the rocket. He laughs for the last time. A mad cackle.
Galford cover his ears while thinking "Fire in the hole!"
A bright flash and a loud explosion comes from the chief's hut.
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Apex and Sybil are unharmed. Irnk, thanks to Sybil, is hurt only because he couldn't avoid the useless deads in the combat. Galford peeks inside, with something you could say is a smile in his bird-like face. But it's hard to say.
The corpse that was chief Gutwad lies charred in the corner of the room, a heinous charred meat smell wafting out from it.
From outside the hut the goblin chant continues. They are saluting Irnk.
Chief Gutwad is dead. All hail the new chief!
Avan is somewhat burned up by the explosion, but Chief Gutwad body covered from part of it.
His hand is extended in front of him, his gaze lost in the distance.
The only thing he can see is the infinite whiteness of the nothingness. He is blinded from the explosion.
"Trankil!" Irnk bellows. As he waits for Apex's magic to fade, he continues. "Mwen menm mwen pa chèf ou. Gutwad te chwazi yo kite rayi l 'nan pye yo wo agase l' jouk ta kapab genyen sèlman l 'oswa yo. Gen twò lwen anpil nan yo pou sa mete fen nan nenpòt fason lòt pase li te fè."
Grasping Gutwad's scorched head, Irnk wrenches it from the dead torso. "Mwen pral pran tèt li tounen nan pye yo wotè. Mwen pral montre yo ke lang lan krapo gen okenn menas & ke gen moun ki bezwen pa gen okenn ankò ap chase tankou vèmin."
Turning to the others, he snarls. "You wanted to do it your way. Maybe your Longshanks holy man can get answers from him now." With that, he strides past the others & out of the ruins of the village, then begins making his way back to Sandpoint.
I will take his head back to the Longshanks. I will show them that the Licktoad are no threat & that Goblins need no longer be hunted like vermin."
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The 10 remaining goblins from the Licktoad tribe kneel in front of Irnk.
"You are our chief now! Please tell us what to do! Can we go with you? What if the skeletons return!"
One of them goes into a door to the rooms behind the one you are and returns with some items.
"Here! This is yours now! But please help us!"
Another of the Goblins interjects.
"You are powerful! Please go and destroy the skeletons! And your Longshanks lackeys can help you! I know where they are!"
All the goblins start to cry and lament, asking you to lead them.
At mention of the skeleton's location, Irnk turns. "Ou vle m 'mennen. Trè byen." Straightening his shoulders, he pitches his voice to carry over the entire remains of the village.
It's over? wonders for a moment Sybil, after lifting her head and taking a look at the charred remains. Answering her own question, she then quickly spots Avan who seem to have been severly burnt. As she approaches him, she notices that Irnk is beheading Gutwad but chooses to check the monk first. She looks right into his impassive eyes. As she prepares to ask him how he is, she is interupted by Irnk's comment about the ways of the longshanks.
How dare he accuse us! she thinks at first, yet the tensions of the battle slowly fade away as she notices how wounded the goblin is. After making sure that Avan is not about to feing, she follows the still tall goblin out of the hut and watches as the other goblins surrender to him and as he speaks to them.
She lifts her head to look at Irnk's face and waits until he is done talking. As she does so, it dawns on her that the head will fetch a reward in Sandpoint. Yet it is a reward that none of them should get. Thus, trying to make her voice comforting she addresses him:
"Irnk, if you truly want to show them how good a goblin can be, show respect to their chief and bury him with his head. No one here will object."
At Sybil's words, Irnk turns. "How to be...
Good?" His words are flat, dead. As merciful as basalt. As kind as oak. As passionate as a corpse.
"I'm not showing them how to be good. 'How to be good' is not Ullerstarl's purpose for them. How to survive. How to care for one another. How to grow & thrive & live, . are Ullerstarl's purpose. Powerful men worry about good & evil. These," spreading his arms to take in the surviving Licktoad Goblins, all ten of them, "people don't need to know 'how to be good'."
"They need to know that the 'Men'," and with that word his voice grows thick and horse with bile and spite, "of Sandpoint won't finish what the Skeletons started. So I'm doing what I can to see to it that is the case."
Having replied to Sybil's words, he turns once more to the assembled Goblins. "Mete kò yo nan buche la ak lòt yo. Fè yo ofri bay Seyè dènye ou a Manman an." Once he is certain they are doing so, Irnk will find the firework that did not get fired by the guard and, once all the remaining Goblin bodies are together, he will ignite it to set the bodies aflame. Then he will address the survivors once more.
"Rasanble sa ki manje gen ki rete. Rasanble sa ki couvèt kabann ou te kite. Vin avè m '."
"Gather what food there is left. Gather what bedding you have left. Come with me."
Apex stays silent, seeing the destruction she helped bring about. When she sits up, the wind is still, the air thick, her eyes silently flowing with tears. After she sees Irnk, and his grisly actions, she speaks, a small, shamed whisper that barely reaches him.
I didn't.... mean for it to happen..... I wanted to end the fighting.... Irnk.... I'm sorry..... I tried.... to help....
Her voice trails off, and she stays sitting on the ground, the shame of what she helped wrought apparent to all who look at her.
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The Goblins put all the bodies in the Pyre, and start collection whatever garbage they call possessions. They also give you the village treasure. They ask you:
"Are we going to abandon the Village? Where are we going?"
A small goblin get next to Apex and smiles to her while holding her hand. At least that is what Apex thinks the grin is, a smile.
The ringing in his ears hadn't stopped, he remembered a blaze of light covering both him and the goblin chief. His skin screamed with pain with every movement he made. Worse yet he couldn't see...anything but the whiteness. Avan stumbled from left to right, keeping both hands in front of him, trying to reach a wall. He finally decided to step to the right of where he stood.
After blinking one too many times, he could slowly notice his vision improving and finally he could see as well as he could before, he got up ignoring the dull ache of his burn wounds as he made his way to the rest of the party. The smile that appeared for a few moments returned to his usual bored look, he spared Gutwald one glance before ignoring his corpse and what Irnk was doing to it.
"What happened while my ears were ringing?" He asked casually as he looked from left to right.
At the Goblin's question, Irnk replies. "Li kapab. Ou se konsa kèk & gen anpil lòt branch fanmi nan ki tou pre." Once he is certain the corpses are burning well, Irnk will once more make his way out of the village, calling behind him as he goes. When the Goblin's catch up, he continues. "Sa se yon enkyetid pou yon lòt jou."
On the journey back to Sandpoint, he will ask the Goblins their names & their stories.
"That is a concern for another day."
Sybil takes a few steps back after Irnk's outburst to make sure that none of the other goblins will think that their new chief has little control over her.
Survival. Ha! If you were truly caring for their survival, you would have left their leader destroy himself... you are teaching them to care, or at least trying. Yet, none of those thoughts appear on her now impassive face.
She then turns her head toward Gao and gives him a little confident smile.
Don't worry, I know what I am doing. it seems to say.
Then, she walks by Apex and gently pats her on the back.
"None of us wanted it to end that way, but Irnk does not see it in this manner."she whispers to the woman, followed by a puzzled look as she notices the goblin holding the sylph's hand.
Finally, she goes to Avan to take a look at him. To answer his question, she simply points toward chief Irnk who is still holding Gutwad's head. She takes a quick look at his burns.
Apex looks down at the grinning goblin, a confused look in her eyes. She calls out to Irnk.
Irnk... I don't anything about your people.... Is he.... happy with me? Am I supposed to walk with him like this?
She smiles back at the goblin after she speaks, her eyes still confused and her mouth in a "I don't know what I'm supposed to do so I'm smiling at you" kind of position.
Sybil's words do little to put a stopper in the sadness that seems to engulf the small woman.
Twice now, I have failed to achieve the right ending to a battle... Am I even doing the right thing? First Tharjuk, now this disaster with the goblins.... Why does everything always go so wrong when I try to use magic...?
At Apex's query, Irnk turns. "Yeah, he's happy." Looking from Apex to the Goblin & back again, Irnk sighs. "Just...
do what you're going to do. I'm going back to Sandpoint. There, I'm going to show them that the Licktoad tribe is no threat to them. Then, I'm going to find & deal with this skeleton problem."
"Once that is all done," Irnk's features finally return to something resembling pleasant, "assuming I survive all that, I'll worry about what comes next."
The sight of Irnk leading the goblin looked weird to Avan If you were planning to take Gutwald's position then why were you so hesitant in killing him? Even if you took him back to Sandpoint he would have been executed The martial artist grabbed one of the potions they got from their halfling guide and drank it. In truth he found it intriguing how Irnk was doing his best to help these goblins and free them from the tyrant that was their chief, but also found it quite strange that he was showing kindness to someone who was trying to kill him.
"If your going to Sandpoint I'll follow, can't find any decent place to rest here..." The former gladiator stretched his arms backward as he walked at a relaxed pace "Also how did you grow so tall? and why did you drop your weapon when facing Gutwald? I am sure you know fighting the way I do isn't achieved by just having nothing in your hands" He continued, his tone quite calm considering what they just went through.
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While the goblins grab their trash (well, their meager belongings) they tell you about the Skeleton attack they suffered. They believe (correctly, as it happens) that the skeletons owned the treasures the goblins "liberated" from a cave to the southwest, and wish that they’d never messed with the cursed treasure in the first place. Chief Gutwad throw most of the treasures out during the attack and the Skeletons took it and went back from where they came.
Avan searches around and in an empty hut (the occupant, Gutwad's lackey, died when the chief push him off to try and appease the skeletons before he did the same with the treasure) finds a hidden stash of 23 gp and three skyrocket fireworks.
From the other goblins you take 5 Desnan candle fireworks.
The rest of their belongings, well, are of no use or interest for you, unless you plan to open a garbage disposal site.
From Chief Gutwad's decapitated body you can get:
* Small Masterwork Composite (+1 Str) Longbow
* 5 +1 animal bane arrows
* 2 potions of cure light wounds
* Small Masterwork chain shirt
That is if you don't mind the charred meat smell.
The golbins take to you their remaining treasure, a filth encrustred reddist chest containing:
* 6 masterwork shuriken
* 329 sp and 144 gp in loose coins
* A long hairpin with a red pearl at one end worth around 150 gp
* A gold-and-ivory fan depicting a gecko walking amid cherry blossoms. The fan is worth 80 gp, but something has been painted on the reverse side, surely lowering it's value.
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Walthus Proudstump greets you poking from behind some bushes.
"Well done! What are those goblins? Prisoners? What are you going to do with them, execute them? Drown them? Are you sure you should be carrying that" - he signals at the charred Goblin head Irnk carries - "around? I don't think so... it will bring you back luck!"
Gleaming shurikens were reflected in Avan's brown eyes, he remembered his teacher instructing him on how to use them and throw them in quick succession, he didn't prefer to fight at a distance but sometimes it would be the best option Like when your fighting suicidal goblins Avan tucked the throwing weapons and looked at the rest of the plunder.
Not noticing anything of interest he moves on.
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At Walthus' badgering questions, Irnk snaps irritably. "I'm sure you feel so. Yes. No."
"...No, no. Yes, yes I am. It could hardly bring worse than it already has..."
Irnk stops, looks down at the path, looks over at Walthus, looks back down at the path. Starts walking again.
"Yes."
Apex looks at the hairpin longingly, her fingers running over it. She sighs, and that single breath contains more sorrow than any other thing she has done yet. It's a full minute before she puts it back in the chest and follows Irnk, still holding the small goblin's hand. Her thoughts, however, are back in Andoran.
That pin..... I had one.... similar to it back home.... when I wasn't being chased constantly by the hunters.... It felt good to touch it though... But niceties have no place in my life. I'm a fugitive, and I'll never be anything more....
I.... I think this chest may be worth a lot of money, if someone can clean it up. It's.... Like the ones my parents used to have around to impress... other nobles.
She says once she returns the hairpin and is walking with the small goblin.