** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
Gareth smiles. "Who doesn't give each other a hard time in this world? Me, I try to let my actions speak for my worth. And yeah, I know that I see the world... differently than most of the other guards. But people shut up about the occasional infraction when you accomplish more good than they have on duty.
That, and it's hard to hate someone when they're the one buying you rounds at the tavern. Which I'll be doing, hopefully, for you guys, when Silverkeep is safe and sound."
What about you Martin? What is it that you do for a living? Do you live in Silverkeep or...?
Gareth sort of perks up in response to Jamros. "Wait, wait, wait... What kind of heist? And what do you mean you didn't want to be involved in it? Are you saying that someone made you do it?"
Gareth looks a little on edge, yet curious when he blurts out all of these questions one after another. He collects himself and then says,
"Unless... I was interrupting you Martin. If that's the case, go ahead."
** spoiler omitted **
Bluff:
You think there might be more to his story than him simply being a local guide.
Sense Motive:
"Yeah, come on Jamros, I want to hear about this heist!"
You think that something about what Martin said made Gareth briefly pause and think. However, he is trying to hide that fact that he thinks something is up with Martin from Jamros and Martin.
Bluff:
Will Save:
sneezes, twice.
"Ah, godsdamn, curse the sun. I swear, someday I'll make that thing shine less brightly."
She arrives at the stables just as Caladrius finishes distributing the powder.
"We will need to ride hard, but we can reach Harrod's Vista tonight and set the charges so that we are ready for the excitement tomorrow." He then mounts his own horse and takes off at a gallop through the gates, only stopping to see if the rest of the group is following him after he has satisfied his sense of the dramatic.
Eleri takes her time mounting the horse, eventually encouraging the animal into an easy trot to follow Caladrius out the city gates.
"I admit, a ride out to the gorge was not how I envisioned I would be spending the rest of today." She stretches, then slouches in the saddle. "I had only the barest minimum of rest last night. Hopefully I'll be able to stay awake throughout the ride, but in case I do not, be a good lad and make sure I don't fall off my horse."
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
Vista Group: After several hours' travel, you turn off from the main roads and head cross country. Following the occasional trail marker, you begin your trek high into the foothills above the Pendrian Gorge during the evening. Turning south, you continue climbing over arid terrain and through sparsely-forested areas, until you come to a gaping chasm about an hour before midnight.
The wood and rope bridge that once straddled the 35' chasm lies broken.
Despite the carefully-concealed signs of their passing, it is clear to you that a group of people on horseback passed this way sometime earlier today. Their foot and hoof prints were likely rubbed away with a bough taken from one of the nearby trees.
NOTE: If you can follow tracks with perception, you may use perception in lieu of survival.
Goblin Group: After an easy afternoon's travel through small towns and villages, you enter the scrublands to the southeast. By evening, you reach a stone bridge that straddles an unnamed stream. On the far side of the river, a lone goblin stands. He wears a rough overcoat made from the poorly-tanned hide of some creature and carries a crudely-made longsword on his back. He shouts at you, "Megállás! Ki jön? Ön a vér üvegszilánk területén! Lemondás az ön lovak, mi is legyen menjen veszélyeztetése nélkül terjedésének a szó mi nagyság!"
Hiding in the overgrowth on the far side of the river are five goblins, two of whom carry bows and three of whom carry dogslicers.
Map
Gareth sits up very regally on his horse, understanding the goblin's speech through the magic of the pearl. He tells the group, "Don't worry, I'll handle this."
He assumes a non-threatening pose, slowly rides towards the front of the pack, and then responds in goblin, "Könnyű, manó. Békével jöttünk. Én már elküldte a nevében a nagy Zarongel, aki megáldott engem egy fontos üzenetet. Szeretném kérni kihallgatást a vezető a lehetőséget, hogy háborút követően a gyűlölt ember a Sárgafejű királyka. Szeretne hogy a munkatársai és én neki kérlek, így meg tudom magyarázni a részleteket, nehogy kell feldühítette."
Easy, goblin. We come in peace. I have been sent on the behalf of the great Zarongel who has blessed me with an important message. I would like to request an audience with your leader about an opportunity to wage war upon the hated humans and their heathen dogs of Goldcrest. Would you take my associates and me to him please so I can explain the details, lest Zarongel shall be angered.
Bluff that I am acting under the orders of Zarongel:
I also want to retcon having purchased 2 thunderstones for 60 gp.
"gruli szörnyű!" she cries at him, "ura kell kisérni üzenetküldő! Meera kisérni lesz a küldönc bigboss! A fájdalom!" With that, the two goblins square off and draw steel...
Map
The second cried: "gruli unholy! priestess should escort messenger! meera will escort messengers to bigboss! to the pain!"
Initiative:
Gareth, surprised by the sudden appearance of the other goblin, is unable to act before the others.
(dex mod 3, so I'll go behind the second goblin)
As the goblins begin their scuffle, Jamros asks Gareth in a puzzled tone, "What is going on? What did they say? What's going on?"
Jamros delays his action until Gareth does something or he/his allies get attacked.
As the goblins start their combat, Gareth quickly says to the others, "Stay out of this for now, I'll explain later."
Gareth dismounts his horse, then throws a thunderstone at square -B-16, (which should not deafen any of the creatures around), while yelling one word in goblin, "Megáll!!!"
Ranged attack to hit square -B-16:
The female goblin quickly snaps her fingers, before extending her hand with lighting speed. A brilliant rainbow spray strikes the first goblin full in the face.
Blinking quickly, the first goblin shrugs off the effects of the spray before stepping up and swinging his sword in a wide arc.
The goblin cleanly decapitates his foe. Upon seeing this feat, you hear high-pitched cackling coming from the large tree, and you see two goblins fall from its boughs.
...and both promptly lose consciousness.
Thanks for waiting for me, everyone. I picked up a few extra supplies in the market. Never hurts to be prepared, right? That's basically the motto for an assassin like me.
He clumsily mounts the horse. I've never actually ridden one of these before, but it can't be all that hard, can it? Though initially awkward, he does get the hang of it after a few hours' riding. One's supposed to name these creatures, yes? For good luck? Well then this one is Steel Kiss. What've you named yours?
-Bedroll (0.1gp)
-Crowbar (2gp)
-Flint and Steel (1gp)
-4 days trail rations (2gp)
-Grappling Hook (1gp)
-2 Miner's Picks (6gp)
-50 ft hemp rope (1gp)
-Pulley (2gp)
-Shovel (0.02gp)
-2 Tindertwigs (2gp)
Basically everything a hardware-like store would have that might come in handy. If this is not okay with you, let me know. For now, all this is in my saddle bags, and I'll add a lot of other things from my pack when we first make camp.
Knowledge(Engineering)
Survival
Gareth observes the events and tries to stop the fighting from happening, but is unable to react in time before the female goblin is slain.
He summons a facial expression of pure anger. From atop his horse he throws a thunderstone at square -B-16, causing a gigantic boom to go off. He then yells, "Bolond! Ön megölt a papnő a Zarongel! Nincs idő a vérontást. Az én üzenetem rendkívül fontos! Vigyél a vezető azonnal magyarázni a helyzetet, vagy azt kell büntetni ha erre a vétke!"
"Fool! You have slain a priestess of Zarongel! There is no time for this bloodshed. My message is of utmost importance! Take me to your leader immediately and explain the situation or I shall punish you for this transgression!"
Ranged Attack at the square
Intimidate:
Ride Check to stay in saddle if Petey bolts in response to the noise:
Gareth, no new bluff check is necessary - just roleplay it out. Jamros and Martin, what are you doing as you see this scene unfold?
The victorious goblin seems momentarily uncertain in the face of Gareth's tirade, but he snaps back "Én bolond? Te bolond! Ez a dicsőség párbajtól! Magas föléhúzás túlságosan közel lovak és kutyák tudni körülbelül figurakártyajátékban? Itt vallási ismeretek hiánya. Ön biztos isten-beszélő?" He begins to spit in your direction, but appears to think better of it.
Gareth responds to the Goblin with his voice lowered, but in a stern voice. "A jelenléte a messenger, nem az idő megtiszteltetés párbaj. Légy becsületes Hallgasson rám, és elvisz a vezetője. Ismerek egy helyet, ahol nem lesz sok ló és kutya számára, hogy megölje, majd megtalálja tiszteletére! De meg kell hallgatni engem, és vigyen el a vezető, így tudom magyarázni."
"In the presence of a messenger, it is not the time for an honor duel. Be honorable by listening to me and taking me to your leader. I know of a place where there will be many horses and dogs for you to slay and then you can find honor! But you have to listen to me and take me to your leader so I can explain."
Knowledge Religion:
Bluff:
(I don't know if you want it or not, at one point you said you did and at some point when i pressed preview you said to just roleplay it out)
Although the rhythmic rocking of the trotting horse had lulled Eleri into a light doze, the beast's sudden stop before the chasm wakes her. She takes a moment to get her bearings, then peers down into the chasm.
"I'm afraid I'll be of little use here. The construction or repair of man-made structures or devices is not within the scope of my studies. If nothing else, though, I can at least provide some light."
She rummages through her backpack for a few seconds before producing a torch that, though clearly not burning, produces light.
Jamros glares at Gareth. "That goblin was just very happy with us and is now looking pretty unhappy with us. That looked like an honor duel to me. Did you scold him for that?! And what about that Thunderstone?! NO! You rock-for-brains! Did you make up some non-sense about being a messenger of some god? He cruses under his breath and continues in a calmer tone. "You had better square up with us, Gareth, or we are dead. We need to be on the same scroll here.
EDIT: He only performs such actions if he clearly has time to do so and believes it would not be rude to do any of these actions.
Gareth smirks at Jamros, "Okay, okay, so maybe I told a small fib. Don't look at me like that. That goblin threatened us and wanted to take our horses. We have no money to bribe them with! We used it all on equipment. This way we don't have to deal with them yelling at us the whole time. You'll thank me when this is over.
Look, if you want to be more involved, I can translate what they say for you, but I must warn you that I want to appear as the one in charge to keep my cover. But you guys may have insights on things that I don't know about these guys, like honor duels I guess. At this point, though, this bluff is our best bet, so I'm sorry but you guys need to go along with this. Besides, I think it's working so far, more or less. Any questions?"
Knowledge Religion:
Martin curses under his breath, "I thought we agreed beforehand to not calling ourselves gods. Especially when goblin girl over here can cast spells. I'm sure that they'll figure it out real quick.
As the goblin motions the group forward, Martin brings his horse into a cantor behind Gareth. "If this thing goes south from your tom-foolery, know that I'm not stopping to help you Gareth, but me and my horse here are making a break for it"
"Yeah, yeah, but Martin, what we agreed to do was bribe the goblins. And did you see us buying a carton of meat or a box of trinkets for these guys? Oh, that's right, you didn't. So don't act all surprised that I'd be willing to take some liberties to save us from offering our horses and promising our first borns in exchange for a chance to even talk to their leaders.
They'll oggle over us for a little bit, maybe throw us a feast, we'll tell them about the Goldcrest army of horses and dogs and how there isn't much time, we'll lead them over, say we need to run off and scout right before they show up, then get the hell out before everything happens. Simple."
It may take him a few tries, but he eventually catches it firmly. He checks the hold, and satisfied, ties the other end to the post on this end of the gorge. He stares at his tightrope for a bit, pursing his lips while the others look on, then thinks better of it. He returns to his saddle bags and draws forth another length of rope. Beginning to hum to himself, he ties one end around his waist. He makes as if to offer the other end to Caladrius, then rethinking instead ties it to the saddle girth of his horse. "Stay" he tells the creature in his most imperious voice, for all the good it will do, then he walks to the tightrope. He purses his lips again, still not satisfied, then draws a dagger from a sheath at his wrist and walks to the wood. Selecting a small, straight tree, he quickly chops it down, whittles away the branches, and tests its balance until he is satisfied with it.
His humming is louder now, and if his companions take any actions to try to dissuade him from his plans, he takes no note of it. He shucks his pack to the ground, then gingerly steps onto his rope, testing it's balance. He turns back to his companions. If I fall, let no man say I didn't love my city, eh? And he steps out over the chasm.
Acrobatics to balance
In a single fluid burst of movement, Pygrado takes the length of most of the rope, then seeing himself near, decides it easier to simply leap forward.
Acrobatics for a moving long-jump
He lands on the grass on the other side of the bridge, and when he turns back you can see a huge grin across his face.
Seeing the looks of terror on his companions faces , he quickly explains.
No no, you don't have to cross like that; besides, we'll be needing the horses to make good time. No, it's just that I'll be able to repair the bridge much more simply from this side. If you'll untie the rope from Steel Kiss, and tie it instead to the saddlebags full of my tools, I should be able to have you over in half an hour or so. With these words, his self-satisfied grin gets even wider, and his hum becomes a cheerful whistle.
** spoiler omitted **...
He ties the other end of Pygrado's rope to the bag of tools so that it can be hauled over to the other side of the ravine. How are we going to get the bridge itself over there? Should I go down and get it? He gestures into the ravine with some distaste.
Knowledge Nature:
As a side note, watch out for the goblin's rodents. Excessive contact can lead to hives. On one of my trips, I had a a run in with another group of goblins. Lucky it didn't lead to blood, but a man on the trip got a little too curios about their mounts, and had a rash for another 2 weeks.
How would you do that? If you can fly, I wish you'd told me that about 10 minutes ago. But if not, I should be able to hook it with the grappling hook. Though it might be a heavy pull-up.
Upon your arrival, the assorted goblins pause their activities and reach for weapons, but the goblin leading you in forestalls any immediate hostilities by shouting, "a küzdelem most! Üzenetküldő az isten, a kutya! menjünk nagy főnök! lovak enni későbbi!" The other goblins, put off but still intrigued, nonetheless eye you shiftily and your horses hungrily. The goblin leading you in, however, points you towards a gaping hole in the floor of the main ruin and says "Menjünk meg most, lásd nagy főnök! Hagyjuk lovak itt!"
"we go down now, see bigboss! leave horses here!"
Gareth says to the Goblins, "Persze. Köszönöm."
He tells the group. "Thanks to me, the goblins have been avoiding honor duels for now in my presence. He's taking us to their "bigboss" and wants us to leave our horses here so we can meet with him."
Knowledge Religion:
"Of course. Thank you."
Knowledge Religion:
In that case.
Sense Motive:
Sense Motive:
Jamros shifts uneasily in his saddle. I don't get the feeling that these goblins buy it Gareth. See how they are eying our horses? Tell them there is no time to wait. If we leave our horses here, chances are we will have no more horses. Tell them there will be a great many horses and dogs to kill, easy pickings and lots of them as long as we get to the pass in time, but I'm afraid we won't get there unless we leave immediately.