Among the Trolls spoils Sour Heck finds...
The trolls have collected several sacks of plunder, including a pair of bellows, a shovel, a sledge, a battered tankard, several pretty (but valueless) stones, 208 gp, and 345 sp.
A large Heavy Crossbow and a ruby studded necklace was found on the larger more in charge Troll. In his crude sack quiver you find 18 more javelins that the Troll was using as crude Crossbow bolts...
Inside the gatehouse you come to find a crude cage and a rack with old hooks hanging what appears to be Several Hunks of dubious looking meat hang from meat hooks attached to an old staff among piles of timber along the wall.
You are all greeted by the sight of several gangly looking goblines looked in the crude cage.
Along the Northern inner gate lies a crude barricade erected by the trolls for reasons unknown. The barricade is composed of a
number of cots, tables, and other items.
"Shame your family reunion will be so much quieter this year, Sour Heck," Eloise says, grinning at the dour Bard. "Still, imagine the stories you'll be able to spin, the dirges you'll sing of their heroic sacrifice for the greater good! Ahh, now then..."
Eloise casts a cantrip and scans the various items of loot brought forth.
"I'll have some of these, if no one minds," she announces as she picks up five of the javelins, shoving them through her backpack's straps. "Never know when I might need some ranged weaponry close at hand, and a lady likes to accessorize."
As the group comes to the crude cage, Eloise makes a face.
"You in there as backup, spare parts before the harvest, or lunch-in-waiting?" she asks the prisoners in a blunt tone.
With combat over Sunset takes a moment to straighten her gear before stepping away a short distance and kneeling. With bowed head and quietly whispered words, she seems to pray or contemplate over the long, graceful sword she had wielded in combat which now rests across her knees.
Once finished Sunset is quick to rejoin the party and help in how ever small way that she can.
upon seeing the prisoners Sunset frowns, "Indeed." She agrees with Eloise' statement. She steps closer for a better look.
"Who are you?" She asks.
"Whositwhazzit?" Responds the fiercest, though shortest, looking goblin in the cage. It stands a brave foot tall and use one hand to slick its greasy looking long ears forward in what it possible percieved as a terrifying gesture. "Ya keed da Mazsers? Dija?" It's broken common was difficult t understand, though the goblins did appear to be little more then prisoners with no food, water or even adequate bedding provided in their cage now that you were up close to them.
"Yes," Eloise replies, as she bares her teeth in a humourless grin. "I did."
The goblins long ears pop out at the wolf-like grin it recieved from Eloise. Whose murderlike aura brings all of the goblins down to their knees in quaking with terror. The first one to talk is suddenly assailed by its fellows, furious words in goblin are exchanged before the little speaker was thrust forward to the edge of the cage to lookup at Eloise. It visibly gulped this time as it wrung its hands around an item it was holding. An item that had been tucked into its ragged clothes until now. "Da Mazsers eats us dey did. Eats us 'ik dem juice tings on da buches, crunchin are heds and slurping our innards dey did." The goblin spits, a small rain drop of a speck on the floor of their crude cage. "Gutterbug glad dey keed, gud ting, Gutterbug planned to burn dem, burn der bodies..." The goblins eyes go wide with the idea of Fire before he is plugged in the back of the head with a stick from the cowering goblins in back. One of which points and says something in Goblinoid and gets this 'Gutterbug' back on track.
It is wringing its grubby little hands on a small amulet depicting a gagged skull...
Though you also notice when it points towards the barricade that their is a tattered bloodstained tunic among the cobbled together pieces of the barricade...
"De mazsers was scareded by dat big dog over der." It gestures to the inner gate where the crude barricade was erected. He pauses for a long time until one of the gobs in back whispers loudly in more of a hiss. "HUMES!"
Gutterbug's wringing of his hands ceases as he nods enthusiatically without words before another stick smack prompts him to translate in rough common once more. "Humes were her' too, long time ago, moving beyond dat gate. Dint see dem after..."
"And didya plan to burn them with that amulet you're holding, friend Gutterbug?" Eloise asks. "And prey - oh, where are my manners - pray tell, who did yon tunic belong to?"
"Wit da sick!" He gestures to the long wooden rod holding the dubious looking meet. "Poke out dere eyes and makes dem dink da fire!" He strategy though entialed him somehow reaching the six foot height and have the strength to yank the wood off the wall. But whose keeping track of the semantics...
Gutterbug pauses in his excitement when Eloise mentions the amulet, its eyes narrowing cautiously as Gutterbug responds. "Dem humes drop dis, Gutterbug finds and keeps it. Flap-Flap? Dem humes dropped it, after dey dies."
@Sunset The barricade appears to be barricading the gate leading further inside the fortress. As if the Trolls were trying to keep something in. At the words of the goblinoid it is apparently some Hound they were defending against. The area you are standing in leads to the guard towers where one of the trolls ahd been lobbing boulders at you all, rather unsuccessfully. It also should give you a view of what lies beyond this barricaded gate.
@Eloise
Sunset looks to the towers and points, "I'll have a look from up there..." She says before carefully climbing the steps of the tower. Being careful not to trip or step on anything left behind.
For now her thoughts about the smaller... creatures have been left unsaid.
Adelram gathers and sorts the found gear in the background as he awaits his new companion's judgement on the goblins.
As Eloise interrogates the goblin, Sour Heck circles around the tower, cautiously probing the barricade with the end of his spear. When she mentions the tunic, he sidles over to see if he can tell anything about its last owner. He dabs at the garment with his filthy handkerchief, each touch clearing away bloodstains as if they had never been.
He also peers at the amulet in the goblin's hands.
Reluctantly, he also checks the meat and the stick it hangs from. "Please tell me these are from a goat."
"You're lucky those humans died, Gutterbug. That amulet, if I read it right, belongs to folks who worship undeath. They find you with that, you're dead and worse until someone can put you out of your misery. A shambling slave of rotting meat and bones..."
"Now then, my green friends. I've no bones with you, so I'm fine with letting you go - when we get back from the castle. That means it's in your best interests to tell us everything you know about its defences. Like this dog you've mentioned. And everything else you might have held back. Everything."
"Eh? Na, na all dem humes fall dun, sum dem go der." The tiny goblin points to the barroicade from before. "Dey da ones dat drop dis, finder keepers humes Reapers!" He sticks tongue out like a spoiled child before taking another stick to the back of the head. "Meat dun talk. Dats what dem trollsheads say. 'And dun's leaf ether.' So dis 'ere meats be'n."
[swpoiler=Eloise Detect Magic]
The Amulet doesn't detect as magical but the length of wood holding up the rough meat hooks does though ...
As does the tattered tabard in the barricade ...
[/spoiler]
Climbing the stairs to the northern battlements you see that beyond the inner gate on the otherside of the troll barricade lies a long bridge to another stone building in the water. Laying down at the farthest end of the bridge is what looks like a hound. A rather large hound...
As soon as she spotted it the hounds odd skin started to shudder and flare outward like a lizards scales just before one of its eyes opened to peer at her in return...
The longer you remained in the battlement the more the odd looking and rather large hound took notice. It rose smoothly to its feet and then you noticed the odd extra claw that was on each foot, making it almost appear like a hook of sorts. However the oddest thing of all was that this once grew hound appear to be a bright red and its scales were now truly flared out as if it were angered. Though never once does it bark or make an aggressive move other then sitting and watching you from afar.
At Eloise prolonged silence Gutterbug adds with a shrug. "Humes look da stem to us'n's. Jus' Ugy." The other goblins nodding in agreement like whatever Gutterbug had said was the right thing.
Sunset descends the stairs and tells the group of what she has seen.
'It is like no hound I have ever heard of before..."
"So those were trolls? Huh. Seems obvious in retrospect."
"Ask your new friend if the trolls were working for the death cultists who dropped that amulet. Should we assume they went into Count Caromarc's castle after going over the barricade?"
"Let me have a look at that mismatched hound you saw, Sunset. We ran afoul of a patchwork dog when we took on Vorkstag and Grines; if it's the same kind of thing, that's a possible connection between them and the Beast's creator. Perhaps the necromancer who made him was buying corpses from Vorkstag and Grines; maybe he...or she...gave them that golem dog in trade."
Sour Heck has Sunset lead him upstairs to show him the hound.
The bard squints at the distant creature. "What the hell is that? Never seen anything like it."
"Grab that tabard while you're looking," Eloise calls over to Sour Heck. "And the stick. They're both magic; the tabard is a defensive item, the stick is a staff of Swarming Insects."
Turning back to the Goblins, she nods to Gutterbug.
"What my friend said. Answer, please."
"Perhaps we should be done with these little monsters and move on with our business." It is obvious that Adelram would kill the goblins if it were up to him.
As soon as Sour Heck and Sunset emerge again the hounds grey scaled body turns red, starting from its head and working down to its tail as its scales flare defensively. It's obvious now that it is watching you more then ever, as now it has risen to its feet and is poised to react...
Different more detaile view of the hound in question. It is also the size of a horse...
__________________________________________________________________
Gutterbug shrugs. "Trollheads be trollheads 'nd Humes da stem to us'n's. Dem's dat drop dis went on dat way." He gestures to the barricaded gate again with a clearly confused or vexed look on his tiny face...
The tattered magical tabard is grey with blue trim, it is in desperate need of some repair and once unraveled from the barricade bears the tattered symbol of Lord Caromarc's coat of arms.
"I have encountered many different creatures in my travels. Let me take a look at the dog that guards the way. Perhaps I will have come upon its like before." Adelram goes up next to Sour Heck and peers out over the walkway at the dog.
Which knowledge is it?
"I'm afraid I don't have much expertise in identifying monsters. I can still set up a few more spells, if I take time to commune. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we might need?"
@Adelram Realizing it isn't any normal animal you've ever seen before you delve into your knowledge of creatures and beings of arcane nature.
Though by the way it watched you, so still, so unnaturally still... That was when you notice something rather odd...
There was no movement of its chest or its sides to indicate it was taking any breaths. Though it didn't appear to be any undead you'd ever encountered nor heard of before.
Despite the distance Adelram's astute observations bear fruit, you notice that despite how perfect this creature looked. That there were imperfections, its scales didn't seem to react the way it was wanting all the time. It finally seemed to be having issues holding still after several minutes, having an odd twitch before settling back into its previous statue like stance.It was a construct, one made from different creatures and quite splendidly at that. More precisely a Flesh Golem. The last thing Adelram notices is there was some sort of metal tag attached to its right ear, though what was engraved on it was hard to see from this distance.
This 'Hound' is a type of flesh golem that is particularly well made. It is larger then normal flesh golem hounds by several hands, from where you stand it is easily the size of a decent heavy horse. Flesh golems are known for being resistant to most all attacks and have the following Construct Traits. The one major flaw of constructs is that they are mindless, they follow orders which can be good and bad depending on what they are tasked with. Granted such tasks are simple in nature as these constructs lack the intelligence for any complex tasks.
"Not a patchwork dog but a flesh golem shaped as a hound." read the spoiler.
Sunset stands slightly amazed at this revelation.
"If it was made... might there be a way to control it?" She wonders.
Adelram and Sunset in the tower
The Hound continues to watch each of you on the tower equally, it's scales staying red the entire time it did so. ..
In the company of goblins below.
Gutterbug looked a bit lost now, having little else to add to the persistent questioning of Eloise. The little creature looked a mix of angry and ready to yield subserviently once more if she continued...
The barricade remained and the items recovered would aid the group in many different ways.
'Ugh. The patchwork dog I mentioned was a flesh golem too, just made from different parts. Had a pretty wicked bite, too. Maybe we should just fill it with crossbow bolts from up here."
The bard turns to Iesha. "I've cleaned this tabard up as best I can, but I don't know if my needlework is up to repairing something magical. Do you know a prayer that would Make it Whole, so we could make use of it?"
Sunset steps a little bit closer, "I have some minor magics... Though the spell is more to keep things clean than to mend..."
"Mending might be more appropriate, but my orisons are already prepared. I can do Make Whole, but are you sure you want me to use a second circle spell to fix that?"
Sour Heck eyes the tabard critically. "I know what you mean--it's not going to look much better with the rip fixed. But will its protective magic work when it's ripped? How powerful is the thing, anyway?"
"There is a measure of intelligence behind his eyes. He will not just allow us to shoot at him until he falls. Remember the troll with the big crossbow is the one that put up the barricade."
"Right then, lads," Eloise tells the Goblins. "Sit tight. If we survive in there, I'll come and let you out, so wish us luck."
The Magus flashes the Goblins a brief grin before going to join her comrades - and she is just in time to hear the discussion about the magic items.
"You keep it once it's mended," Eloise tells Sour Heck in a decisive tone. "You seem to get attacked by life-draining monstrosities a lot more than I."
She strokes her chin in a thoughtful manner. "The patchwork hound could be slowed down and weakened by an attack infused with fire or ice, but would grow stronger and faster from a blast of lightning. It was also innately immune to most spells. That is definitely something we'll need to keep in mind. Even if we can't destroy it with ranged attacks, there's no harm in softening it up a bit with some bolts before we close to melee range, now is there? We might learn something if we do."
Iesha blinks. "Oh, it's magical? I didn't catch that earlier. Yes, Make Whole, then."
She chuckles and not Make Hole?"
Sunset sighs a little. As she peers over the barricade she laments that all she has is a large sword with which to combat this new foe... which rests in relative safety on the other end of a long bridge.
"Might we encourage it to advance over to here? Better to fight the thing on more firm footing, no?" She offers a suggestion. .
"Hmm," Eloise muses. "You can borrow my crossbow if you like, Sunset. I've got" - the Magus digs in her belt pouch and brings out a platinum coin - "a different option for this particular problem."
Eloise smiles as she bounces the coin on her palm.
"I'd say our best option is to keep this thing hopping. Attack it from multiple angles and distances. Keep it hurting and keep it off-balance. Anyone got a Grease-spell handy to trip it up with?"
"Go ahead, Sunset, try a shot. If it shrugs it off, we can disassemble the barricade while Iesha prays for some new spells and mends the tabard, then open the gate and pepper it with missiles until it advances into this tower where we have better footing. We can arrange the barricade into a barrier that will keep it from charging us. Might not kill all of us right away." Sour Heck heads back down to start working on the barricade. "At least one of you heroes stay up here and keep an eye on it--shout down if it starts for the gate."
If back in the tower
Back in sight of the hound it appears to have laid down again, but at the sighting of the group once more it rises back onto its feet. Sitting like before, changing from grey to red again as it watched silently, twitching every now and again when its body betrayed it.
Pulling down the barricade and opening the inner gate was a cumbersome but simple task. Once the gate was open the Hound, which had laid back down, rises onto its feet. Seeing the group are on its level it rises too all four feet. Its ears lay down as its scales bristle a new shade of crimson red but it made no move to engage.
The Hound barks, its first noise since it was spotted and it's bark was like thunder. The air crackles with each bark, even with the water passing beneath it's bark roared louder. Though it still made no move to attack, staying on the far side of the bridge instead.
Once you pull on the Tabard you feel a flush of energy run through you and a symbol appears on the front of the Tabard. A strange symbol at that...
However no one else seems to notice it but you...
"Eloise, you didn't notice any horrible death curses or murder compulsions on this tabard, did you? I ask from mere curiousity."
Having cleared away the barricade and opened the gate, Sour Heck regards the flesh golem hound across the bridge. "I don't think I can lull this one with music. Should we wait to see who answers its barking? If not, time to try that spell of yours, Eloise." The bard lowers his spear and braces it against a charge from the hound.[/b]
You are not familiar with this particular symbol, recognizing some of the runes as something used in Alchemy. Some of the symbols represent Transmutation symbolism but a third of the symbol you don't recognize leaving you puzzled as to its purpose.
The hound growls and barks as Sour Heck comes across the barrier but it stops barking just before Sour Heck braces his spear. Instead tilting its head as if it were confused as its scales return to a neutral grey once more. It watches Sour Heck intently.
Peering over the top of her borrowed x-bow, Sunset watches the developments regarding Sourheck closely.
"Is an awfully tight shot..." She mutters...
"You have got to be kidding me. The damn thing wants to play fetch."
The Hounds head remains tilted a moment longer before it starts to look at each person that speaks, first at Sunset then her crossbow. Its scales rippling crimson before it looks at Sour Heck and turns grey again. Then to Adelram, tilting its head the other way before it sits down and just watches.