Sweet! Well, the fodder goblins sag with relief when the black orbs bounce away, then immediately begin cheering and mocking each other for showing cowardice.
The goblins are left alone once more, free from outside harassment, but the decision still remains - investigate the ruins of Tinkertown, or take the path labeled as the path leading to the entrance of the World Beneath.
I sit down on a rock and groan. "Blibby tired and achey and bloody and missing arrows and my stabby and my head hurt. We should look in gnome houses for supplies before slaughtering the under-elfs. You say rat-men maybe nearby? Rat-men live in burrows, must hate elves as much as goblin. Blibby talk nice and clever, give some halfling smokey-stuff as present, rats help warband?"
"Okay." Talks nods. She didn't really feel like getting hurt any more, either. Plus there were arrows stuck in her. That was never anything in the way of 'super neat'.
Assuming Retzack relents to the idea, the heavily injured but triumphant warband begins trudging off in the direction of the Tinkertown ruins. It isn't long - not more than 15 minutes' hiking - before the wooded foothills that you were passing through give way to an old cobbled street that is still intact. The workmanship's very well done, it's obvious.
The road's not all that changes. Among the trees that you pass through, you now see the occasional tower or pillar of stone, worked with fine designs that have worn smooth with age. Eventually, the pillars are consistent enough to form a sort of thoroughfare, which the fodder goblins chatter to each other about quietly as they pass beneath. The ruins are quiet as you pass through a broken gate into what once was a thriving gnomish community. There are bones here, small ones not much larger than your own, and blasted-out buildings with no doors or windows. Most of the side-streets are covered with the rubble of broken architecture, but you can tell even now that the city was gnomish. You see remains of clockwork gears, spanners, and levers among the wreckage.
You see several promising buildings nearby that could contain loot. You also hear a distant whirring sound off deeper in the ruins, and some sheltered overhangs that appear to have once been home to scavenger animals.
"Wooow. I wonder how they got the rocks to stand up so straight, and be so smooth. And have all those neat designs! I hope it's natural... Talks says as they pass through the thoroughfare.
"Hm. This is all so strange! What do we do? Where is everyone? Should we call out to them?"
I shout some orders to my remaining minions. "OK, runts! Go look for shineys! And find me a new stabber too!"
Then, in classic goblin fashion, the gobbos scatter rather noisily into the buildings, bickering over who looks where. I stagger towards one of the other buildings. Are nomes clever enough to know about fixey-leaves? I hope so, stupid elf-arrows hurt.
Groonk hoists the massive horn on his shoulder, already bruising slightly from the weight, and pushes through the other fodder to check out the nearby buildings at Blibberblab's request.
"Step back, squishies." he barks at them. "You crowding the doorway!"
Blibberblab's 4 remaining fodder gobbos, along with Groonk and Tutti, fan out among the buildings. The bickering and squabbling mostly ceases as the goblins focus on the real reason they love to raid so much - looting. Tinkertown has been a ruin for some time, so much of the common bric'a'brac has been picked over already, but you do find 3 Bandages, 1 Potion of Cure Light Wounds, and a strange handheld device the shape of a cookie, shaped from metal. It doesn't appear to do anything, but holding it at different elevations - whether it be at knee level or held over your head, or practically anywhere in between - changes the color of the device, from a light green to bright purple, to red, to blue, to black, from lowest to highest. The fodder gobbos are confused by this find.
Your searching brings you closer to the whirring sound you heard earlier. It sounds as if it's coming from the opposite sides of the building you're in.
Talks stays out of Groonk's way. That's what friends who are afraid of losing friends do, after all. She roots around (get it, roots?) high and low, using the advantages of being tree-y as best she can. But mostly she stays out of Groonk's way. Which probably means going to explore the whirring noise.
As Tutti makes her way slowly towards the whirring noise, she begins to question some of her life decisions... kicking random rubble aside rather than lifting her feet so she can just slide her feet across the ground, she runs her hands along the walls and looks at all the shiny things.
I seize the bandages from my confused followers, ignoring the funny colored thing. "Good, guh-nome things know about bandages, at least." I spend a few minutes replacing the filthy rags I had tied around my wounds with the fresh bandages.
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Long time Retzack stood in ulfish thought, pondering the change of the lay of the pieces with the recent change to Blippityblippity. How his new master will interact with the Powers that he...well, not served, but certainly communed with, would be interesting to behold.
At some point he becomes aware that his acolytes are throwing themselves about searching a ruined city, but such things affect him little. Still, he gazes about at ruins that, in some places, are still better than most quarters that goblins inhabit.
"Such a pity that the guh-nomes keeps such works for themselves and do not allow goblins their proper share of such niceties! And for all the good it did them. When we have dealt out Meat-Snacks' justice, we could ponder inhabiting this place as a colony for our ever-growing tribe.
If you are quite done scavenging the dead, we can investigate that sound. Everyone knows that the tek-no-logics of the guh-nomes are the antipathy of all things the goblins hold dear, such as gods and Magicks. We must make sure such a monstrosity is truly dead. Else it might upset out plans to colonize."
Whether Retzack is even aware that he's the only one who currently thinks that colonizing a recently destroyed town is a good idea is a bit vague.
Tutti, your ears pick up on the sounds of the whirring nearby as you search through the rubble. What is about to happen? Something that is making that whirring sound will be walking around the corner very soon, which means it will be within sight of the warband, and the warband will be within sight of it. Whatever it is.
Who is really in control here? Aside from the unsettling whirring sound nearby, the ruins of Tinkertown are as silent as a tomb. You don't detect anybody nearby to challenge the might of the warband. Truly, it is Blibberblab, issuing orders about finding him weapons, who is in control here - at least for the moment.
What should I be on the lookout for? Ignoring the sounds for a moment, you kick aside some rubble and discover a foot locker that has a lock that's intact! Seeing it as a symbol of civilization, you gnaw it to pieces with savage druidic goblin ferocity. Inside you find a mini wrist-mounted bow with 3 Ammo, and three gnome-sized (and therefore goblin-sized) melee weapons. All look to have some kind of mechanical adjustments made to them.
One of the weapons is a collapsible bo staff with pop-out blades that emerge from the end, giving it the look of a double-ended scythe. Roll another attack on a double-6 roll, +1 damage
Another is a big honkin' power glove. It doesn't look like it can be used for anything but punching, though - the "fingers" of the glove don't uncurl from the fist position. Forceful tag, +1 Armor.
The third is a two-handed hammer. It has a power meter on the side of the hammer's head, and a button that's concealed near the hilt - but pressing the button doesn't do anything at the moment. Reach, Forceful tags.
Retzack, your fodder goblins bring you back a small metal circlet and present it to you from the kneeling position, hoping to curry your favor.
"We do not have to go to it, it's coming to us!! Talks cries back towards her beloved Sempai. "It'll be here soon!" She starts to wobble back towards the others with her prize.
She was torn between utterly destroying all of the things in the boxes with their dials and such... but she would let them live for now, as they were like her other human trinkets in her bag. But would she give the shinies away? Who was she kidding, she couldn't possibly keep secrets from Retzack. What favor would she curry by bringing him such treasures? Oh, glorious indeed. But... her hand did fit perfectly into the glove. No one would notice, either way. They couldn't possibly notice. She slipped her hand into the glove on her way back, and then presented the spoils of lock destruction to Retzack. Her bark-teeth hurt... but she'd shown that lock. She'd shown it good.
I peer at the odd bow. "Ooh, shiney." I prod at it gently, being wary of guh-nome trickery.
Close range, 1 Piercing, cannot be found on the wearer if the wearer is searched.
"A suitable replacement for my lost stabby. Has anyone seen the rat-creatures?"
Rat-men are certainly creatures most unusual, where should I look to find evidence of them?
3 Ammo, 1 weight. :)
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Retzack's first impulse as he is broken from his reverie to be presented the metal circlet is one of irritation, but as his eyes focus for the briefest of moments upon the thing, his impressive intellect hints that their might be some potential in this otherwise unimpressive looking object.
He favors the minion with a rare thing--a brief smile (just of the lips, it doesn't reach his eyes. No need to be ostentatious.) and makes a mental note to at least think twice before using this one in an experiment which will condemn it to a hell dimension from which there is no escape.
Three times?
No, no. No need to be excessive.
As he begins Seeing the metal circlet he initially tries to shoo away the next goblin trying to get his attention. Two in one day? Would this never ending onslaught ever cease?
As his first attempts prove futile, he turns, readying the Flesh-Inversion spell, but then he sees that this goblin, whom he's -quite- sure he's never seen before, is offering him some manner of trinkets.
Tucking the circlet into his belt he examines the two things. One appears to be a staff of some sort. Alas not one of Power, but one of the more martial aspects. The other seems to be an Arcane Hammer. Alas that he is not of that school.
Seeming to forget the goblin that presented them, he marches over to the bard.
"Blippity," he begins, looking at him Deeply. Because he is not talking to the material form. He is speaking to That-Which-Is-Power which controls this one. Or at least he hopes to.
"I present unto you these items of martial power which have been secured by right of conquest from the fallen you see about you." Retzack must consider abandoned ruins to be a conquest. Or something. "Use these with the spirit with which they were created. And I presume that these offerings shall secure between us an...Understanding?" Retzack tilts his head forward and raises his eyebrows as if to communicate a message of some weight. If these material objects can secure non-aggression with That-Which-Is then they have served a puissant function indeed.
He returns to where the presenting goblins still stands (whoever it is) and graces it with a gift unheard of: A sly smile and a single finger actually touching it, tracing the outline of the right side of it's jaw. He even speaks to it, his voice like honeyed Redwood. "I promise you, when a Joining is prepared, you will receive a full Anatomization."
He turns and continues his scrutiny of the circlet, keeping one ear pealed intently to the machinery sound. If it comes, then it comes. For now his priorities are aligned.
Talk's knees go weak and she flops over to the side at her sempai's touch. She begins to flop around; something that to most would appear to be convulsions. But goblins knew, that this was simply something that occurred when goblins felt the-emotion-that-shall-not-be-named. She manages to get ahold of herself after a moment, and flees into the woods to hide her shame... with a new body.
A green scorpion returns to the group, with a bit of lizard-hide slurping into its mouth as it appears. Clearly the anatomizable goblin has already been... inventoried... so to speak.
I take the weird weapons from Retzack and raise an eyebrow at his odd tone. "Retzack, do you know anything about Meatsnacks' true squid-form? I saw a vision of Meatsnacks/Squid-head claiming me from death. You are a smarty-gobby, what should I do?"
Tutti: Your agility may have been sharpened, but your senses are dulled compared to your goblinoid form. Take -1 Wis mod.
As for the equipment you wear, Dungeon World rules dictate that you actually are the reigning expert on how druids work. So, you tell me! Use your imagination. :)
As for item identification, it depends on the fiction. I agree with Blibberblab's assertion that casting a spell would be one possible way to solve your problem. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" kind of approach. Otherwise, describe how you examine something closely and roll Discern Realities, but in this particular case, the circlet's purpose becomes quickly clear without need for a roll. When you depress a certain thin button near the back, a visor pops down in one area, roughly where one eye would be. The visor folds perfectly into the circlet when not extended, but contains a faintly bluish colored glass.
The whirring doesn't get any louder or quieter for the moment.
Talks lets the darkness settle in... she'd clearly become better at shapeshifting! Her eyes had even adjusted. Oh god. There were like twenty-something Retzacks, and they were all dreamy! Compound eyes were the best! But... hard to understand. Ugggghhh!
Groonk is ignoring the fodder and strange objects, but instead looking all around as if trying to figure out the source of the whirring. Obviously it's not something in the building, but must be moving around outside. He'll slowly pace around, trying to discern in what direction the noise gets louder or quieter, until he can tell the relative direction of the source.
Warmer... warmer... colder, no... ah, warmer... he thinks to himself.
Groonk, you walk around inside the building you're in, back and forth, until your wandering takes you into a blasted-out side room with ruined furniture scattered everywhere. Through a cracked hole in the wall, you see the source of the whirring - a small rounded dome-shaped head of some kind of metal creature, resembling a life-size toy gnome, standing in place just outside.
I give the odd guh-nome sledge a few practice swings. "Hmm, not much of a stabby, but might be able to bash some elfeses."
1 each! I keep weight simple.
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Retzack stares at the odd circlet. He casts a spell called "The Flame and the Void". In it the item appears in his mind's eye in contrast to the Ultimate Nether-that is, a composition of nothing. Against it the item is bombarded by various points of 'not-nothing' until Retzack divines which parts of it are nothing and which are not. The parts that are not-nothing are concentrated on and are bombarded in greater and more specific aether, until it is no longer a question of 'what does it do' but of 'what does it not not-do'. Much as one would discern the color of something red by flashing it with beams of all the pure colors until one matched it's frequency by no longer being visible (since a red object only reflects red from it.)
To Bitty-Boop's question he muses, "I know little of that which you saw, save the it is to Meatsnacks what the mightiest Oak in the forest is to the wind. That is, it is a thing of power and form beyond comprehension and would take no notice of of even the mightiest of gobling chiefs unless they were bequested by a goblin of, O, some measure of power." At this Retzack smiles. He appears to be complimenting himself, but in such a way that no one else might notice.
"Suffice to say that I would not mention seeing Meatsnack's true form to Meatcsnack's meat form when next we meet him, for at best he would not understand and at worst he would slay you, bringing terrible devestation the likes of which will be written about by historians as a study for how much penultimate suffering can be withstood by a certain number of horribly unlucky goblins. So let's keep this between you and me...unless you were to supplant Meatsnacks on order of C...um, Squid-face. In which case I would fully support you.
Now, where has that brute Groonk gone? Let us wait for the sound of something smashed down and go toward it to find him."
Retzack puts on the circlet and sees if he has learned anything new.
Misty Clack-clacks as she hears Retzack suggest he was looking for groonk... and takes off in the direction she'd last seen him. If not for her extra legs, she's pretty sure she'd be tripping everywhere. The ground was tricky now that her eyes needed to... well... adjust. All of her eyes. Clack-clack-clack-clack..
Retzack: I'll pretend that roll was a Spout Lore or Cast a Spell roll (either would have worked) because you used your INT mod, +2, rather than your rather abysmal WIS mod, -1. By the way, kudos for picking a character that dabbles in eldritch forces and making WIS his dump stat. Feels appropriate. xD
Anyway; by touching the circlet with your magic and putting it on, you peer through the bluish glass that fills the pop-down eye visor. When looking through that eye, you are startled to find that you can see through the wall of the nearest building! You see Groonk looking away from you, staring curiously at a crack in the wall in front of him. You see him turn his head to look over his shoulder in surprise at the sudden appearance of Tutti the Friendly Green Scorpion.
Groonk stares at the whirring, metallic gnome for a moment... it doesn't look edible, so his interest isn't exactly piqued. But it does look like it might be something the others would enjoy examining. So he could at least gain some rapport by bringing it back.
Taking a deep breath, Groonk slides his fingers into the crack in the wall and tries to pry open the damaged barrier. There's something shiny on the other side, and these faulty ruins are in his way.
Talks Clack-clack-clack-clacks up to Groonk. Decisions were hard now, too. Should she draw her friend's attention? All these eyes had her distracted. Should she draw her friend's attention? Maybe pat him on the shoulder. Oooh, shiny! Should she draw her friend's attention? Maybe. But his shoulder was a long way away. Probably just better to grab part of the crack he's messing with and help him push or pull it in the same direction! But maybe she should get his attention first.
She grabs the empty crack with one of her claws and waits to see what Groonk does.
I round up my remaining minions and herd them into a rough half-circle in front of a barrel. Hopping on it, I start waving the hammer about. "Listen, Retzack has told me of some disturbing things, and a way to fix it! Meatsnacks is unaware of his true nature, and will slaughter us for mentioning it. This must be why Squid-head saved me, he is trapped in a goblin's body and wants us to free him! Retzack is smarty-gobby, and he knows much of strange things. He said he will help us save Meatsnacks from his meaty prison.
See! Even the name of the Great One's prison is a clue! Haluk was right about da Cheef not being a god. He is a god's gaol! But Squid-head's clever thinkyness has led Meatsnacks to send us here, to find these guh-nome hurty-tools. We must be forged against the ground-elves and return stronger! Stronger to free Squid-head!"
Leaping from my perch, I scurry to Retzack with my followers behind me. "Retzack! We have heard Squid-head's request and understand it. With your wisdoms, we will free Meatsnack's true form from his meat-form, and his great power will be free to guide us to greater heights!"
Talks Clack-clack-clack-clacks up to Groonk. Decisions were hard now, too. Should she draw her friend's attention? All these eyes had her distracted. Should she draw her friend's attention? Maybe pat him on the shoulder. Oooh, shiny! Should she draw her friend's attention? Maybe. But his shoulder was a long way away. Probably just better to grab part of the crack he's messing with and help him push or pull it in the same direction! But maybe she should get his attention first.
She grabs the empty crack with one of her claws and waits to see what Groonk does.
Groonk usually closes his eyes when he really wants to use his strength... that way he doesn't get distracted, or frightened at what's about to happen. But he feels the light touch of something else near his own meaty hands--with fine hairs covering the chitinous appendage.
His eyes burst open and he turns to look into ten black orbs, reflecting his own distorted image back at him. The dark crystals in his back begin to glow ever so subtly as he gazes on this gigantic arachnid...
Suddenly he releases the wall and embraces the scorpion beside him. he gushes, undoubtedly alerting anything nearby of their presence.
A thin, light hiss escapes from the scorpion that sounds something like 'Waaaagggghhh', but scorpions don't have that sort of... well... anything... to speak with! No matter. The hissing sound is probably enough. Talks pats Groonk on the back with her tail as she continues to friendzone him. What would Retzack-senpai think if he saw his precious emerald... are scorpions bugs? with Groonk? That couldn't happen! Nononono! She rips at the wall as she struggles to get free of Groonk's grasp.
Groonk refuses to let go.
'Waaaaagggghhhh' screams Talks's internal goddess as she fights to free herself!
Talks continues to grip the crack in the wall as she struggles to break free, pulling and squirming, trying to use the wall as leverage. But she is caught in the great ogre-goblin's firm grasp!
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Retzack takes a heartbeat's time to appreciate the eldrich wonder that his magicks have awakened. Surely this power of Sight-Beyond-Sight will be of use?
His meditation is disturbed as the Bibiltyboo seems to be going on about...the devil is he saying? Free Meatsnack's true form? Great power?? Squid-head's clever hurty-tools??? Does he mean to...there can be no sense for that. At face value he seems to be saying that 'squid-head' has told him to ravage Meatsnack's form, which would truly slay him. Well, if that is the Will of He-Whose-Name-Must-Be-Named-Even-In-References-Like-This-One, then there can be naught for it but to assist with it. Hm. The irony of Meatsnack's grab for power by sending this a mission resulting in his own demise is simply...delicious.
Has there ever been a more epic story of a being sent out from their safe, ignorant abode only to return as something that their home now fears and can not understand? Meh. Probably not. Such a story could not be allowed, since it would have such enormous Fallout.
Through his new sight-beyond-sight, Retzack sees the form of Groonk become...attacked by a scorpion? Then why does the bug (technically 'arachnid') not attack back? It's only struggling against that door. Well, this is something to be investigated, surely.
"The Nine Hells are you doing with that scorpion, Groonk? Have you collected another pet to go with your comically-oversized weapon?"
Retzack strides forward to see what's going on. The whirling sound seems to be getting louder. That's a good thing.
Waaaghhh. No, No, No! Senpai, don't look! Nooo!
The arthropod struggles harder and begins trying to rip the wall apart to get free.
The scorpion-goblin and the brutish Groonk wrestle in the house, rolling around in the rubble. SMASH! Groonk's arm destroys part of a crumbling ruin wall. WHIP-SMACK! Tutti's extra-heavy scorpion tail knocks some loose stone across the floor. A few fodder goblins are already crowding around the door and cheering them on when Retzack impatiently pushes them aside and looks in.
"whirr-kchunk Hello! Hello! Hello! What...is...the...problem?"
A tinny voice, sounding high-pitched and artificial, can suddenly be heard over the impromptu melee. Retzack, Blibberblab, and the other goblins not currently engaged in wrestling can see what appears to be a gnome made entirely of steel, standing in a broken section of the wall and looking down at the fighters below. It's clearly damaged - part of its arm is torn mostly off, exposing strange wiring - and its face has an articulated metal jaw that flaps up and down out of sync with its words. It's bearing no weapon but there's a strange liquid dripping out of the gnome's chest compartment that causes the stone to sizzle and hiss when it drips down. What do you do?