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With another frown, Oldmar turns to Rokdor and confers in Dorf.
He glances wistfully at the other Pathfinders, then his expression brightens. Fishing a pen from his pack, he jots down the same questions in Taldane and shows them the paper.
At Rokdor’s suggestion, Hakotep asks Ekkie about the wayfinder. The young goblin clutches Plaarg close and whispers to it in Goblin, ”Should I tell them? Maybe they let us go! And give me back my dead horse to eat! Okay, I tell ‘em.” She gives the skull a firm pat, then turns to Hakotep and continues her tale.
“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. Can I have my dead horse meat back? The goblins said to steal from the big house then go back to the horse-killing place, then they ran off. It was almost sun-coming-up time and I could hear longshanks stomping around, so I hid. Later I sneaked up to the big house and I took some shiny things from the small houses, but then you caught me. The thing you ask about, that waif-binder, Versevosh showed me a picture of it, so I could steal it.”
As she tells this, Gaelwyn is struck by a recollection that Ebrylis, the gate guard, mentioned the name Heimurl, referring to the Pathfinder who is staying in Shalast House, the one next door to Bakrakhan – and who must surely be the owner of the wayfinder.
Just as Gaelwyn mentions this, Oldmar begins to jot down a few words to show to his companions – causing Ekkie to go completely mad! ”Stop stealing my words!” she shouts, full of rage and aghast at the horrible thing being done to her. ”I said a lot of words and you put them on your paper and now I don’t have those words because you stoled them and put them on your paper! My words! You can’t steal my words!” She pauses, deep in thought for a moment, then begins saying a series of words, as if to test whether she still has them, ”Tunnels? Horse. Dead. Meat. Longshanks? Shiny!” Turning back to Oldmar, she shouts again, ”No stealing my words!”
Somehow, Ekkie’s tale, and ensuing fury at Oldmar, jog Sobestian’s memory. He recalls jouncing along on a seemingly endless cross-country carriage journey some years back and discovering under the seat an old, poorly-bound tome, nearly falling apart, entitled, Goblinkind? No, they’re not, really. Surprisingly, he remembers rather a lot of what he read.
• Goblins are insane and sadistic. They both hate and fear dogs and horses, and adore fire and destruction.
• The Breakbag goblin tribe live somewhere in the Mushfens near Magnimar. These goblins love the sound of smashing glass and collect bags of broken glass. The rarely seen Wind Whisper tribe lives many miles to the east, deep in the Mushfens.
• The sewer goblins living beneath Magnimar don’t normally form large tribes or organizations. They typically survive as scroungers in small family groups.
• Magnimarian sewer goblins are renowned for getting into places one might otherwise consider completely inaccessible.
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Sobestian thinks for a moment and shakes his head sadly. "Oh dear! The goblins around here are not nearly as nice as the ones I met up north. They are quite mean and destructive. The Breakbag tribe live somewhere in the Mushfens, and goblins living in the sewers don't ususally organize themselves into tribal units, though they're known for squeezing into otherwise inaccessible places."
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"Well, it seems like we should check with our neighbor to return his pathfinder and perhaps learn a bit about how some sewer goblins might have heard of it. I wonder if this goblin leader asked Ekkie to steal other 'shinies' just to hide the theft of the Wayfinder?"
"Perhaps after that Ekkie might be of further help..."
Gaelwyn looks over at Ekkie and continues, "Ekkie, if we were to give you some shinies could you take us back to where you met these goblins and where they took you?"
Ekkie, in spite of appearing to only speak Goblin, seems to be quite enthusiastic about Gaelwyn’s offer. ”Shinies?” she asks in Common. Then, catching herself, she replies in Goblin, ”Yes, I can take you to the horse-killing place, if you give me shinies, especially if godking coming. Ekkie like godking! Can take you to the Nightsoil Marauders’ place in sewers too – but you have to let Ekkie go free outside city after. Nightsoils won’t like me for talking to you, but they kill me if I’m still here. And you have to hide me when we walk around – people in Magnimar no like goblins, you have to keep Ekkie safe. Maybe I ride in backpack of big strong guy who caught me, who wants to give me shinies – I can peek out and tell where to go, but not get beat up by longshanks or fed to horses or smashed by guards’ boots or cut to pieces by angry humies. Okay?”
As she waits for the party to digest this wordy, rather confusing proposal, Ekkie gives Oldmar a sneer and says in a fierce whisper, ”My words, not yours!”
Knocking on the door of Shalast House, the party is greeted by a hulking Kellid man, who opens the door and says loudly, ”What? Can’t a man have a little peace…oh, what have you got there?” He notes the wayfinder in Gaelwyn’s hand and says, ”Hey, where’d you get that? I’ve been looking all over for that!” He takes a breath and says, ”Well, you probably didn’t steal it, since you’re bringing it back, eh? Come in, come in, let’s sort this out.”
He introduces himself as Joadric Heimurl, and heartily thanks everyone for the return of his wayfinder. It turns out the necklace was his as well and, when he hears the tale of Ekkie, he offers the necklace in gratitude for the capture of the thief.
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Sobestian reaches out for the necklace, but quickly snatches his hand back when the godking takes it. "Oh, of course. That makes sense..." He says quietly.
Once the party meets Joadric, he bows, tipping his hat with a flourish. "I am Sobestian Opparason III. It a pleasure to meet you and return your wayfinder. As the godking says, have you heard anything about mean goblins in the area?"
Joadric shakes hands and entertains introductions, then says, ”No, I can’t say as I know anything about goblins here, never had much truck with ‘em. But I’d wager that necklace would work as good on them as on anything, eh?”
Returning to Ekkie in Bakrakhan House, where Gaelwyn has been guarding her, the rest of the party find her nervously patting the goblin skull and saying in a low, insistent voice, ”Plarg, do you think the longshanks are going to eat us? See how the curly-haired one with the big muscles looks at me with his beady eyes? I don’t think the godking eats goblin, but what about the dorfs? You have to protect me, okay, Plarg?”
Looking up from this nice, little chat, she sees the Pathfinders and asks, ”Ready to go? Let’s go to horse-killing place, maybe see some horses get dead! Then Ekkie show you where Nightsoils are, and then later you take Ekkie outside city, keep her and Plarg safe, okay?” Looking up at Gaelwyn, she continues, ”Big strong longshanks, Ekkie and Plarg ride in your backpack, so other longshanks don’t see me and Plarg? If they see us they’ll hate us and bite us! You have to watch out for them, and take care of Ekkie, and she can show you the horse-killing place!”
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Blayne clears out his backback to make sure there's nothing in it Ekkie might borrow and to make room for her and Plarg, then says "Let's try this Ekkie - can you and Plarg fit in here and keep quiet?". After they climb into the bag Gaelwyn carefully hoists it up to his shoulders and puts it on. "OK in there?"
Ekkie scrambles into Gaelwyn’s pack and squats down, nestling Plarg’s skull in there with her. ”Ekkie keep quiet, let’s go!” she says, looking out of the small opening under the backpack’s flap. When she’s hoisted up, she gives a brief, mad cackle and can be heard to say, ”Plarg, you’re flying! Longshanks carry Ekkie and Plarg like king and queen!”
As the party sets out, Ekkie gives directions, though they’re more than a bit muddled. She has no idea what ‘left’ and ‘right’ are when asked which way to go, and she can’t very well point without exposing herself to any folk on the street. She ultimately settles on banging Gaelwyn on his left shoulder if she wants him to go that direction, and whacking him on the other shoulder to tell him to go right – and only gets the Pathfinders hopelessly lost once.
Following this method of navigation, Ekkie’s entourage eventually arrives at the “horse-killing place,” which boasts a simple sign proclaiming it to be the Mariska Knackery. This business stands on the northern edge of Magnimar’s Lowcleft district, a couple of blocks west of the Matador’s Lodge. A basic knowledge of such places would suggest that lame or old horses, as well as animals 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.
In the yard of the knackery is a middle-aged man, who looks like the blood of Varisia and Cheliax runs in his veins. He stands about five and a half feet short, and sports a graying, walrus-like mustache. On seeing him, Ekkie whispers, ”That’s the longshanks horse-killer!” She can then be heard to mutter something that sounds like, ”Mmmm, horse meat everywhere. Plarg, look at all the tasty horse flesh! Let's get some!”
Seeing the party, the man calls out in a heavy Varisian accent, ”Good day to ya! Come to buy some meat, or have ya got some horses somewhere need slaughterin’?”
You notice the burned remains of a large shed off to one side of the main building.
The man casts a quick look at the shed and shrugs, saying, ”Nothing I couldn’t handle, just a little accidental fire. Glad it didn’t hit the rest of the place.”
He’s lying about what happened to the shed.
The Varisian pauses consideringly, then shrugs and replies to Hakotep, ”You seem like a good fellow, I’m not going to lie to you. It was goblins that lit the fire, to scare me. Goblins that have been using my shop here to fatten themselves up and to have a way to get up onto the streets of Magnimar! “ He hangs his head, clearly a bit ashamed, and continues, ”But 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 try to do anything about it, they’ll burn down my home and murder my family!”
He waves for the party to accompany him, saying, ”I’m not going to take ‘em on, but I’ll show you where they go, how they get into the sewers. If you want to go down there, be my guests.” He leads the group over to a sewer drain at one end of his yard, hidden behind a watering trough, and says, ”There it is. I don’t know what’s down there, or how many gobbers there are, but I bet it’s lots of ‘em. Plus the big fella.”
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Gaelwyn walks over and looks at the grate to see how getting down there will work and what's below the grate, then says "Before we head down there I wanted to check on the lighting situation - I know you good folk can all see in reduced lighting or complete darkness to one degree or another, but I can't. I've got a sunrod in case I get stuck unexpectedly needing light, but will need to pick up a lantern or something for a longer jaunt below ground unless one of you has a solution."
Gaelwyn leans down and peers into the sewer grate, and can see that with the grate lifted out of the way, it’s a short drop to the floor below, and the landing looks quite safe. The stone is crumbled and broken in places, forming what looks like a crude ladder – at least if you’re a nimble goblin – suggesting how the Nightsoil Marauders make use of this as a way to the surface. As Gaelwyn considers this, he feels a sharp kick in his lower back, as the contents of his backpack seek his attention. ”This how go down! Ekkie show!” she says in a quiet voice, unheard by anyone else.
Once everyone descends, Ekkie scrambles out of the backpack and down Gaelwyn’s leg, stretching her own arms and legs a bit and giving Plarg a soothing pat on the head. ”That better,” she says, ”much better.” She takes a deep breath of the clammy, fetid air of the tunnel, then points south and begins to lead the way. ”Ekkie never been in place where Marauders live, but it this way.” She leads the Pathfinders through the rank, crumbling sewers for perhaps three-quarters of an hour, then slows and says, ”Ekkie smell goblins.” Indeed, the odor of sewage is less here, but the rancid stench of unwashed goblin – familiar to most of the party from their journey across Irrisen as goblin escorts - is noticeable.
Ekkie stops and points along the walkway, next to which flows of stream of foul water, and says quietly, ”Hallway up there, how to get in to Marauders’ place. Ekkie follow, so they don’t kill me.”
You hear the sound of rapid footsteps moving away.
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Sobestian hums a little song and conjures four dancing balls of light, giggling as he directs them around Gaelwyn's and Ekkie's heads. "Save you light sticks." He says in a delighted tone.
Sobe notices very little as he amuses himself with the floating light balls. Hmmm?....What's that?" He murmurs.
Ekkie bats at Sobestian’s lights in annoyance, grumbling quietly, ”Ekkie no need fairy lights for see! Ekkie see with no light, only longshanks need light to see in night!” Gaelwyn moves along the ledge and to the hallway ahead, Sobestian’s lights moving with him. As he reaches the corner, he can just make out three goblins standing about thirty feet down the hallway, blades drawn.
Hurrying past Gaelwyn, Oldmar strides boldly toward the goblin toughs, but notices something odd about the floor of the hallway! Where the rest of the floor has very fine lines between the paving stones, this stretch of hall seems to be marked off by a thicker line, as if the floor might be moveable here!
Gaelwyn spots the same pattern on the floor that Oldmar did, and stops just in time, ending up standing by the dwarf's side! The two warriors now eye the three goblin toughs across a hidden pit of unknown depth and hazards...
The goblins laugh maniacally as the Pathfinders stop at the edge of the pit, each of them pulling a flask from his belt and tossing it at the party! The flasks strike with amazing accuracy, lighthing Gaelwyn and Oldmar on fire!
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As Hakotep gets closer to the party, Rokdor punches a goblin from the far side of the pit, knocking it out cold! Sobestian bravely assists Oldmar in putting out the flames flickering on the dwarf’s body, and Gaelwyn leans against the wall of the passage and rolls back and forth along it, extinguishing the flames threatening to burn him further!
Cackling madly, both goblins throw flasks again, targeting the front line and calling out, ”Come and get us!” in their unpleasant language.