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"I'd ask you the same, stranger."[/b]
Looking briefly at the woman Leokian responds "I don't know that I do have an interest in the town's feuds with goblins."
Then he shifts his attention back to Shalelu. "I have however left the aiudara working group to travel for a while. It is time for me to see what I may find outside the Mierani."
He smiles slightly and Shalelu. "That is why I've come calling Cousin, to check up on you while I am deciding on a destination. Since I intend to spend my time here with you, if you are tracking goblins then I suppose I will be as well."
As the locals fall to nattering among themselves about local things, Leokian retreats back into his own thoughts.
The alchemical devices, those "fireworks", could be interesting as well. Perhaps I can acquire one for study. The ingredients are not complex, but the mixture can be varied in many ways for slightly different effects. I would like to know how goblins are managing it.
There's also something about that oldish woman across the table. Something about her is not quite normal. I will have to think on it more.
"Think ye not that I am unconcerned of the impact of goblins on Sandpoint. I be willing to go and check on this problem, but know that there shall be no "freebies" on the path of adventure!"
Caerwyn listens to the byplay around the table, taking it all in. A twang of jealousy, quickly stifled, arises in him when Shalelu touches Leokian's face but he quickly clears his throat "Not too long ago Sheriff Hemlock instituted a bounty on the local goblin tribes when they got to be too much of a nuisance. Perhaps we can persuade him to do so again."
Derric looked over at Caerwyn, wondering if they should talk to the sheriff for more information about the recent situation involving the goblins.
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At Hemlock's bark, Rhis merely holds out a lazy hand towards the cultured sheriff. She would elaborate with a monotone 'ta-dah', but she doesn't feel like wasting her voice to the crowd. In any case, the situation practically speaks for itself, and whether or not she's personally invested no longer matters. No one's schedule is so comically accurate without some measure of divine leverage. Desna is not, perhaps, the most direct patron of the Sandpoint's Pantheon, but Rhis knows her work when she sees it.
Now if Lady Luck would kindly make her coffee appear from the void, as Hemlock had done through The Rusty Dragon's door, the Priestess might be more openly inclined to offering her unconditional service to their apparent cause. For now though, she sighs, draws her dagger back into its sheath, and waits for someone else to figure out what more the sheriff could possibly have to say...
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"Desnnnaaaa..."
Upon seeing that, Rhis promptly gets up from her seat, her hand dragging the piece of furniture in her wake, only vaguely aware that, should anyone intrude her way, she's dangerously likely to beat them with the chair.
On her way to the stage, the Priestess holds tight to the iron crest belted to her front, muttering all the while until she slams her chair against Hemlock's impromptu plinth and uses it to join the guardsman. Without so much as a greeting, she grasps a hand on his shoulder, fingers coated in twilight as her lips usher prayers to the stars. "Drive them to silence."
What follows is a grand, booming sound; like that of a mighty horn, deafening in its volume; but the magic falls from her hands and swarms to Hemlock's throat, where it settles, vanishing from sight.
Her immediate sabotage of The Rusty Dragon's rambling complete, Rhis gives the Sherriff a stiff pat on the back. "I think they'll hear you now. Yeah. Sure."
Not waiting for an answer, she steps off the stage, grabs her chair, drags her way back to her spot at the table and, again, waits for her damn coffee. Patiently. Like a f+#@ing lady.
Leokian watches the sheriff enter and mostly make his announcement.
A bounty? That's good to know. If I am going to be tramping around looking for goblins anyway then at least there could be some money in it.
Leokian thinks on it a little while longer and smiles to himself. What a wonderfully unorthodox career to take up right now!
After listening to Sheriff Hemlock state that he was reinstating the goblin bounty, Derric looked at Rhis, wondering what she was doing.
He shrugged and turned back to look at the sheriff, nodding in agreement that the goblins had to be stopped.
The aforementioned 'witch' remains blissfully ignorant until her hands cradle a cup, its steam wafting pleasantly into her face.
"Dunno," Rhis answers flatly to the now excessively loud Sheriff. "Luck of the draw, I guess. Give it ten and it'll pass. Maybe? Probably. Ask Desna."
Necking back one lot of black liquid, Rhis puts the now empty mug aside and replaces it with a second, the hot vapor still visible on her breath as she puts to Hemlock (and indeed the rest of the table) another question: "Chieftain, eh? We know anything on 'im?"
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"I know aught about the Licktoads, other than, well, the obvious association that their name would imply," answers Shaeda. "'Owever, for ten gold apiece in ears, that's twenty gold for a regular gobbo yes? I might be up for finding out more about them. A girl would spend quite a time on her back to be earning as much as a couple gobbo ears is like to be worth."
Derric cringed when the sheriff's now louder than a dragon's roar nearly destroyed his hearing. He quickly figured that was what Rhis had done to Sheriff Hemlock.
"Really Rhis, did you have to do that? I do have some sensitive hearing now. Although, I must say you did aid the Sheriff in getting everyone to quiet down and listen to him," Derric said in Rhis's defense trying to calm down the sheriff before he brought up the Desnan on charges of...well, whatever Hemlock could think of.
The kitsune knew that was a lot of gold being offered, but as a Knightly Samurai of the Order of the Shield, he wasn't really that interested in the reward money. As long as the goblins were stopped, thereby preventing them from harming others like Ameiko, Shalelu, and others, that was reward enough for him.
He listened to Rhis ask Sheriff Hemlock about the chieftain of the Licktoad goblins.
Derric thought for a moment before he spoke up.
"From what I've heard from other merchants who have spoken with my father, there have been several attacks, and many of the merchants are certain that the goblins are from Brinestump Swamp," the kitsune said.
The kitsune hoped they would be able to leave to deal with the goblins soon. Just waiting around was making him nervous.
A swamp. Glorious. Well I suppose it's only far a day or so.
Well Shalelu, I have a few things I will need to gather before heading out into the muck. When and where do you want to meet to depart on the adventure?
Leokian rises from the table and makes ready to leave.
"Indeed, I have never gone on such an adventure, I may need to purchase a few things. I will meet up wherever is decided"
Derric thought about yelling at the locals, but decided to leave well enough alone.
Sighing, he decided to get his gear and equipment from his room. Ameiko would often let him stay for free as thanks for helping her around the inn. Of course, the kitsune would often sneak a few coins into her money as he didn't feel right taking advantage of her kindness to him.
"I'll be right back," he said.
When he returned, he was wearing kikko armor and a buckler on his right arm, while carrying his katana on his belt and a shortspear and excellently made backpack on his back.
"So, I'm ready when the rest of you are," Derric said.
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Shalelu smiles at Leokian and puts a hand on his arm "Thank you for understanding and not requesting that I stay behind...I would have followed you guys anyway so way to bypass an argument." she smiles at the rest of you and nods "Why don't we meet at the gate to the lost cost road in an hour? Does that give everyone enough time?"
"Works for me. I'll be waiting there. I need to make sure Blaze is okay."
Derric went to make sure his horse was okay.
"Hi there girl. How're you doing," the kitsune sad stroking the mare's head. "I'll be going on an adventure to hunt down some goblins that attacked Ameiko and Shalelu but I'll be back. I hope."
Blaze snorted as if she was wanting to come along.
Shaking his head Derric replied, "Now I know you want to come along, but a swamp is no place for a horse. Even one as loyal as you."
Blaze neighed a few times as if telling her master to come back and be safe. Smiling and thanking his horse for caring, the kitsune left to meet the others. If he arrived before the others it would give him some time to write in his journal.
"An hour it is, see you there," says Shaeda as she goes to gather her stuff and buy some new stuff.
Without much further to add, Rhis gives a nod as she rises, chugging the last of her coffee down in one thick, scalding swallow.
"Lost Coast it is," she says, collecting her gear up and onto a shoulder. Nimble fingers snap to an arrow, checking the point against a thumb.
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Shalelu's warm comment throws Leokian off balance. He's more accustomed to brusque, prickly remarks from her.
"It ah...never occurred to me that you would not be coming." It's the only reason I agreed to go in fact.
"Where can I best find what I need for an overnight outside?"
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"Come on Leokian I'll show you to the general store." Shalelu says and then takes him to the store and make sure he has all the equipment he needs.
After an hour you guys set off, ready to tackle this adventure. You make your way down the lost coast road to the south. You travel with out issue for a half an hour until Shalelu stops you. She walks off the bath to the side of the road. As you look around you notice the grass here has been flattened and there is blood everywhere. After a long uncomfortable silence she speaks. "This...this is where the attack happened." She then kneels down, drawing a dagger from her belt and cuts off an ear from a dead goblin. That's when you notice the 6 dead goblins laying scattered about the side of the road.
Derric pokes one of the dead goblins with his shortspear.
"Seems we better continue on," the kitsune says after cutting the ears off of the other six goblins, putting them in a small bag, and handing them to Shalelu.
"You killed them so it wouldn't be right to steal your bounty," he politely states while trying to think if he has heard anything about the Brinestump Marsh.
While the others are slicing ears, Leokian looks around for any sign of the fireworks used in the attack, and collects anything that he finds.
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Shaeda shivers as she watches the others. "Now, I've never done this before, but it does seem a bit barbaric. I know I joked earlier, but I had assumed that 'paying for goblin ears' was more of a symbolic statement than the matter-of-fact one that it now appears." She takes hold of her stomach and keeps from reching.
Scratching the back of his head a bit in embarrassment, Derric apologized to Shaeda.
"Sorry about that Shaeda. I'll...I'll...um...I'll make sure to do it discreetly from now on so you won't have to see it. I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable. It wasn't my intention."
Derric then told the group what he recalled hearing about the swamp, "I've heard that there is a man who lives in the swamp who might be able to help us. But he is a bit...um...eccentric. Could be...quite dangerous and insane. However, given the circumstances, he is probably a best chance in finding the goblins' camp since if he has lived this long in the swamp he could be quite helpful, despite the danger."
The kitsune began to look for a way into the swamp and possibly to the home of this swamp hermit.
"Eccentric...dangerous...insane..." Rhis echoes back, shrugging her shoulders as her bow's ridge catches against a nerve. "And you're certain that this hermit isn't a Goblin himself?"
Regardless of how her eyes might seem to roll inside their sockets, Rhis endeavors to keep a proper guard up as the others examine their more immediate terrain. There's already been one ambush this way; the archer's not keen on letting a second one through.
Derric shrugs his shoulders while replying, "That's all I know about this swamp hermit. But I highly doubt he's a goblin. Because if he was, he wouldn't have survived this long. Even with the most powerful goblin, there's always someone or something more powerful than said goblin. Still, it's our only lead."
The kitsune began to get ready to cut any branches or plants in their way if they found a path to lead them to the swamp hermit.
Shaeda listens to the byplay and nods approvingly, "there is always a bigger fish. So, shall we go and see this hermit-that-is-not-a-goblin and see if we can find the bandits-that-are-goblins?"
"I say we go find this swamp hermit," Derric replied as he smirked a bit at Shaeda's words.
Derric thought for a moment. Ameiko's teaching him to always trust his guts told him that the north entrance would be the best way to get to the hermit's house.
"From what I can figure, the northern entrance is our best bet to reaching the swamp hermit's home. I say we go that route."
The kitsune straightened the straps of his backpack as he waited to hear the replies of his companions.
Leokian collects the unused fireworks and a couple of the spent tubes for a closer analysis at a later time.
"Shall we be on our way then? It would be better to find our way through the marsh before too much of the day is spent."
"That's a good idea Leokian. I don't want to spend camping during the night."
The kitsune looked at the marsh getting a bad feeling about it as he asked Shalelu, "Shalelu, do you know what might dwell in the swamp besides a hermit and a goblin tribe?"
"Swamp stuff, right? Snakes, bats, grumpkins, gators, and other icky things that want us dead.". Shaeda shudders, "are you sure we shouldn't go back, collect some ear money, sleep in nice warm beds tonight, and try this again in the morning?"
Leokian raises an eyebrow. "Grumpkins?"
"Grumpkins are disgusting little creatures that live in the dim places of the world. When captured and forced to, they grant wishes to their captors."
Leokian mulls over what Shaeda says with some skepticism. That doesn't sound right. Is she having me on? Some kind of halfling superstition?
The kitsune wondered if Shaeda knew what she was talking about but decided to leave the matter be. As the group came to the bridge, Derric saw that several planks were missing.
"Do we go over this bridge or try crossing the river," he asked as studied the bridge some seeing if there were any enemies hiding. Derric did not want to die in this creepy swamp!
Leokian gives the bridge a close look. "The bridge would have to be very bad indeed to make it a worse option than crossing through the water."
"I see nothing that suggests we shouldn't use the bridge. At worst we end up in the water anyway."