Taking advantage of the goblin freak's surprise, Khravos presses the advantage. He calms his breathing, feeling his body at one with the weapon, the scizore not a device but an extension of his own arm. Flowing easily into the next step of the kata, Khravos drives his scizore into the center mass of his opponent.
Using part of an attack to refresh the Flurry Strike maneuver via:
The pathwalker may concentrate on nature of his martial path as a swift action as part of an attack or full attack to recover one expended maneuver.
Striking with for
Satinder shrugs.
"Well, perhaps he'll prove you wrong. People change all the time."
He flashes a grin.
"Maybe he's changed a lot, and he just still doesn't like you."
The Three-armed goblin roars "Pínulítill manna!", and slams his longsword across your chest with such force that your heels dig into the dirt as you slide back five feet.
He immediately presses the attack, dagger and axe slashing through the air as you duck and twist to stay out of the way, but the blade of the axe cuts true on your left hip.
Daxur shrieks in anger as the other goblin scores a minor hit. Overcome , his face takes on an aspect similar to his more vicious cousins.
Ripping his dagger from his belt he slashes at the other goblin...
Then, realizing the folly of his action, he drops his dagger and steps back to give himself more room, slapping a bolt into his crossbow, giving it a crank and firing...
The goblin in Engineer #3's headlock attempts to squirm out of the hold, but gets no where. Engineer #3 easily counters the tiny screaming mouth, keeping him under control.
Daxur drops his dagger and steps back, reloading his crossbow, but the goblin ducks as the bolt sails overhead. He runs forward as Daxur lowers his shoulder into his chest again, but keeps his stance, slashing Daxur's shoulder with his dogslicer.
Turning, you see Lord Longjiku Kaijitsu, local Noble and business magnate, standing there, appraising your group.
"Lord Kaijitsu, my apologies, I didn't see you there," the Lieutenant says, ducking his head. "I didn't know you'd be coming to oversee a shipment. This is Mast - Mister Garrick ir'Kraal, over physical security of Sandpoint, and Mister Satinder Hawkes, liason for the Mayor between the departments."
"Much of that shipment is all over your dock, and you three esteemed gentlemen watch over it," Lord Kaijitsu says, quietly. "I could not be expected to be anywhere else. Could you?"
"Fly free, goblin. Your path on this world now works towards the good of others."
Garrick turns and stands straighter, not quite at attention but the manner is still suggestive of someone with military background and more respectful than a typical mercenary would be.
"Your interest is understandable, Sir. We are looking for eyewitnesses so that we may get to the bottom of this incident. The one I wish gone is Jarek Prath, a former rival who worked with Karrnathi Intel. He claims to be here for harmless enough purposes, but it is hard to believe this all a coincidence. He still holds a grudge. But, we are still looking at this all objectively."
Garrick then looks to Satinder to see if there is any more he would like to add.
Satinder's eyes widen slightly at the sight of the nobleman, and he gives Lord Kaijitsu a short, courtly bow.
"It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you, my Lord," he says, rising, "though I wish it were under different circumstances. I--that is, we--have already gathered statements from several witnesses. There are enough common threads to form a reasonable guess as to what happened. Equipment failure is possible, and a sailor should probably be reprimanded for abandoning his post."
He hesitates, glancing away from Lord Kaijitsu before continuing.
"It's . . . also possible that the equipment was tampered with. At least one witness thinks they saw something to that effect."
Flinching at the sudden pain, Khravos stumbles a moment before regaining his balance. Focusing his pain into power, Khravos wades back into the fray, deflecting the many arms as he closes to strike... feigning with the scizore, he misses deliberately, allowing his momentum to add weight to a spinning kick, aimed at the misshapen fiend's head. Landing from the spin, Khravos now drives the scizore down hard on the shorter opponent, letting out a loud "KAH!" with the strike, hoping to drive the freak to its knees.
Kick for
followed by
for
He Three-armed goblin is merciless, bringing axe, dagger and sword down upon Khravos in a tumult of blades.
The Three-armed goblin stands over Khravos and bellows, his arms raised triumphantly. "Ég mun reiðan í höfuðkúpu, litli maðurinn!"
He sheaths his weapons, and drops his trousers. Khravos feels his stomach lurch as steaming liquid splashes all over him, the goblin laughing on. He finishes, as Khravos vomits in the dirt.
The Three-armed goblin walks over to Ven, lying unconscious a few feet away, and pulls a key out of the unconscious mans pocket. He walks back over and kneels over Khravos, whispering in broken common. "She say...no kill. But someday. I kill you."
With that, the Three armed goblin runs off into the woods, leaving Khravos in a pile on the forest floor.
Satinder waits patiently, though he does glance at both Hemlock and Garrick as the silence stretches.
"I have nothing to add," Garrick says when Satinder and Lord Kaijitsu stare his way. "Was there anything else, Sir? Otherwise best we get on with our investigation." he says in a tactful manner.
Garrick has withstood withering scrutiny from higher-ups before, and the difference here is if he gets fired he can just move on to another place. He won't be disrespectful, because he isnt TRYING to get fired but he also isn't trying to have a staring match with his boss when he could be getting his job done.
Satinder glances back at the ship, his face paling, and he shivers slightly.
"I was only on board momentarily while I was gathering statements, but I--"
He swallows and goes even paler, as though suddenly ill, and he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before coughing into his hand and turning back to Lord Kaijitsu.
"My apologies, Milord. I'm afraid the vessel's motion disagreed with me. Nobody mentioned anything amiss, nor did I see anything myself."
He hesitates, looking back at the ship again.
"If you'd like, Milord, I can return and investigate more rigorously."
The Lieutenant starts suddenly, "Mister Hawkes, your nose..."
Reaching up, Satinder finds blood on his nose again.
With a lurch Satinder finds himself on his knees again, drops of blood on the dock from his nose.
Satinder sees a man in front of him. He seems familiar, but his face is shrouded. He stands in a side street, almost an alley, the stones of the buildings on either side very close. He seems to be speaking to someone. Suddenly an arm, clothed in black, lashes out, slashing his throat. The man clutches it, blood pumping out, spilling everywhere. He collapses in a heap of a bloody mess on the cobblestones.
The droplets look just like the chalk stars drawn on the wall in the bunk of the boy. The smell of copper rings in your nose. You smelled it before on the orlop deck.
"You alright?" Garrick asks the bleeding man, stepping in between him and Lord Kaijitsu.
"I'm fine, I just--"
Satinder tears his gaze away from the blood-spatter constellation, digging out his handkerchief to press it to his bleeding nose. He takes a step back from Lord Kaijitsu, making sure there's no chance of bleeding on him before speaking.
"Milord, I went aboard your ship following testimony about a pickpocket that may have been aboard. I was distracted before, but . . ."
He swallows, grimacing at the coppery taste of blood for the third time in less than an hour.
"I think . . . I think there may be something else amiss. With your permission, I'd like to return and check on something."
Lord Kaijitsu studies Satinder carefully, and then nods to him in affirmation once.
Satinder gives Lord Kaijitsu another bow and Hemlock a nod as he pockets his bloodied handkerchief.
"Thank you, Milord. Excuse me, Lieutenant. Shall we, Garrick?"
He turns, pauses and mutters something to himself as he eyes the Demon's Dream, then heads for the ship.
"I must be out of my mind."
Daxur watches as one goblin sails through the air, his trajectory violently inturrupted by the other goblin.
Nodding his approval, he says to #3, "Well thrown."
Looking further afield, he see's the three-armed goblin eliminate upon their companion and run off.
With a sigh, Daxur says "Those sort give my kind such a bad reputation, but they're never dull."
Notching another bolt into his crossbow, he fires at one of the goblins writhing around on the ground.
"I have an idea of who is responsible," Watches-Shadow-Behind-You tells everyone enthusiastically as he rejoins the group, "It was a crane. Possibly an even spirit. It was last seen in the company of a brown-haired boy with pointy ears. If we could find him, he may tell us which direction the crane flew away. It must have used magic to cause the mischief."
Garrick looks at the halfling, puzzled. "Do you mean a real crane and spirit or do you mean this as a metaphor? Have you witnessed anything we can use in the real world as evidence? No offense meant, it's just..." he trails off. Criminal investigations are different here...
"Stop." Lord Kaijitsu says, quietly but firmly. The Lieutenant falls silent immediately. The Lord looks down intently at Watches-Shadow-Behind-You. "I remember evil spirits in the Forsaken Forest of the Principalities when I was a boy. What kind of an evil spirit, Little Lath?"
"One of the wounded told me that right before the accident the brown haired boy with pointy ears was standing beside a crane."
"A brown-haired boy, you say? That's interesting."
Satinder produces his notebook again and begins scanning its pages.
"All of the testimony I gathered labeled the instigator as blonde, and that's the child I tracked down. None of the people I spoke to mentioned a brown-haired child at all."
Showing no mercy for his uncouth cousin, Daxur quickly reloads and fires at the unarmed goblin...
Engineer stomps down at the prone goblin before him.
The dust settles on the road over the bodies of the downed goblins. Dozens of remaining goblins can be seen moving down the road to the south, with whatever booty they have scrounged. Smoke from the wagon wafts into the air. Khravos and the prone form of Ven are a little off the side of the road, and the actress is no where to be seen.
With a smaller boom, the wagon explodes again, as some remaining cargo finally gives way to the flames.
The Lieutenant looks unhappy, and about to unload on the halfling, when one of his watchmen and a sailor come huffing up the dock. They stop a few feet away, as the watchmen attempts, not so subtly, to get the Lieutenant's attention.
"Speak up, boy." Lord Kaijitsu barks.
"Lieutenant Heml - my Lord. This sailor here," he gestures at the sailor, who's face is flushed. "This man claims he was told to come find -"
"By him, you daft prick," the sailor says pointing at Satinder. "He told me to find Sheriff Hemlock when I found the First Mate."
Belor Hemlock scowls. "I am not the Sheriff, sailor."
"Names Richart, not-Sheriff Hemlock," the man says haughtily. "Not sailor." He turns to Satinder. "I done found the Chief Mate, sir. You all best come quickly. He's been murdered."
Another man comes bounding loudly down the wooden dock from the direction of town. He is breathing heavily, and his red nose has a sheen of sweat on it. "Lieutenant, Sir, sorry to interrupt. There's been a goblin attack just south of town."
"What?!" the Lieutenant says, whipping his head around to this newcomer. "Where?"
"About a mile out on the south road," he says, his chest heaving. "They said it's Mister Vinder, and his wagon."
"Bloody hell." Hemlock curses. He looks back at the sailor, the chaos at the docks, and again at the newcomer with the red nose. "Lord Kaijitsu, I must beg your leave," he ducks his head at the Lord. "Satinder, Garrick, find out what this man is so worked up about on that ship. And take this Halfling's statement, for what good it's worth. You are in charge. I have to deal with this. Hallvard, with me." With that he turns and follows the newcomer away, his Watchmen falling in with him.
As Hemlock departs, Satinder turns back to the sailor who brought them the news.
"Thank you for being prompt, Richart. Will you kindly fill us in on the details as we walk? And Master Halfling, if you would accompany us to the ship, I'll take your statement momentarily."
He nods to Garrick, then turns back to Lord Kaijitsu and gives another bow.
"By your leave, my Lord."
He holds the bow, waiting to be dismissed.