Hakime's last arrow almost causes Fiveknives to stagger, but he still stands!
Aspex's bolt misses and Wyeth gives it his last shot to try and bring Fiveknives down!
Wyeth's bolt injures Fiveknives, but he continues running!
The Aspis hunter is about to make a dive for the forest, but Marduk's superior speed is too much and with a flying body tackle the half-orc brings him down!
Marduk drags the unconscious agent by his feet while Shasta tends to the elders' wounds.
"You have done great service to us. We are indebted to you..."
Eventually, the gripplis return, overjoyed that the elders are safe and the rogue outsiders defeated. While the grippli wish to execute Fiveknives, they defer to your judgement on what to do with him. While you debate this, Mother Bogwynne sends out a trio of grippli hunters out. "What do we do... with him?", Finyik asks, the elder grippli grasping a spear and moves it with enough finesse to show that he still has some combat ability, some that he wishes to use against the captive Fiveknives who is gagged to stop him from cursing repeatedly.
Hakime finds a magical chain shirt on five knives as well as two more remaining masterwork quality daggers. There are also a few unconsumed vials (2 antitoxin and a potion of cure moderate wounds), 85 gold coins, 2 tindertwigs, an everburning torch, a candle of truth that is partially used, and 2 tanglefoot bags.
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"You could always cut off his remaining nine fingers," Shasta suggests while cleaning her nails with a dagger that she then proffers to the Gripplis and pauses, curious to see Five-Knives' reaction. "But we ought to keep him alive and allow the praetor to know of how the Aspis Consortium conducts business. If he's concerned that a Pathfinder riled up the kobolds, I'm sure he will want to know that the Asp wipes have been bullying the Gripplis. And unless I'm mistaken, we've got part of a candle of truth, so we can get our foul-mouthed friend to tell the story himself."
"Do the rest of you agree with her?", Finyik asks. Fiveknives currently looks more angry than scared.
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"Enough.", Finyik glares. "Suitable punishment." as the grippli leader orders all of Fiveknives fingers be removed.
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Hakime winces, shakes her head with a deep sigh. "It's not my decision, as it's not my people he wronged, but I can't condone this kind of punishment... Just note this is done with protest from at least one of us. It's not that he doesn't deserve the steepest punishment, I just disagree as to its nature. Please, exact your justice as you will."
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Wyeth's gaze flicks from Finyik to Aspex. "Wait, are you serious?"
I thought this was just a ploy to shake him up for information. If they really mean to...
"This isn't... ah... you have your laws and vision of justice," he says to Finyik, "and it's not my place to interfere. But on further consideration, this does seem a bit... extreme," he ends with a glance to Hajime.
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Finyik raises an eyelid, glancing at Hakime and Wyeth before looking on Mother Bogwynne before she speaks. "Perhaps a compromise on our justice. We keep him here if you wish to talk to him. If you still feel he has use to you after your interrogation, then we will remand him to your custody. Otherwise, we will leave him bound and gagged within the jungle and let nature mete out an appropriate punishment." Fiveknives tries to struggle during this, but his exhaustion from the savage attacks the party laid unto him earlier make these efforts moot.
The bogmother then turns to the party. "Speaking of the jungle, was your foray successful?"
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"I make no judgments on how you deal out punishment for his betrayal toward your people, as long as he lives. What ever knowledge he has is worth more then the satisfaction gained from killing him." Gob says as they remove the rest of five knives fingers. "Now, have the wounded been tended to and the dead been laid to rest? We are willing to help if there is work to be done."
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Shasta shrugs and withdraws the proffered knife as objections are raised, but adds, "He's removed enough fingers that it seems a punishment that he would understand. I believe one of the dictums of the followers of Saranrae is that 'the punishments you give out to others shall be the punishments that will be given to you.' But we do need to take him back to the fort to demonstrate the level of cruelty the Aspex are capable of, so we shouldn't abandon him to the jungle, as much fun as that might be."
Inwardly, Shasta was relieved. She didn't really relish seeing fingers get cut off. That plus she would probably end up having to bind his wounds. Mental note to self: Grippli do not have a well developed sense of irony or sarcasm.
"Very well, he is your prisoner and we shall entrust him to you.", Finyik acquiescing to the party. "Were you able to retrieve any eggs?", elder Diplop asks.
"Guardian.", smile the bogmother. "Are there any others besides this one?"
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"Thank you for considering our concerns about the punishment, I think it will be quite fitting for him to reveal all he knows of the Consortium before facing our justice system."
Hakime reveals the egg she's been carrying ... "Here is another... we actually gathered you several, so you may raise all that hatch healthy to your own service... they are quite fearsome beasts when full grown!"
At this point, a trio of grippli return, bearing an egg-shaped talisman of dry clay the sized of a melon. Its surface is smoothed and decorated with linear patterns, plant imprints, and the symbol of a mountain standing under dozens of stars.
Mother Bogwynne raises a hand and lifts her head as if performing a blessing, and dozens of grippli gather to listen. "More than a thousand cycles ago, the dwarven refugees came to us from the distant north, fleeing a home lost ages ago. We aided the dwarves and welcomed them as neighbors in the nearby hills—a land even harsher than our own. When they fled their home for a second time, we offered them aid once more, though they requested only that we honor their memory and accept a gift: this talisman that bears the power to defeat the golden beast that now haunts Ashkurhall." She holds up the melon-sized ovoid made of clay. "The descendants of Sigrin spoke of this as their greatest treasure, which they had left behind. It is a legacy that continues to this day, for none have ever braved the Golden Guardian to claim the riches as their own."
A chorus of croaking vocalizations follows the elder’s story, and she adds, "The talisman’s power is hidden within, and it must be unsealed in the beast’s presence. To do so too soon would expend its energy needlessly or even invoke a terrible disaster. We have entrusted you with this relic of our people; use it wisely."
@Aspex: There is a faint transmutation aura on it, but you cannot quite figure out what the aura is for.
@Shasta: You play a rousing diddy that you think would appear to the grippli and so talented are you that the setback of loss of life and the near death of their elders momentarily melts away from a tune that gets the hearts beating and the feet moving.
After some cleanup, the grippli celebrate with both a wake for the departed and a feast to celebrate a hopefully better future. The fare varies from roasted giant centipede to succulent stuffed bog applies. Nonetheless, after the long adventures through the jungle, the warm reception for the evening is long overdue.
No worries. As before, we'll assume it's waiting for you at Fort Bandu before shoving off for more adventure!
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It is sweltering of course as the party returns to Fort Bandu, Fiveknives Kalim in tow over Shasta's mule. He tried to escape once, but Marduk's superior speed was still too much for Aspis agent. Praetor Sylien is more than willing to take him off of the party's hand due to his hand in attempting to wipe out a favored trading partner.
While Fiveknives still resists talking, the people of Fort Bandu have some words to share...
Fort Bandu soldiers spotted a contingent of Aspis mercenaries approaching the Bandu Hills from the northwest - the direction of Bloodcove.
The leader of the group is an Ustalavic aristocrat by the name of Zaril Namoth, who is also known to be an expert tracker and hunter.
According to some rumors, Zaril Namoth takes trophies from the people he tracks down and kills. Some say he needs their heads for dark rituals he learned while held by the Bekyar—a people infamous for kidnapping, cannibalism, and demon worship.
Almost everyone at Fort Bandu knows the legend of the Golden Guardian, but no one seems to know anything substantial.
Since the stories about the local boogeyman have circulated in the region for centuries, most people speculate that the creature is immortal or not a living creature.
Some people believe it is a gold dragon, while others say it is probably a living statue, a golden machine, or a god-like entity. The only thing the locals are unanimous about is that only a special weapon lost to antiquity can defeat the Golden Guardian.
Until recently, the kobolds have largely kept to themselves. Most local people didn’t even know about the kobolds before the incident with Sharrowsmith.
Decades ago, a local boy went missing but returned weeks later with amazing stories about a hidden city protected by cruel traps that he only narrowly escaped. Learning this fact about the kobolds’ defenses grants the PCs a +1 bonus on all skill checks and saving throws to find, disable, bypass, and evade traps during this adventure.
Also, a letter from the Grand Lodge awaits you, too.