** spoiler omitted **
[dice=Sense Motive on woman leading Horatio away]1d20+4
[dice=Sense Motive on current Woman]1d20+4
The woman with the children in tow would have to be a magnificent liar to put on that performance - and as none of the locals have challenged her or her story only adds weight to its validity.
As Veryl stands, Aldern almost swoons. "Does this brave man's courage know no bounds? What a hero - and I'd like to think a personal friend too?"
Miro stands, glancing around at the onlookers. Oh I'll be famous yet. Or dead. Same thing. "Lead us there."
After nodding briefly in response to Aldern's inquiry, Veryl made his way past the table and began following the woman out of the inn, leaving behind the sudden somber mood, the warmth of the fire and welcoming the cold breeze of the night air but before he completely steps out, Veryl pauses and turns to the people in the tavern "I want someone to inform the guards of the situation! If these goblins have another raid in mind we'll take the fight to them!" The calmness that was usually found in his voice was unnoticed, all that was left was sternness and confidence.
Breaca jumps to her feet at the woman's pleading and grabs her bow and axe. She says little, but races with the others to the woman's home.
** spoiler omitted **
Kalig scowls. "Cowards, to prey on babes." She stands up, trying very hard not to wobble, given she has been drinking a bit. She opens her pouch, checking the freshness of the berries she enchanted the day before. She enchanted them just as the sun set, so they should still be good but not for much longer.
As the other get up to race to fight the goblins, Kalig kneels down to be eye level with the little boy and holds out one of the goodberries. "Eat this. They will make the bites hurt much less." She gives him the rest of the berries after he eats the first.
Once the boy is healed, she follows the others.
Merwyn returned her horse to the stable; she would only have the heart to care for one friend. She thanked the man again for making the saddle and hurried off to meet the others.
Another goblin, but now perhaps an opportunity. Cob is getting hungry, and he's starting to get tired of the corn cobs I've been feeding him.
Merwyn heads off and tells Cob to stay close behind.
Horatio wheels around to face the man, hands already in the air. "My good man, there appears to have been a misunderstanding. Specifically, my misunderstanding of your situation. I was a fool to come here, and I can recognize that. However, I think there's something we both want out of this. In fact," here he lowers one hand to point at the man, "I'd wager that what you want right now is for me to get away from your daughter. And what I want is for my reputation to stay intact. I'm sure you know how important it is to remain in good social standing, particularly in a small town such as this." He lowers his hands slowly and takes a step away from Shayliss, though not without some regret. "How about you agree not to smear my good name, and I agree to keep my distance from your daughter?" he proposes, spreading his hands. "We all walk away and pretend this never happened?"
** spoiler omitted **
"He's right da. It was a mix of the ale and the situation. It's not every day you meet a hero. And this is the first time anything like this has ever happened and it won't happen again. Let's all pretend this didn't happen, eh?"
Finally he breaks into a grin. "S'pose you're an attractive girl and no mistake. Sometimes these things happen. And as it looks as though nothing actually has happened yet, I can let bygones be bygones." With that he shakes your hand.
Under his breath he adds, "But if I catch you round my daughter again..."
When you arrive at the woman's house, you find it disturbingly silent. Upon reaching Aeren’s room, you see the lower half of Alergast Barett on his belly, as if he had crawled into the closet.
Except he is silent and not moving.
Horatio breaks into a grin as the other man does, bowing as he shakes his hand. "Indeed, your daughter is a lovely woman. I suggest you keep an eye on her, as I suspect many others will be doing the same.
"I appreciate you doing this. You're a good man. For my part, I will keep my distance from Shayliss - I have no desire to see this incident taken further." He retrieves the shirt and equipment he shed earlier, and as he outfits himself again, he starts making his way to the door. He turns back just long enough to bid the pair goodnight before slipping outside.
Once outside, he lets out a shaky laugh. Well, Horatio, you've still got it. That knack for getting yourself in trouble. Thank the gods you can talk your way out of it. He makes his way back to the inn with a light heart, and the warning echoing in the back of his mind.
Upon arriving back at the Rusty Dragon, he's mildly surprised to find his drinking companions gone. Well. And I wasn't even gone nearly as long as I would have liked, he thinks, seeing half-finished drinks still on the table. Seeing his own mug empty from before he left, he decides another drink is in order, and makes his way to the bar to obtain it.
As Kalig rushes to catch up behind the others after looking after the boy, she stands at the doorway and keeps a lookout.
As Kalig rushes to catch up behind the others after looking after the boy, she stands at the doorway and keeps a lookout.
1d20+7
1d20+9
You survey the rest of the house and the boy's room, the closet and the father sticking out of it. As you stand in the doorway, you quickly deduce the goblin isn't anywhere else in building and from the stilness of the father, you suspect he's unconscious or dead. The goblin may be under the father of course.
Breaca mutters an oath when she sees the body in the room and , after a cursory glance around the room, she steps inside and approaches the closet. Her axe is in hand and every sense alert.
Following behind Breaca, Veryl unsheaths his short sword, a noticeable look of annoyance on his face I hate closed spaces He watches as Breaca examines the body and decides it would be best to make sure they aren't ambushed. Veryl moves to the other side of the room and stands with his back to the wall, he now had a clear view of both his axe wielding companion and the body they would soon investigate.
Miro slips into the room first, knowing he won't take up quite as much room. He steps behind Breaca as she goes to the closet, drawing his scimitar and prepared to back her up.
The silence is almost deafening. It's so quiet you can tell that the father isn't breathing.
Looking around, analyzing the signs of the fight from the doorway. "If the goblin's still here, he's stuck under the man. Hopefully dead. How is the man?"
"Not breathing." Breaca replies as she bends down to place two fingers against the man's neck,searching for a pulse.
The father is wedged in the closet. His top half is in it and his bottom half outside of it. You won't be able to search it unless you pull him out.
The room is entirely empty of any goblin.
She will pull the man free of the closet.
It was clear to Veryl that with both Miro and Breaca in the room that he had little to do, especially since Kalig was already watching them from the door "Does your house have a basement?" Veryl turned to the woman, in his mind he was trying to figure out the entry point the goblin chose to invade this house Could he have come here though mystical means? Would goblins have such arcane abilities? Veryl continued theorizing as he awaited the answer of the woman who summoned them here.
"Merwyn, could you detect if anything magical is in the house or the room? Whispered the tall man to the blond girl.
It was clear to Veryl that with both Miro and Breaca in the room that he had little to do, especially since Kalig was already watching them from the door "Does your house have a basement?" Veryl turned to the woman, in his mind he was trying to figure out the entry point the goblin chose to invade this house Could he have come here though mystical means? Would goblins have such arcane abilities? Veryl continued theorizing as he awaited the answer of the woman who summoned them here.
"Merwyn, could you detect if anything magical is in the house or the room? Whispered the tall man to the blond girl.
The woman shakes her head. "No, no basement."
As Breaca pulls out Alergast’s body, your worst suspicions are comfirmed - he's quite dead. The flesh of his face and upper torso has been eaten away.
An instant later, a cackling goblin shrieks in rage and leaps out of a hole in the bottom of the wardrobe.
For those outside of the room, the silence is punctuated by the now familiar cackle of a manic goblin.
"Sure thing, bud" Merwyn zaps everything in sight with detect magic.
Breaca recovers from her surprise quickly as the goblin pops out in ambush. She brings her axe down towards the goblin, the honed blade sweeping in a vicious arc...
"Sure thing, bud" Merwyn zaps everything in sight with detect magic.
You detect nothing magical.
Breaca swings her mighty axe and neatly decapitates the goblin warrior - the look of surprise remains on his face as his head rolls around the floor.
You survey the scene. The bottom of the wardrobe has a hole gnawed in it that must lead to the foundations of the house. It's likely the goblin entered the house before the recent action and got stuck here. He clearly ate his way through the floor of the wardrobe and hid there.
When Alergast found the hole, the goblin must have attacked and killed him - pulling him as far into the gap as his body would allow - before feasting on him. When you arrived, the goblin was probably asleep and only you pulling the body wedged into the hole woke him up.
Breaca grimaces in disgust and wipes the blade of her axe clean. She turns to Kalig and those behind her,speaking softly. "Get the woman out of here. She doesn't need to see him like this."
Kalig pauses briefly, then nods and turns away to whereever the woman is standing.
"Come with me outside, where it is safe." Unless the woman has already seen that her husband is dead, she chooses to withhold the information for the moment, fearing the woman will rush in, regardless.
"There could be more around, its best you go with Kalig" Said Veryl to the woman before he went about scanning the house for anymore surprises that involved goblins.
After he was done with his search, Veryl's thoughts took him to what awaited this poor woman and her children, he knew it wouldn't be easy for them, and there was precious little any of them could do to help her or her kids deal with whats to come, all they could do now was make sure that this house would at least be goblin free.
Breaca nods thankfully to Kalig as the other woman ushers the wife outside. Miro, can you see how deep this hole runs? Did he tunnel his way into the house from outside? Or did he come here to hide after the fighting? She rolls the man onto his back and covers him respectfully with a sheet. She then casually bends down and picks up the head of the goblin by a tuft of hair and spills it ontop of its detached body. "May as well take this one off to join his comrades from yesterday. Gods, what a mess."
"I...err, can clean that up. Pass it here." Once Breaca brings out the body, Merwyn drags it outside, out of sight, and returns.
No sooner has the distraught mother been ushered away by a neighbour than the sheriff arrives. ”I planned to catch up with you at the Rusty Dragon, but I heard about the Barret’s and came straight here. My men will deal with matters, please meet me the inn in twenty minutes; there is someone I want you to meet.”
True to his word, the sheriff arrives at the Rusty Dragon in twenty minutes and Ameiko shows you all to a private room. Already there are the mayor (you recognise her from the Swallowtail festival) and an elven woman.
Sheriff Hemlock introduces the ruggedly dressed woman as Shalelu, “An unofficial member of Sandpoint’s town guard.” This causes the elven woman to smirk. He then introduces you as, “Sandpoint’s newest crop of heroes.”
”The reason for this meeting is that Shalelu here has some news that I think might interest you. Shalelu has been a thorn in the side of the local goblin tribes for years, and that few in the region know more about them than her. It seems Sandpoint hasn’t been the only place in the region that’s had goblin troubles. In short, there’s been an increase in goblin-related raids along the Lost Coast Road, particularly in the dale between Nettlewood and Mosswood. Only recently, a farm south of Mosswood was burnt to the ground by a group of goblins. Shalelu was thankfully nearby, and while the farm couldn’t be saved, she did rescue the family and drive off the goblins; the family is staying at a nearby farm for now, but the goblin problem is obviously not going away. “
Shalelu takes over. ”Belor’s told me of your work against the goblins—well done. I’ve dedicated the last several years of my life to keeping them from causing too much trouble around these parts, but they’re tenacious and fecund little runts. Like weeds that bite. “
“Anyway, there’s five major goblin tribes in the region, and, traditionally, they’re pretty good at keeping each other in line with intertribal squabbles and the like. Yet from what I’ve been able to piece together, members of all five tribes were involved in the raid on Sandpoint. Some Mosswood tribe goblins I dealt with today were already pretty beat up, and there was a lot of chatter about the ‘longshanks’ who killed so many of them. Now that I’ve met you, it seems obvious from their descriptions who they were talking about. Seems like you’ve made an impression.”
“In any event, the fact that the five tribes are working together disturbs me. Goblin tribes don’t get along unless they’ve got something big planned, and big plans require big bosses. I’m afraid that must mean someone’s moved in on the goblins and organized them. And judging by these recent raids, what they’re organizing seems like bad news for all of us.”
After Shalelu’s speech, Sheriff Hemlock announces that he’s taking a few of his men south to Magnimar to see about securing additional soldiers to station at Sandpoint for a few weeks, at least until the extent of the goblin threat can be determined. While he’s out of town, he’s asked Shalelu to sniff around Shank’s Wood, Devil’s Platter, and other places where goblins live to see if she can discover anything else about what’s going on.
”And I’d like you to maintain a public presence in Sandpoint over the next few days, if you don’t mind. The locals seem to have taken to you, and seeing you around town will do a lot for keeping worries down over the next few days.”
The formality of the meeting over, Shalelu asks you join her for dinner – in this private room rather than the public bar - "To hear more from you about the Sandpoint raid, and in return I’m sure I have a fair amount of goblin lore I can share."
Miro generally nods and agree with what Shalelu says during the meeting, but at the end he asks "Are you sure you don't want any backup? Goblins are pretty nasty in numbers."
"Yeah, let us come with you! Goblins can't be dumb or smart enough to attack Sandpoint twice!" Merwyn nods with certainty.
Shalelu shakes her head at the suggestion sheis accompanied. "First of all I'm not looking to engage them. I'm planning to observe them. Secondly...and take this the right way...you're a great bunch but I work best alone. Especially when stealth is required."
"And goblins are stupid enough to do anything - although they are being controlled by someone who may see your absence as a reason to mount another attack."
Horatio takes in Shalelu's speech, listening intently as he sips his - third? Or was it his fourth? - drink of the evening. As the halfling and the gnome suggest accompanying her, he is about to cut in when Shalelu refuses the offer herself. Just as well. I probably wouldn't have been so polite, he thinks. "If our job is to keep up appearances around town, then I for one am willing and able to do so," he says with a warm smile. "It's one of my areas of expertise, after all. And even if you don't need anyone's help," he adds, lowering the tone of his voice slightly, "if you ever find your work lonely, I would be all too happy to, say, keep you company at camp." He punctuates this with a wink to the elven woman.
To the others, he adds, "Show a little faith in Shalelu, would you? She's been doing this for years, I'm sure she can continue to handle a few goblins here and there."
"I didn't think you would try to take them on, I was more concerned if they caught you snooping. As for stealth, you can't get much better than a halfling trained to be stealthy."
The elven woman is fascinating in a way. She is quiet, and clearly enjoyed both solitude and the wilderness, and Kalig muses briefly that they might have much in common, although Kalig knows she is much younger and less experienced. Still she doubted an elven woman would see kinship in a half-orc, so she shoved the notion aside, and spoke to the matter at hand.
"Shalelu is right, as is the sheriff. We will serve best staying here. The goblins haven't been just been coming to kill. They have been trying to make the people afraid. Make them sloppy, scattered. If our presence improves morale, then that in itself helps defeat the goblins' efforts."
She looks over at Horatio as he gives eyes to Shalelu and remarks as publicly, "Gods man, do you ever stop? Ameiko, the rat-woman, now her. A would-be-mate will not be impressed if she knows your eye wanders to anything with half a fair face. Not to mention, because you wandered off with the rat-woman, you weren't there to help us with the goblin who tried to eat the child and killed its father. Shall you be caught with your pants down every time the goblins raid?"
"I wasn't really planning on going anywhere, so I am not troubled by your suggestion" Veryl gets up from his chair, pushes it into the table and keeps his hand on it "But I must agree with my companions; going alone, even on a mission that requires stealth is hardly wise, you can always accomplish much more when working as a group" Commented Veryl as he moved away from the table and began looking about the room, his mind occupied the information that Shalelu has provided them with.
Based on what she said we should expect the worst, I'd prefer to attack before the worse came...but I am sure we'll get to that after Shalelu returns from her scouting After he circled the room once the former guard leaned against the wall, his thoughts still occupied by the situation at hand, and this would have continued to be the case if Kalig's outburst at Horatio didn't rattle him out of them.
"Yes he's something of a ladies man, but I hardly see how you can blame him for not coming with us, he's not really obliged to put in all his time in the service of others, and before you ask, yes if she had invited me I would have left as well" Veryl smiled, fixing the half-orc with a calm look "I know that you are an expert at relaxing and taking things in moderation Kalig, and that me saying that you shouldn't be so serious is a waste of breath...but really you should learn to enjoy yourself from time to time" Veryl smile widened as he further addressed Kalig, and despite the sarcasm he was really hoping she'd learn how to relax.
Merwyn chimes in, cheerful and eager to help. "If it helps, I have heard rumors from the gnomish lands about the invention of a device known as the zipper. It's remarkable because it allows you to accomplish activities normally associated with pants-down in the pants-up position, but I don't know much about it because it doesn't work for women."
"Unfortunately, the final product is still years away from full functionality and there have been accidents..." Her voice trails off.