"No morningstar, sadly" says the soldier "but there's a mace. Is it alright?"
Koya, meanwhile, has noticed Vorin's cut. "Oh, are you hurt? Come here, little one, let Desna ease your pain."
"Vorin looks better. I guess we can all go out to bring people back here, then?" Empheria "You're still coming with us, right, Talsin?"
As soon as everyone is ready to go, she goes to the guard. "Umm, we wanted to go out and come right back to try to bring more people back into here. I think the Sheriff was fine with that..." She tries not to blush as she tells the lie.
Vorin looks relieved as he's given the rapier, "Thank you." He swishes it a few times, with far more finesse than his clumsy use of the dagger.
He starts to return to the others, but then steps to Koya as she calls him over, concentrating a moment to let the magic through his defences. His worried face brightens into a smile as his pain is taken away, and he gives the fortuneteller a quick hug, "Thank you!"
Finally, he does catch up to the others, catching the end of the conversation. He answers softly, "Yeah, let's go find our families!"
Then, however, there's the matter of getting out. He looks to the guard, and says, to back Emmy up, "We promise we won't go in anywhere near a goblin, just supposed to tell people to come here." And if he doesn't believe us, I have another idea...
Talsin grimaces as the guard offers him a mace, before shrugging. "It'll do I think. Thanks."
Once Emmy and Vorin begin to try and convince the guard to let everyone out, Talsin weighs in. "I'll be there to make sure we come straight back if we run into a goblin, so no one gets hurt. Surely the sheriff would rather more people are safe cause of us."
Trace cringes as the two boys try to assist Emmy by lying horribly. Though when you set things on fire often enough, you learn how to keep a poker face.
"Emmy's right, with all the adults fighting, the sheriff wasn't against us trying to help others who can't reach the garrison.
Goblins are cowards, the bigger groups people travel in the less likely they will attack. We know where the local kids hide, and can get there easier than adults.
Those fighting will be better off if they don't need to worry about defending people running in every direction.
We'll just spread the word that everyone's collecting at the garrison, and collect anyone along the way.
Why would we be given weapons if we were going to stay here?"
Overwhelmed by many shrill voices, the guard raises his hands. "Uh, I guess so? But you need to be safe, yes? No, uh, getting into fights. Or Sheriff Hemlock won't let me hear the end of it!"
Andi, who managed to sneak out behind the guard's back, is soon reached by her friends.
The way towards the orphanage has emptied. Smoke rises from piles of cinders that once were carts and stands, filling the air with an acrid smell, and you can hear the malicious laughter of goblins, although it's unclear whether they are in your mind. Then, all at once, you hear an unfamiliar, adult voice scream something, a dog bark and some goblins yell. The sounds are coming from Bent Street, just around the corner, near Cracktooth's Tavern.
Vorin smiles happily, and runs out to catch up to Andi. "If he didn't let us out, I was gonna make it dark so we could run out while he couldn't see."
Keeping his rapier in hand, Vorin lets the others - specifically Trace - lead. His eyes widen, however, on hearing the adult's scream. But, ignoring his fear, he says, "We should help!"
Andi spots a young man in an expensive dress, cowering behind crates and barrels. In the alley, three goblins who managed to get their hands on burning torches have surrounded a large mastiff, and are waving them at the growling animal, laughing wildly. A fourth goblin is riding the ugliest dog you have ever seen, and has a bow. He, too, is wildly laughing at the poor hunting dog.
If you attacked quickly, you could get the drop on the goblins.
Trace barely has time to take in what just happened.
"For Sandpoint!"
He cries, following the combat crazy girl to save the dog and the man he presumes is the owner.
He moves to take out another goblin, to give the dog a chance to help it's owner and hopefully them against the the dogblin.
Trade really wished he had more magic. Weapons sucked.
Vorin runs out after his best friend, charging into the fight beside her, leading with the point of his rapier.
Empheria runs just close enough to get in range of the goblins. She winces, but she allows herself again to set the landscape on fire, to prevent any of the goblins from harming anyone.
"Don't run away!" she calls out to the man. "We're trying to bring you to a safe place!"
Moving over after his friends, Talsin sees the one with a bow on the dog. Once again, seemingly driven by experiences he's never had, he summons forth a spectral dagger, which begins to float around him.
Dog: -4
R:
G: -3
B: -6(on fire)
Y: -4
Empheria's blast scorches the earth, setting fire to the goblin that Andi has just introduced to her claws, and luckily sparing the dog from the worst of it. The rider goblin lets loose an arrow as its mount heads towards the cowering man, the projectile grazing Andi and drawing blood from her shoulder .
Noticing the fire rising from his own ears, the hurt goblin rolls on the ground, as the mastiff and the furthestmost goblin trade blows. As brave as the canine is, his teeth are little match for the savage dogslicer steel, and a howling whimper resounds in the alley as a gash appears on the brave animal's front left paw. The last goblin cackles in glee, dipping his own weapon in the dog's blood.
With the one in front of him rolling around on the ground, Vorin decides to move on to the next one. No longer charging recklessly - since he has to step around the burning goblin - Vorin moves up to the next and stabs in with his rapier. "Leave that dog alone!"
Empheria looks with horror as the fire hits the dog. "Oh no! Was I the one who just burned that puppy?" She fires another, more precise shot this time, at the goblin that was fighting the dog. "We'll bring you back to safety too, as soon as we can," she promises the dog.
Talsin runs out towards the fray, his hand instinctively reaching up to grab the spectral handle of the floating dagger, hurling it towards the goblin riding the dog. "Sakj ejh, giblohn!"
While Talsin's spell hits the archer square in the guts, Andi's blow sets her target up for Empheria, who knocks the daylights out of it with a fiery blast. The last goblin in the group seems to have second thoughts about being a footsoldier, and sprints towards the mounted one, receiving a stab from Vorin in the process.
Uncaring of the wound, the running goblin pulls its companion's leg, knocking the cavalier out of its saddle and into the dust, and jumps on the beast in his place.
Empheria runs to get closer to the second set of enemies, and shoots some more fire at them. She winces at the sight of them beating each other. "If they had decided to hurt us instead of themselves, we would be in real danger," she notes fearfully.
Vorin runs forward as well, though when the goblin jumps on the dog, he adapts, stabbing at the dog instead, hoping to scare it into running away with the goblin. To the dog, he says, "Ugh, how could you let those things ride you? You gotta have a broken nose not to smell them."
Seeing the goblins cavort around, Talsin doesn't really fancy going up to them, in case they decide to lash out against him, so instead he calls more guiding magic to mind, reaching out to touch Emmy as he does so.
The mounted goblin, struck by Empheria, falls on the ground, losing consciousness, and the horrible canine mount takes its chance to scamper away. Cursing loudly in its language, the last remaining goblin chases after its beast.
The mastiff whines and starts licking his wounds as the dandy emerges from behind the crates, wiping dirt from his fancy clothes. "A-Are they gone?"
Seeming much more pleased with himself after that fight, Vorin looks around towards the 'dandy'. "Hi! Yep, they're gone. You two should go to the garrison, it's safe there."
Talsin looks the dandy up and down, his mouth quirking at the sight of his dishevelled clothing. "Dunno who you are, but as Vorin says, you oughta go to the garrison. Please don't tell em we got into a fight, I don't want to get in trouble. Please."
The massive hunting dog handles being licked by a kitten with all the dignity a purebreed can muster, and laps at Andi's hands.
Meanwhile, the man from behind the barrels rises, straightening his fancy clothes and picking up a cane from the ground. He looks filthy rich.
"Ah! Then of course I should introduce myself to my saviors! My name is Aldern Foxglove from Magnimar, you may have heard of my family's home, Foxglove Manor. My diminutive friends, rest assured that nobody who helped someone from my ancient family ever went unrewarded, and I shall be more than pleased to grant you gifts as soon as this attack is finished. Which, judging from the noise, could be quite soon."
The sound of battle had indeed shifted: rather than the clanging of weapons and the goblin's battle-cries and songs, you mostly hear human victory cheers.
"Umm, do you want to come with us to the garrison for protection?" Empheria asks the man nervously when she notes that the tide of the battle had turned.
"The sheriff's gonna see us out here alone really soon if we stay out here," she whispers to the others in explanation.
"Gifts?" Vorin asks, looking up hopefully. But, then he looks around as well, his eyes widening at what Emmy says. "Yeah, um, we can escort you to the garrison."
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Andi looks in he direction of the orphanage, which was their target. She was hoping to swoop in and save the day, but perhaps by saving this man, they did all they could. She got scratched by one of the goblins, and it really hurt!
"Yeah, we will take you back, Mr. Foxglove. Licorice will protect us all! Let's take your puppy too. C'mon!"
Talsin looks round at the others nervously before dropping his voice. "Hopefully we'll get back before the sheriff."
He then turns towards the man they rescued, a slight nervous lilt to his voice, "Yeah, we oughta be getting back sir. Let's go." before he begins to walk back towards the garrison, glancing around nervously in case they run into any more trouble.
You arrive back at the garrison well before the sheriff, and you are there to greet him and the rest of the militia when they come back from the battle, scratched and burned but without casualties. They are accompanied by several citizens who lent a hand: Ameiko is cleaning her cooking knives, Abstalar Zantus, the freshly-appointed high priest, has scorch marks all over his robes and even old Ilsoari Gandethus, the retierd adventurer and wizard who runs the orphanage, is holding a gnarled staff studded with amethysts.
Damage is assessed before you return to you homes: the widespread opinion is that the goblins were attracted by the large amount of food ferried from the countryside into the city for the festival: if their raid luckily made no victims, they managed to steal every scrap of meat from the butchery, and more than a few burned homes will need repairs.
After the adults finish their chats, Sheriff Hemlock approaches you, his nose still bruised from the goblin's stone, and smiles. "You were very brave today, you didn't run but you held your ground, and probably saved my beef in that ambush. Therefore, I think that you deserve a reward. Come with me."
You follow him to the armory, where he shows you to the weapon racks. "You proved to know how to handle weapons, so I think that you can have a few real ones, instead of those old things, in case you need to defend yourselves. I've spoken to Ilsoari -and your parents, Empheria- and they agree, on condition that you don't use them foolishly. If I see you threaten another child, so help me Desna, you won't hear the end of it."
The following day, as Sandpoint starts rebuilding, tales spread of your valiant actions in defense of the town: you are essentially worshipped by the other children, who gape at the weapons, a few girls blush when they steal a glance of Vorin, Cyrdak Drokkus won't stop pestering you for your account of the fight, and, perhaps most surprising, many of the grown-ups stop treating you like babies.
Aldern Foxglove, before returning to his room at the Rusty Dragon, has insisted that you should visit him for a proper reward at your convenience, and as you meet near the orphanage (the wall magically cleared with a few spells from the headmaster) you encounter Aeren Barett, a boy your age, heading groggily towards Alma's bakery. He looks rather sleepy.
Empheria looks around her with delight and, ignoring the weapons, checks each one of the packs before her. She spends a lot of time playing with the alchemical materials in one of the packs, but to her disappointment, she can't figure out how to use them to make her favorite alchemical toys, so she moves on to look at other packs.
The only other thing that catches her eye is the lyre in one of the other packs. She strums cacaphonously for a few minutes before deciding that it doesn't interest her much.
Before going back emptyhanded, she notices a small bag with little pieces of metal that she had passed a few times, and realizes what they were meant for.
"Uh, Sheriff, I don't really like using weapons, but could I have this? I think it would be fun, I mean, useful, to, um, use to communicate with my friends if there's an emergency." She holds up the pyrographer's kit for his inspection.
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Andi happily picks out a druid kit. With this, I could sneak out into the woods again and have a campfire! Maybe the others will come with me!
"Hey look, Licorice, this new bag I have has kitty treats in it. Take some!" Andi gives Licorice some animal feed from the kit.
On the way to see Mr. Foxglove, the group runs into Aeren.
"Hey Aeren, why you so yawny today? Couldn't sleep because of the goblins, I bet. Want to pet Licorice for a while? He is a certified therapy cat!"
When they get back to the garrison and find that the Sheriff didn't return ahead of them, Vorin lets out a breath of relief and sits down by Andi.
When the sheriff does return, he does his best to stay small and unnoticed, expecting to be in trouble. He looks up at the mention of the reward, however, surprised. He follows along to the armoury, and his eyes widen as he looks over the racks of weapons.
When given the choice, he immediately points to one of the rapiers, "That one, please!" After it's handed to him, he turns away from the others to swish it a few times experimentally. Beaming, he returns the old worn one he borrowed and puts this new one in his belt.
The reaction of everybody else is more of a surprise to Vorin. He is used to being the freak, and he seems unsure of how to handle the attention. Not that he doesn't enjoy it, and when Cyrdak asks them about what happened, he eagerly tells the story. Complete with mimed combat and squeaky goblin voice imitation.
Vorin might not be a great storyteller, but he is enthusiastic.
Later on, outside the orphanage, he waves to Aeren, "Hi. Yeah, why are you sleepy?"
He looks to Andi, then, looking confused. "What's a therapy cat?"
Talsin breathes a sigh of relief when they arrive back before the sheriff. When the sheriff mentions a reward, Talsin looks up at him, surprised. "We, we do? Thank you so much."
As Talsin begins looking through the armoury, he's considering picking out a weapon, before the sound of Emmy strumming the lyre pricks at the edges of his thoughts. Seeing her reject it, he goes over and picks it up himself, something telling him to try and play it.
Despite the fact that his first go isn't much better than Emmy's, he picks the rest of the kit up, and goes over to the sheriff. "I'll have this please. I'll practice, promise"
When they leave the barracks, the good attention makes Talsin just as nervous as the usual negative attention he gets, so he tries to keep his mouth closed, in case he scares them all away again, and he doesn't want to put them off his friends.
When they meet Aeren the next day, Talsin chips in as well. "If the goblins are making you sleepy, we'll try and stop em, same as we did yesterday." He then looks over at Andi. "Liquorice didn't seem to be wanting to give many hugs yesterday. Is he kind now?"
Empheria stands close to the others when they speak with Aeren until she too speaks with him. "You're going into Alma's shop? I want to go with you too. I have to tell her that her cake was the best cake ever in all of Golarion! Sorry I don't have any left over for you, Aeren..."
Aeren answers sheepishly. "Ah, yes, Mom sent me to get some sourdough-" He yawns halfway in the phrase. "Ah, it-it's not like I didn't sleep because I was afraid of the goblins! It's just that... don't mock me, please... I've got a monster in my closet. Dad says it's foolish, but I can hear it!"
Vorin nods knowingly, "Grown-ups really don't understand that kind of monster." But, he immediately brightens, "But you don't need them, you got us! Whatever it is, we can scare it off!"
"We scared the goblins away, and we can do the same to the monster!" Empheria offers resolutely.
Talsin frowns a bit, looking round at the others. "A monster doesn't sound too good. The grownup's oughta do something, but if they won't we can." He nods his head quickly. "Can't be scarier than goblins!"
"Thank you, thank you! Oh, you really are heroes like I've heard around!"
Aeren quickly buys a loaf of bread from Alma, then leads the way towards his home, opposite Ven Vinder's general store. Inside you are met by his father, Alergast Barett, a tall man with wire spectacles and the demeanor of an accountant, but unexpectedly nice to you. "Ah, Aeren, you've brought friends home to play? Tell me if you want a snack later on. Ah, and Petal won't stop barking, see what's troubling him."
Aeren's room is a normal boy's room; of course, for those of you used to sharing a dormitory with other boys or girls, it appears luxurious. You deduce that Petal is the white hairy dog standing on the carpet, and who stops barking to welcome Aeren with sloppy dog kisses.
The incriminated closet is a plain pinewood wardrobe, apparently unremarkable.
There are shallow claw marks on the closet's door.
Vorin greets the adult with a polite, "Hi, sir."
As they arrive in the room in question, Vorin's eyes widen, looking around. "This is all yours? You get a whole room by yourself?"
Past this amazement, though, he does take a moment to examine the wardrobe.
"I don't hear anything, maybe it's sleeping?"