"Uh, they don't look too good. Maybe we should get the priest. "
Filk takes a closer look on some of the young folk, but doesn't learn anything useful.
Fijeet and Khoun realize that only Gellion is infected with the Demon's Bile. The other apprentices are weak because of the fly feeding on them.
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"They're weakened by the giant fly's bites, but I think they're not infected. I don't think we can carry this many people to the temple, so we should get the priest here, I'm sure he can help them. And maybe Gellion, too, can be saved."
Khoun runs to the temple, explains the situation to the cleric, and asks him to follow Khoun to the warehouse.
Gellion's unconsciousness is not quiet. He keeps mumbling something about "demon worms" and about his insatiable hunger, and that "only mother can feed me!"
With the application of the potion of remove disease, Gellion immediately starts looking better. At the moment, however, he is still unconscious from the combat.
Once he wakes up, he seems quite ashamed of himself. He tells the party that he remembers a desperate urge to ingest the bile, but after that, his only recollection is of disturbing dreams and an obsession with “bringing the demon worms home.” He quite remorseful, and apologizes profusely for the pain that he has caused.
The team brings the apprentices to Father Ruvarra, where they are assured that they will receive the care that they need until they are able to return home.
Mayor Sandra Trinelli approaches the your at the temple. She requests an update to the situation, and listens carefully to your responses...
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FiJeet tells the tale as only a Bard could... with a beat.
"We went looking for the kids,
met this crazy cat Valerka,
nasty bugs, lots of goo,
cold iron is all that will do.
All the masters, a bit concerned,
finger pointing, nothing learned,
chase them down, follow him home,
Gellion cursed, Demon Bile consumed."
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Valerka frowns at the horrible song but speaks in agreement, "What the gnome said. It seems Gellion consumed some kind of demon bile that was causing all the insects in the town to grow to impossible size and attack the village. But that's not an issue anymore, and all of the apprentices seem safe."
She thinks for a moment, "It still doesn't answer where it came from..."
The mayor delivers their promised reward and communicates the town’s gratitude. She is also visibly relieved herself, as the situation and potential danger to Saringallow and its people have weighed on her mind heavily in recent days.
The apprentices and their masters thank you all, profusely, and you receive several boons from them
Nolaria Wintren informs you that her visiting cousin, Nixa Volsetti, was also a victim of Gellion’s abductions. For some reason, Nixa was bound and left outside of town near the woods, where goblins have been known to lurk, and hasn’t been seen since. Nolaria heard Gellion rambling about his plans to do this, and watched him drag Nixa in that direction, but Gellion himself has no memory of these events. However, he tells you to ask the mayor for information about some recent nearby goblin sightings, which have been rumored throughout town recently.
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After a good night sleep and some healing magic, Valerka does some shopping to quell her upset mind. Disappointed with her performance over the previous day's events, she thinks, 'it is time for a change, but how? Clearly my magic was not strong enough, perhaps it is time...' She visits everybody from the tailor to the potion shop in an attempt to be ready for the upcoming mission.
The next day, as the group gathers before returning to the mayor's office, Valerka dominantly walks forward sporting her new look. She has taken a more pale appearance, made more pronounced by much darker makeup. Gone is the battered suit of lamalar leather, brown and green explorer's garb, and gear that betrayed her experience as woodland explorer. Instead, before you stands a woman clad in a thick black silk thigh length robe with arcane detailing drawn out in silver thread. She now wears black leather pants and gloves, and the high collar of her shirt is buttoned neatly at the nook of her throat. Along her right arm, from fist to shoulder is what appears to be a gauntlet, occasionally dotted with spikes, and crafted from the blackest of obsidian.
On her shoulder is perched a tiny winged creature, currently munching on a small insect. It looks at each person in turn with its red eyes.
Valerka stands ready, "So apparently Gellion caused more trouble than he originally believed. Should we talk to the mayor about Nixa ? Perhaps it is time to go Goblin hunting."
She thinks a moment at Mortin's idea, "No Mortin, as much as it pains me to say so."
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FiJeet will make his way back to Majara's shop the next evening, in his brand new Courtier's outfit and his fancy shoes with ruby accents.
Upon meeting the group the following day, having acquired a pair of cure light wound wands and a shiny new bow. "Valerka. Looking good! We should speak to Illdris first - apparently the Cleric knows everything about the Goblins in the area! Then to the Mayor's."
The group makes their way to the mayor's house.
Golden beams of light stream into this comfortable-but-of cial room’s picture window, illuminating a cluttered wooden desk and an empty chair pushed haphazardly to the side. Between the window and the desk strides Mayor Sandra Trinelli, who, brow furrowed, has clearly worn a pacer’s path into the plush red carpet. Noticing her visitors, she sighs in determined resignation and steps behind her desk, leaning over it gravely.
“I’m glad you’ve arrived,” she says, a measure of relief creeping into her strained voice. “Our town is dealing with its share of troubles right now, and this unknown menace beyond our walls has me the most worried.”
She takes a deep breath as if composing herself, and sits carefully in her chair, assuming a self-assured posture that seems to come to her much more naturally.
“Specifically, we may have a goblin problem,” the mayor continues. “I’ve recently received reports of goblins lurking in the woods outside of town. There have been no attacks yet—only minor damage to fences and some stolen sheep, I’m told—but we can’t afford to let our guard down. Given how we suffered during the Goblinblood Wars, we can’t assume that these scattered sightings are meaningless when they might very well mean that a major warband is about to descend on our heads.
“Even worse, it seems that these goblins are covered in some unholy manner of filth—even more so than normal! If word about that gets out, well, folks might start to panic. We are a superstitious lot here in Saringallow, as I’m sure you know.
“In short, we need to move quickly and deal with these goblins before they become a larger threat. Sending members of the town guard out into the woods, though, could leave us open to attack. I’m sure you see my dilemma.
“This is where I’d like you to intercede, my friends. Find out where the goblins are coming from and who—if anyone—is leading them, then take out the threat. I can offer you a bounty of 5 gold pieces for each goblin you kill, 10 gold pieces for each goblin dog, and an additional bonus of 100 gold pieces if you bring me proof that you’ve destroyed their camp or otherwise dealt with whatever additional threat they pose.
“Most of the sightings have originated from the area northwest of town, particularly near the homesteaders out by Clover Stream. That’s probably a good place to start your investigation. Aside from that, I’m afraid I don’t have much else to tell you. Unless you have any specific questions?”
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Valerka rolls her eyes in disappointment, "And by filth you mean purple goo. And by purple goo you mean demonic ichor. And by demonic ichor you mean bugs. Greeeeaaat..."
She shakes off the concern though, "Of course, it wouldn't be Isger without Goblins would it? It also wouldn't be Isger if we weren't short handed and you couldn't send out the guards. Bounty hunting is a little below our station now that we've helped defeat a demonic presence in town, but I suppose if the two are connected we could find time."
She looks at what gear she has and then at the rest of the party, "Do we have everything we need? Bug repellent? Antivenom? Alchemist's Fire? If so, daylight is burning."
"Sure Madam Trinelli, we are happy to help with your problem," Filk says, and quickly looks at his companions if they agree with him.
"FiJeet has a point, we should talk to Nolaria and Gellion first. If we don't learn anything useful, we can go to Clover Stream and start investigating there. Valerka, do you know the way?"
The mayor thinks a moment, before they leave. "You should know a little about goblins. Most of you aren't from around here, and may not know a lot.
"“Goblins are vicious little monsters that live in the woods, caves, or anywhere they’ve sunk their claws into, really. Alone, they aren’t so threatening—but groups of them are dangerous, and hordes of them are terrifying. The abhorrent beasts seem to feed off each other’s chaos, so things quickly get out of hand when they’re involved. In general, though, goblins hate dogs and fear horses, but they love fire. I also hear that they’re very superstitious about reading—they believe that it steals words out of your head, or some such nonsense.”
She looks ready to answer any follow-up questions.
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Valerka makes sure to interject a comment on Goblin's reproductive habits, "...and that's how you get so many of them."
He nods to Filk, "I could probably find the way, but I agree that it might help to get whatever intelligence we can first. I'd hate to walk into it blind, the next words are spoken with a loathing so strong it can almost be tasted, "...unlike our last misadventure."
She thinks for a moment, "Can you think of anything particular about Clover stream? Caves? Old demonic wardstones? Something that might be worth noting about the area?"
Oh, and I want to pick up a grease pencil before we go."
The mayor thinks a moment, and the replies, "Not that I can think of. There isn't even a local goblin tribe, we’d never suffer a goblin tribe to live within a stone’s throw of town. Isger in general is crawling with the little beasts, though, and these latest sightings might herald a band that’s recently come together to threaten us. However, the last of the proper tribes in the hills were wiped out decades ago.
"At most, folks have seen two or three of the bastards at a time, but in a few cases they were also riding goblin dogs. I don’t know if that was the same two or three each time, or if there’s a larger group nearby."
As it turns out that Nolaria and Gellion have told you all they know (or in Gellion's case, remembers), the team heads out to the homesteaders out by Clover Stream.
As you approach the homestead, a young shepherd bolts across one of the nearby elds, clearly terrified by something behind him. He shouts and gestures frantically toward whatever he’s fleeing. “I saw them!” he screams. “Goblins! They’re in the woods! They took our sheep! You have to do something!”
"Calm down, lad. We'll uh... get back your sheep. Did you see how many they were?" Filk asks the shepard. He peers into the direction the boy is fleeing from.
No sooner than Filk asks this question, the party sees five weirdly corrupted goblins throw off sheep skins emerging from the flock, pulling swords, ready to attack.
"Graaargh!!! Gargle-snort splugh!!!!" yell the goblins as the rush in to attack.
Mortin is hit once, Atrix once, and Valerka once. The strike against Valerka is a bit more cutting.
- x Goblins
- => Filk
- => Mortin
- => FiJeet
- Valerka
- Atrix
Conditions:
Atrix: 20/21
FiJeet: 15/15
Filk: 23/23
Mortin: 17/18
Valerka: 12/16
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the excited gnome looks almost giddy at the appearance of the goblins. He taps his gauntlets together forming a beat as he breaks into song.
"Soldier on
To this marching song
Head held high
With eyes fixed strong
Drum beat died
Cymbal crash down
The mud it is thick
With desires to drown
Your feet in earth"
He moves to the left flank to stand toe to toe with Mortin... cold iron spiked gauntlets at the ready.
"Ugly and mean. Yup, those are goblins all right! All right, guys - let's show these goblins what the heroes of Saringallow are made of!"
Filk maneuvers into a better position, and flings sizeable rock towards the goblin harassing Valerka.
As FiJeet starts inspiring, Filk throws a rock at a goblin, but misses. Mortin then lets loose with a fan of flames. Only the orange goblin appears affected by the flames, however.
"We be goblins, look like sheep!
Hide from longshanks, not a peep!
Burn us, blast us, like we food,
You no hurt us, we new brood!"
sing the goblins!
- x Goblins
- x Filk [Blasting the ground]
- Mortin [FIRE!]
- FiJeet [INSPIRING]
- => Valerka
- => Atrix
Conditions:
Atrix: 20/21
FiJeet: 15/15
Filk: 23/23
Mortin: 17/18
Valerka: 12/16
Green:
Red:
Orange: -2hp
Blue:
Purple
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Valerka rhymes in turn,
"Via koboldo kanto estas tiel absurda.
Ni faros el via mortoj kun skribita vorda.
Baldaŭ sufiĉe vi ĉiuj esti morpo.
Kaj mi devos tion el via oversized kapo"
We’ll mark your deaths with written word.
Soon enough you’ll all be dead.
And I’ll have gold from your oversized head."
Valerka steps back to give herself some room. Forming her hand into a fist she begins chanting and forming symbols in the air, "ਠੰਢ". Her hand turns blue before she throws what appears to be a single shard of ice at the goblin that hit her.
Arcane pool to let loose an ice missile at purple
(Fort. DC 13 or staggered)
The shard of ice hits the goblin square in the face, causing nothing but a lot of giggling.
"Pinta orelo longshank provi mortigi,
sed koboldo vizaĝo estas perfekta ankoraŭ!
Nur vi atendu, vi ruza sorĉistino,
Mi manĝas vian vizaĝon, kaj mi estos riĉa!"
but goblin face is perfect still!
Just you wait, you crafty witch,
I eat your face, and I be rich!
Atrix draws her blades and attacks once. She misses, horribly.
The goblins move up, chanting...
"koboldoj kuri kaj koboldoj batali,
koboldoj ponardi kaj koboldoj mordi,
koboldo la estro instruos al ni kelkajn trukojn,
do nun ni trovi iun pilkojn al piedbatoj!"
goblins run and goblins fight,
goblins stab and goblins bite,
goblin's boss teach us some tricks,
so now we find some balls to kicks!
The goblins start swarming around the party, waiting for each other to get into position. Their blades start glowing in an eerie purple light. As some of the goblins pay attention to their "plan", others seem overwhelmed by the chaos of battle. Atrix and FiJeet are hit, though the eerie glow does not appear to affect them, they do take minor wounds. Each of the other companions are attacked, but no more of the attacks land.
- x Goblins
- => Filk [Blasting the ground]
- => Mortin [FIRE!]
- => FiJeet [INSPIRING]
- Valerka
- Atrix
Conditions:
Atrix: 19/21
FiJeet: 13/15
Filk: 23/23
Mortin: 17/18
Valerka: 12/16
Green:
Red:
Orange: -2hp
Blue:
Purple
"Erm... Do you know what's going on with their weapons? I don't like the look of that glow."
Filk jumps away from the goblin's blade, and hurls a big rock at the purple goblin.
Both FiJeet and Filk manage to miss the nimble goblins.
.
Mortin casts bless and give inspiring words.
- x Goblins
- x Filk [Blasting the ground]
- x Mortin [BLESS!]
- x FiJeet [INSPIRING]
- => Valerka
- => Atrix
Conditions:
Atrix: 19/21
FiJeet: 13/15
Filk: 23/23
Mortin: 17/18
Valerka: 12/16
Green:
Red:
Orange: -2hp
Blue:
Purple
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Valerka wrinkles her nose, and blurts out her frustrations "What are these things? They're not hurt by your fire or my cold!? There goes most of my magic!"
In response, she puts her hands together before drawing out a wide circle before her. As she does so, a visible swirl of dark energy forms around her body.
Backing up slightly next to Mortin she again summons forth magical energies from the ether. She weaves the power with her words and hurls it at the Goblin that has been harassing her, "תאכל אידיוט".
Five foot step back, cast Daze (DC 14) on blue (used to say purple until I realized it's really blue, whatever the one that's been attacking me is).
Valerka's spell seems to affect the purple goblin, though she has to use some effort to force the spell through.
Atrix then slices deeply into red, who goes down. Her second strike, against blue, however, does not land.
Purple just stands there, looking around, while blue and orange attack after both step into a flank. Both manage to miss Atrix, though. Green just keeps FiJeet between him and Atrix, attacking. The gnome takes a strong stab into his right leg, drawing blood. The goblins giggles, saying
"Stabby stabby, stabby stab,
Little Shortshanks get it bad!"
- x Goblins
- => Filk [Blasting the ground]
- => Mortin [BLESS!]
- => FiJeet [INSPIRING!]
- => Valerka
- => Atrix
Conditions:
Atrix: 19/21
FiJeet: 10/15
Filk: 23/23
Mortin: 17/18
Valerka: 12/16
Green:
Orange: -2hp
Blue:
Purple
After Atrix's attack, blue falls to the ground (head actually still attached).
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Valerka lifts her arm and again begins chanting, magical energies flowing inward to her closed fist. When she is done, her hand glows with a gentle blue hue as she moves forward to deliver the energies upon the Goblins.
Move 15' northish
Deliver the touch spell to the green outline goblin as part of the casting action